Carl Wallbank <<carlwallbank>>
sends:

If you free fly whether that be on a hang glider or paraglider
please read this, think about it carefully and try to understand that your
actions and attitude now and in the future can make a big difference to the
safety of fellow free flyers and friends. I've kept quiet up until now but as
most now are aware, there was an accident involving my best friend on the Long
Mynd on the 26-5-13, it was not an horrific, dramatic accident, but nothing more
than a hang glider nosing in, sadly resulting in very serious and life changing
injuries. The BHPA are currently investigating this case and we all look forward
to seeing this investigation complete.

However there are aspects that are relevant to this case that have been a
problem for a long time and something that we have all either ignored or turned
a blind eye too, this is not a particular site problem or a problem only in UK,
this is a worldwide issue that has been getting aired around Facebook by unhappy
pilots for a long time, although it's far to late and sad in my eyes, we need
action now to stop something like this ever happening again, and we can all fix
part of the problem easily with very little effort and at no cost.

The first subject involves all free flyers, and their friends and family who may
visit the flying sites we use. I will talk about helmet and hang glider design
in the coming days.

Airfield etiquette I have many friends who hang glide and paraglide, I do not
like the us and them attitude, I believe we are all free flyers "we just fly
different aircraft" and we all share the same zest for free flight. But below
I'll have to talk about the two disciplines differently to highlight the
difference in aircraft performance, requirements and attitudes.

We all gain our pilots licenses and in doing so we learn how to have good
airmanship, I believe that good airmanship starts on the ground and finishes on
the ground, the bit in the middle is just one part of it. The flying sites, top
landings and bottom landings we use, are classed as airfields and as such have
basic rules to follow, on busy days our sites are more busy than regional
airports, but our control of this is purely through very good airmanship and
following rules. This is were we are failing, failing to respect each others
discipline and failing to follow site rules.

As all airfields have different performing aircraft coming in and out all day,
the airfield is always ready to accept the highest performing aircraft, with the
exception of when the airfield is in use by any another aircraft landing or
taking off in which they then have full control of the airfield. Our sites are
no different than this. From a hang gliders point of view, they have a high
speed range, and they can ground effect for a very long way. They act and fly
more like a conventional aircraft or glider, they are also big, bulky, heavy,
and hard to handle and carry. A paraglider has a small speed range and does not
ground effect due to design, they are lightweight, very controllable and easy to
carry.

The common reality observed, are all the hang gliders are rigged together out
the way on the take off on top of the hill, or huddled together to the side in
the top or bottom landing field, on my experience when a hang glider sits in the
middle of the field, this maybe due to inexperience or through a bad landing and
maybe a damaged A-frame, his fellow hang glider's shout at him to move to the
side or go and assist him to carry his damaged wing to the side, the hang
glider's do this because either they have been trained to do this, or they have
very good airmanship, or their peer's do it so they copy, or just maybe they
don't want anyone else landing on their very expensive wings.

If you go to a high level hang glider competition, the goal field can be a very
busy place, these elite pilots who are focusing on the competition maybe more
than safety, still, immediately upon landing, look around for others and quickly
move to the side and all huddle together out the way to allow the most available
space to land for others. I call all of this very good airmanship that is in
bread in to all hang glider pilots from around the world. Yes some still make
mistakes, but others nearby are accountable enough to help them and correct
them.

The paragliding world is not the same as above, they do not need the clear
"runway", there wings when parked are not tall and bulky and thus don't pose an
obvious problem to others, they land slow enough that they all can land next to
or on top of each other, therefore they initially don't appear to be a hazard or
problem to others. In high level PG competition the goal fields also are very
busy places, however, their appears no consideration for others and these elite
pilots just land and don't really move, and in all honesty they don't really
need to due to design.

Obviously you can see from the two paragraphs above that our sports are
different and we require different requirements to safely perform our sport.
This is exactly the problem we have, while each discipline maybe acting safely
with regards to its own discipline it is not respecting the others discipline.
Apart from high level competitions were sites are closed to others, everywhere
we fly is a hang glider and paraglider site and as such, our actions on the
airfield must respect all users that can use the airfield, "whether they are
present or not."

This is not major change, this is just re-aligning our attitude towards safety
for all disciplines.

1) Once landed, look around for others and move to the side quickly, and move
"all the way" to the fence, wall, trees.

2) When someone is landing, that is their airfield, respect them, do not walk
across their airfield or do anything that may allow them to lose or change
focus.

3) Don't assume everyone is a sky god like you! If you don't know the pilot you
may be landing next too, do not cut him up or push him over a bit, he may be
test flying or be very new in the sport, if you don't know his ability. Then you
give him room.

4) If your friends or family are on the airfield, teach them what to look for,
you don't allow your children to play of the railway track, the landing field is
exactly the same.

Whether this attitude is not taught correctly in flying school, or does not
follow down the ladder from our sports disciplines peer's, or gets lost over
time as we only focus on our own sports safety procedures, or because so few
hang gliders are seen on the airfield nowadays I'm not sure? All I do know is we
all share the same sites and thus have to adhere to the rules to protect the
safety of all users of that airfield. I actually enjoy the paragliding world and
have thought of taking it up on many occasions, and nowadays I get my fuel to
perform better in my own discipline from the paragliding world as the
paragliding world is active, enthusiastic, competitive and there is a lot of
very hard working and driven individuals which excites me and keeps me focused.

I do not want to see a split in our sports but I do want to see a mutual respect
for each others disciplines, which is something I don't believe the hang gliding
world gets from the paragliding world at present. I look forward to future
flying with you all and we can discuss this as much as is necessary from a safe
area on our flying sites.

http://derbyshiresoaringclub.org.uk/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?17843.0

http://officialwmas.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “The 31 year
old man had reportedly been hang gliding when he crashed on landing. Crews
assessed the man and found he had sustained serious neck and back injuries. He
was given pain relief to help stabilize his condition before crews worked
carefully to immobilize his neck and back with the use of a neck collar, spinal
board and pelvic splint.