http://overloadut.tumblr.com/post/66662373660/hang-glider-crash

Today I witnessed a hang glider crash. The pilot survived. I feel
that it’s important for me to write out all of the facts about the incident
first, and then I’ll give my own thoughts.

The incident occurred at the Tres Pinos training hill in California. A pilot was
being towed, and after release something happened (I’ll return to this later)
that caused his glider to break mid-flight. The pilot did not deploy his
parachute and impacted the ground hard.

The owner of the site and the tow operator were first to arrive at the crash
site, with a fellow student and me arriving a minute or two after.

The fellow student was a professional physician, and was able to immediately
start doing what he could for the situation. Minutes later, the ambulance
arrived, followed by a fire engine and then a police officer. Eventually a
helicopter arrived which took the injured pilot to a trauma center.

He towed to about 600 feet. Shortly after releasing the tow line, he entered a
“whip stall.” The glider then either dropped its nose sharply (one account) or
continued in to a too-slow loop (another account) - either way, the pilot ended
up upside-down for an unknown amount of time, and somewhere in the mix is when
the wings broke.

Nobody can be sure why he did not throw his parachute, although the camera
footage may give some insight.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=3030