RidgeDancer December 1996
Reproduced from the monthly newsletter.
Contents:
Land Your Body, Not Your Wing
Reconsideration of Mount Diablo Restrictions
Changing the Way Site Regulations are Changed
Meeting Minutes
Land Your Body, Not Your Wing
Still another Penguin Paragliding Proverb (we're up to 36), but this one came very dear. Labor Day weekend I went up to The Whaleback for a fly-in. Hadn't flown there since Michael crashed and died there this June. It was a strange mixture of feelings on launch, to observe the sky and the general area where Michael crashed, and I spent a little extra time getting focused and clear before that first launch. The next day Thom Switzer asked if I wanted to go take a look at the crash site with himself, Greg Stirnk, and local pilot Henry Demo. Henry, a Redding resident, has flown The Whaleback a fair amount, and was observing Michael through field glasses when he crashed, and was the first pilot that got to Michael as a railroad conductor from a passing train was taking Michael's pulse. Thom had worked with Michael a year and had been his instructor, and had his own heartfelt reasons to understand, as fully as possible, what had happened; just as I did.
As Henry drove us up to the site, I considered the track area that lies between the launch and LZ at The Whaleback. The track runs downhill at the foot of The Whaleback as it winds its way generally NE to SW to Weed. The portion of the track directly between launch and LZ is doubled at the Andesite switch site, to allow a train traveling in one direction to pull over and let a train from the other direction pass. Because of this switch, there is a reasonably decent access road directly adjacent to the track within the rail right of way. On both sides of the track along the right-of-way proper is a barbed wire fence, almost completely hidden in some areas by brush. On the other side of the fence to the south and inside the fence on the north are dirt fire roads, which sometimes parallel the track and fence, and at other times wander a short distance away from it on the south side before returning to the fence line. These two dirt road are macho four wheel drive type access, but are reasonably clear, and make an obvious brown scar through the brush and small to medium pine trees scattered about. So the "Railroad Tracks" is really a complex from north to south of barbed wire fence, dirt road, railroad track or tracks, power and telephone line, barbed wire fence, and another dirt road. A final additional complication is the presence of several 10 to 30 foot plus land cuts and associated cut banks, as the track nudges the foothill portion of The Whaleback. The entire complex, including the two dirt roads, is considered a "Red Zone" by locals, who advise no landing near this zone during site orientations.
Henry drove northeast directly along the south side of the tracks, past the Andesite switch and past the area where the doubled tracks become a single line again. He passed through a deep cut, thirty foot plus on the south side and twenty plus on the north, with a white cross on top of the cut on the north side. He pulled over at the end of the cut and we got out and silently crossed the track and walked up a short trail at the east end of the cutbank. The top of the cutbank where Michael came to rest is relatively flat and approximately five yards wide. The north side away from the track slopes at a 30 degree plus angle away from the top and is covered with brush, then the dirt fire road, a partially hidden barb wire fence, and a fairly large brush field with a few small pines scattered through it. The LZ is one to one and a half miles = northwest.
The most prominent feature on top of that cutbank is a substantial white cross, with neatly incised black letters "In Memory Michael Van Kuelen", set in concrete about five feet from the south edge of the cut. Two days after the accident, Henry came back with the cross, a wheelbarrow, cement, gravel, water, and a post hole digger, lugged it up that cutbank trail, and set it in there with some flowers. Having reset a half-dozen fence posts this summer in concrete, I know how much work it takes to do this and get it right. Henry Demo got it right.
After giving us some time to look the scene over, Henry spoke. "The cross is where his head was when he came to rest. The wing had flown over him and was laying, completely spread out, on the side of the cutbank here." (Indicating the railroad - south - side of the cutbank.) Arm raised, Henry carved a circle with his hand and continued, "He was coming back toward the mountain downwind (southeast) then circled to his left into the wind, which was coming from here (west-southwest) about 20-25 miles an hour. He came around headin' toward to LZ pretty much into the wind. About 100 feet up, he made a hook turn around to his left and headed in here (south)." The direction Michael came in, and his point of impact, was hideously obvious. Eight to ten yards north of Michael's final resting place, on the steeply sloped north side of the cutbank, a substantial brush plant (species unknown to me) with a 3 to 4 inch diameter trunk, had been blown apart =96 a steep, uphill swath cut through it four to six feet wide and fifteen feet long. Henry continued "I figure when he made that hook turn low, he must of accelerated quite a bit, with the wind makin' it worse pushing up on the right side of his wing. He hit down there going pretty fast, and couldn't run because of the brush and the uphill slope. He pitched forward and must of put his hands out to try to break his impact. His hands hit here and his helmet here" (indicating three clear indentations in the hard volcanic soil of the cutbank very near the top edge). "His watch was right here (pointing to where the left hand had impacted), and then he either slid or was drug by the wing to here." (The cross about five yards from the impact impressions.)
I traced that final turn in my minds eye, trying to understand what Michael was thinking, what his decision process was, and why that hook turn at the last moment. A light began to dawn. "So" I said, "if he would have kept going into the wind, he would of landed somewhere out there (pointing northwest) in that brush field". Nods of agreement. "Instead" I continued, thinking out loud, "he made that low hook turn to land on the road, but the acceleration he maybe wasn't used to because he was low time on that new wing of his caused him to overshoot maybe ten feet and hit really hard into the bush and then the side of this cutbank." More nods. That left one question, and I considered it carefully, standing on the cutbank and studying the decision point 100 feet up and north of us: why didn't he stay into the wind and settle down with very low ground speed into one of the numerous little bare spots in the brush field? Why did he make that low turn and try for the narrow road? I thought about it for awhile, standing on the cutbank near the cross.
I'm pretty sure I know what Michael intended to do, and why he intended to do it. I may be wrong of course, and there is no way to ever be completely certain, but I'm close enough to Michael's skill level and general attitude toward flying, and have landed out enough at The Whaleback, to at least be certain in my own mind what was going on in his mind as he made that last turn. Michael looked at that brush field and the small patches of sand between the brush, considered the relatively high wind he was landing in, then looked to his left at that narrow road. He figured if he landed in the brush field he might miss one of the clear patches and land right in a brush patch, or; even if he landed in a clear space, might not have the room or time to dump his wing before he got pulled over backwards. Finally, there was a real chance, with all that wind, that his new wing he loved so much would get snagged and possibly torn up some in the brush in the high wind. At best, it would be a lengthy and difficult project to get his wing out of the bushes and find enough room to get it folded up. But right over here to the left was this little road. If he could hook a left, then a right, he would be pretty lined up with the wind again, and he could get the wing down mostly in the road to make the whole pack up process a lot easier.
So he hooked that left, but he was too low, and the acceleration of the new wing, combined with the high wind speed at ground level, never gave him the chance to hook the right. And he overshoot, and he crashed, and he died.
But his wing came to rest in the clear, unscathed.
So Michael had one more lesson to teach me. Land your body, not your wing. This is true anytime, of course, but especially when you are landing out. At some point down low, when you have let go of catching a low bump and working back out and are committed to land soon, find the best spot to land your body, get out of the harness and hang like a paratrooper much higher than you usually do, probably put on some ears especially if its mid-day or afternoon, and be prepared to PLF if necessary. But get the body down safely. The better you get the body down, the better prepared you are to deal with any problems the wing might want to give you if the wind is up. It can be a real pain to get your wing out of a manzanita or sage brush, and you can get holes in the wing and sheathing torn off lines in the process. It's a lot bigger pain to break a leg or worse in order to make it easier for a friend to pack up your wing while other folks are packing you out.
Land your body, not your wing.
(Apologia note: I didn't have a tape recorder or take written notes, so I have undoubtedly paraphrased, and possibly put words in Henry's mouth for the sake of clarity of the narrative. But this is pretty close, and the sense of it is right. Thank you Henry, for taking me there, explaining it clearly, and for the cross, too.)
Reconsideration of Mount Diablo Restrictions
Joe FinkelLet me join Mahboud Zibetian in expressing my dismay and frustration in learning that Mt. Diablo is now limited to Para-4's only. Remarkably, Mahboud expressed the same concept of mentoring that I shared with Dave Bingham over the phone in my attempt to dissuade him from going ahead with the rushed effort to limit access at Diablo. Dave admitted to me over the phone that a mentoring type program would in fact result in greater safety - the stated objective of the new restriction- but dismissed it as simply unworkable. Let me explain how such a program already exists, and can be made explicit, with only a few modifications to the current site procedures at Mt. Diablo.
Look at the "Revised May 1996 - Mt. Diablo State Park Site Procedures" attached to the last edition of this newsletter (Volume 6, No. 11). There you will see guidelines that require Para-3's to have 5 days of supervised flying at Mt. Diablo before they can obtain a sticker to fly there without supervision. All Para-3 flying is restricted to the Juniper Launch, the Lower Summit Parking Lot South Launch being restricted to Para-4's. Additionally, Para-3's must have a turbulence sign off, before flying Diablo.
Though not explicitly stated, these restrictions force a Para-3 into the mentoring relationship described by Mahboud, as a unavoidable result of requiring a Para-3 to obtain 5 days of supervised flying before receiving a sticker. First, Diablo isn't like the Dumps where you can always count on someone being there. You need to find an pilot who flies there often and make arrangements ahead of time to meet at the mountain. In my case I was lucky enough to meet Bob Clem at Diablo and I learned more from him about flying Diablo, and flying in general, than from any other paragliding experience.
I found Bob by taking off from work early one day and driving to Diablo on a whim hoping to see a paraglider. Sure enough, there was Bob circling overhead. I waited for him to land, found out he was a frequent Diablo pilot and asked him to be my sponsor. To simplify the obtaining of supervisors, BAPA could maintain a list of experienced Diablo pilots willing to sponsor Para-3's.
All that needs to be added to these provisions is that the sponsoring pilot must be the same person for all the supervised flying days. This way the new pilot and the sponsor become acquainted with each other and a mentoring relationship develops. The only other modification to the May 1996 site restrictions that I see as being necessary is to perhaps increase the number of supervised flying days. While it has been my experience that getting 5 flying days at Diablo can take over 6 months time, perhaps 6 to 8 days of supervised flying at Diablo will be needed before a Para-3 can get his sticker.
(Keep in mind that the non-flying days spent on the mountain are frequent at Diablo, and are often quite educational in showing newer pilots the type of conditions in which they shoud not fly. During my half year quest for my sticker, I spent more days observing conditions than flying in them.)
Critical to making this "enforced mentoring" program work is experienced Diablo pilots coming forward and offering to mentor Para-3's interested in flying there. Supervising pilots should also have the authority to instruct an eager Para-3, if there skills appear inadequate, that the Para-3 needs more training before starting the quest for his Diablo sticker.
A possible additional rule, that can be added to the May 1996 rules, is that Para-4's, without experience at Mt. Diablo, must first fly under the supervision of stickered Diablo pilot for 1 flying day, before he/she can obtain a sticker.
Finally, all those Para-3's who obtained their Diablo stickers via the old system, which I believe required only one day of supervised flying, must re-apply for a new sticker if they have less than 10 days of flying at Diablo. That's it.
Two forces drive this suggestion. First is the great frustration, expressed so well by Mahboud, that a mentoring relationship resulting in so much good and useful training is being cut short in a rushed through, ill conceived, effort to allegedly increase safety. Second, it is my firm belief that experienced pilots should make an effort to assist less experienced pilots in improving their skills. It is becoming more and more difficult for newer pilots to gain the experience they need. With mentoring from more experienced pilots, newer pilots can learn the tricks of the trade, build lasting friendships and learn how to fly more safely.
That is my suggestion. l hope we can all discuss this proposal at the next meeting.
Changing the Way Site Regulations are Changed
Ann SasakiRecently the site regulations for Mt. Diablo were changed in the interest of safety and site preservation. Although no one is against safety, many BAPA members felt that they did not have adequate opportunity to voice their opinions about the proposed changes to the regulations. This is indeed a legitimate complaint and we would like to rectify the situation going forward.
Currently there is no written procedure for how site regulations are set and how they can be later modified. Therefore, I propose that we create a simple written procedure that spells out how the process works and that ensures adequate input from all members and officers. I have included a proposed procedure below and would like to receive any comments either supporting it or suggesting changes by February 1, 1997. Once we have a final version of the procedure, we can use it in the future when developing or changing site regulations. Please email your comments to me at paradog@worldnet.att.net.
Also, please remember that BAPA is a voluntary, recreational, participatory organization. If there are things about the organization that you don't like, you can work to change them. There are several avenues to change, including lobbying officers, writing articles for the newsletter stating your opinion, proposing and heading up a committee to deal with the issue, even becoming an officer of BAPA. Here is a real opportunity to make a difference, to change the way things are and to better the flying environment. Being involved with BAPA may be one of those rare experiences in life where what you do actually has an impact, where your ideas can actually reach fruition. Get involved!
Here is my proposed procedure:
Procedure for Developing and Modifying BAPA Site Regulations
I. Outlining New or Modified Regulations
A. Site Administrator and Site Director outline new or modified site regulations.
B. New or modified regulations are presented to the BAPA Executive Committee consisting of all the BAPA officers.
C. Executive Committee recommends any changes to proposed new or modified regulations.
II. Discussion of Proposed New or Modified Regulations
A. The proposed new or modified regulations are published in the BAPA newsletter which is sent to all BAPA members.
B. BAPA members have one full month to comment in writing to the Executive Committee regarding suggested changes or supporting the proposed regulations.
C. The proposed regulations may also be discussed at the next BAPA meeting but submitting written comments will ensure that all the Executive Committee and the Site Administrator receive the comments. (Not everyone attends the BAPA meetings.)
III. Finalization of Proposed Regulations
A. After the one-month comment period, the Executive Committee and the Site Administrator hold a special meeting at which any changes to the proposed new or modified regulations are discussed. Members are welcome to attend this meeting.
B. The BAPA Secretary will record minutes of the meeting and a short explanation will be noted for any changes made to the proposed regulations.
IV. Presentation of Proposed Regulations to Parties Controlling the Site
A. The Site Administrator (and possibly the Site Director) meet with the landowner or other party who controls the site and present the proposed regulations.
B. If the party controlling the site refuses to agree with the proposed regulations, then some compromise will be discussed and agreed upon, unless agreement cannot be reached and further discussion is necessary.
V. Announcement of Final New or Modified Regulations
A. When the party controlling the site has agreed to the new or modified regulations, then the regulations are printed in the next BAPA newsletter.
B. If there are any changes to the original proposed regulations, the Site Administrator or Site Director publishes a short explanation of the changes in the same issue of the BAPA newsletter.
BAPA Meeting Minutes, 12/4/96
Ron ThompsonThe meeting was brought to order at 7:10 PM. 18 previous attendees and one new face were present.
Notable Flights
- Dave Bingham got an hour at Ed Levin in pre - frontal conditions (what a surprise).
- Mike 'Infomercial' Yost was the only brave soul to fly at the Dump with the HG pilots on a windy Sunday.
- Ann and Ron flew in less strong conditions near sunset at Trashcan during the week.
- Klaus Shleuter got stuck 70 feet up in a tree at Ed Levin. Apparently the choice was powerlines or tree, so he elected the relative safety of the leafy alternative.
Old Business
** Motion to accept last month's minutes seconded by The People
- Anne Huffington thought we should talk about the process of how site regulations are changed.
- Ann Sasaki proposed a simple written procedure which mandates a one-month discussion period of any new or modified site regulations . She felt that it was important to allow plenty of time for the members to comment on changes before they are submitted to the controlling entities. See the article in this issue for details.
** Anne Huffington made a motion to draft a procedure for developing or modifying site regulations. The motion was accepted, and Ann Sasaki is writing the document based on her original proposal.
Officers Reports
President
- Anne Huffington reported that USHGA insurance dues are coming up Feb 15th. $372.50 will be paid to the underwriters.
Treasurer's Report
- Treasurer Kim Galvin reported that the club has $2820 in the checking account. Dues are trickling in, but many members are overdue. See your Ridge Dancer label to see if you are delinquent.
Site Director's Report
- Site Director Dave Bingham reported that the HG pilots who fly Diablo are going to have a work party to clean up the South launch on Saturday.
- Two European pilots (Euros) flew Mt. Tam without the proper clearances and landed out in sensitive areas. There were no repercussions from the park service.
- Dave encourages everyone to get their P4's if they qualify for the rating so that they can fly Mission which he thinks is a wonderful place to fly. He is embarking on negotiating access for P3's at this WOR site.
Safety Director's Report
- Safety Director Ann Sasaki suggested that since the first Wednesday of next month is January 1st, that the meeting be held on January 8th instead. A notice will appear in the Ridge Dancer.
- Ann proposed a mailing to the USHGA Region 2 paraglider pilots who are not members of BAPA as a membership drive. This was very effective last year, and should cost about $300. The objective is to be able to disseminate safety, site, activity and other information to as many pilots in the area as possible. The mailing will take place in early 1997.
** Anne Huffington made a motion to fund the mailing. Accepted.
- Daly City still has not put forth an official plan to develop the Dump into a golf course. We should still document our use of the site and members should write letters stating the desire to see the Dump remain open space accessible to all. Ann will contact the Coastal Commision and the City of Daly City on a monthly basis to see if anything is going on.
- The now infamous San Francisco Garter Snake which we are hoping makes its home at the Dump is on one of the new Endangered Species stamps put out by the Post Office. The snake is very colorful with a red head and blue stripes on its body. If you see one at the Dump, immediately take its picture, and send an email to Ann Sasaki stating when and where you saw it so we have documentation of its presence.
New Business
Newsletter editor Gaspo is putting the BAPA web page back together. He needs photos of Diablo and Tam to scan in for use in a site guide.
** Motion to end the meeting was seconded at 7:50 PM.
Last Updated 28.11.96 by --gaspo.