Oz Report

Hugh McElrath's paragliding accident

Ann Dunlap|crash|Facebook|Hugh McElrath|injury|PG|USHPA

Hugh writes (using a scribe):

I was observing Ann Dunlap hang gliding yesterday at Daniels.  She had her first soaring flight!  I launched my paraglider after she landed.

I had a good flight, got to 600' over and came out to land after twenty five minutes.  The LZ was not scary.  At twenty feet the glider surged in front of me and I pounded in hard.

I broke both of my legs at boot top with open fracture of tibia on right.  I also broke my right wrist and shattered the L1 vertebra.

Ann handled the emergency superbly.  ER squad immediately ordered a helicopter.  I am in UVA hospital.  Nine hours to reconstruct vertebra and reduce open fracture.  Just had filter installed in vena cava to prevent blood clots from invading lungs.  Further surgeries coming for both legs and wrist.  I can wiggle my toes!

Hugh is a USHPA Regional Director and hang glider pilot in the Washington DC area.  He just retired from the federal government.  He posted this on Facebook and I obtained his permission to repost it here.

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Fathers and Sons

(Sigillo,+Italy)

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Steve Blenkinsop

Steve Blenkinsop «blenkinsop1» writes:

We have finally sorted the Australian National team to represent us at the 2011 World Championships.  After the competition at Dalby, Jon Durand senior is on the team with Jonny Durand junior.

I also notice Blay senior on the Spanish team with Blay junior.

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Rio Promotion

(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Scott Trueblood|USHPA|video

Scot Trueblood «Scot Trueblood» writes:

Here at Paradise Hang Gliding, we are doing our part to participate in the USHPA-sponsored nationwide promotion of the movie Rio.  Last Friday, the opening day of the movie, we invited members of the local media out for a day of tandem hang gliding.  One local TV station, WINK News, one of the largest in the area, took us up on our offer.

We met reporter Lauren Pastrana and her cameraman John at the Lovers Key boat ramp, where we first did a LIVE interview before her flight, with the boat, glider and crew in the background at the dock.  Then we took Lauren for a 2500' tandem flight above the Gulf of Mexico.  The conditions were great, with perfectly smooth air and plenty of wind to make for an easy tow.  It could not have been better conditions for such a high-profile flight.  We had plenty of altitude and time aloft to give her a real good taste of hang gliding, and I did some big, sweeping turns with the coastline in the background for our glider mounted GoPro to take in. On final approach to land next to the waiting boat, we flew directly over a pod of 5 dolphins playing at the surface, and Lauren was quite thrilled.

Lauren thoroughly enjoyed her flight and was a very good passenger.  The typical nervousness vanished within moments of lifting off from the boat deck, and was replaced by genuine awe and appreciation of our sport.  At one point, she even told me she felt like a weenie for having waited so long to try hang gliding.

Even Lauren stated that the segment could have been better if they had been allocated a bit more time, I felt as though some of the best interview footage was not used, and the cameraman had some great stuff from the boat as well, not to mention our GoPro footage.  And maybe someday, I can teach Lauren how to say HANG glide, instead of HAN glide.  Nevertheless, it turned out great, and I've gotten a lot of good feedback from friends and family, not to mention a few calls from people wanting to go flying.  Stay tuned, in another day or so I will finish the editing on our GoPro video of the flight.

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2011-04-15/A-birds-eye-view-of-Southwest-Florida

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Sailing to Venice

(Quest Air, Groveland, Florida, USA)

Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Mitch Shipley|Quest Air

The flight.

http://flyingjochen.blogspot.com/

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

Yesterday, we spent almost five hours in the air flying 165 kilometers from Quest Air southwest almost to Venice, Florida and to the beach in light northeast conditions.  We (Jochen Zeischka, Mitch Shipley and I) didn't quite make it to the beach as there was a good on shore flow that stopped the lift, but we came within twenty kilometers and had dinner at the pier next to the airport.

Hopefully more later when I recover and have a moment.  We might go that way again today.

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