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Oz Report

topic: Joe Gregor (20 articles)

East Coast Championship - day 2, task 2 »

Mon, Jun 1 2009, 8:02:51 pm EDT

A fast task to the north

Charles Allen|Davis Straub|East Coast Championships 2009|Greg Dinauer|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Joe Gregor|John Chambers|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Paris Williams|Terry Reynolds|Tom Lanning|Wills Wing T2C

The results: http://soaringspot.com/2009ecc

Tweets: https://OzReport.com/tweets.php

http://skyout.blogspot.com/

http://gottafly.blogspot.com/

The task (57.8 km), to the north:

With the forecast for a south wind up to 12 knots, we called a task straight to the north as far as we could. We could have called a zig zag task, but with the forecast for no cu's and 3,000' to maybe 4,000' (good luck on that) top of the lift and given the difficult conditions on the day before (no one made goal) we were being a bit conservative.

The winds were supposed to go from southeast to south southeast by 2 PM, but there we were at launch on the northwest (300°) to southeast runway and the wind was coming at 90° from the south (south southwest, actually) making launching a bit iffy. Thankfully it was light and we launched a bit downwind.

They hauled up Joe Gregor and he didn't inspire us. Then Bob Flipchuck was put in the nice thermal by Jonny Thompson where Jonny said his vario in the tug went from 600 fpm to 1,200 fpm. It was time to go. But folks were still concerned about the slight tail wind.

I moved my glider to the front of the launch line and started putting on my harness. No one was even interested in launching until I decided to get ready. Now they were all rushing to their gliders. The launch window had already been open for half an hour.

I moved the glider into the launch line as pilots waited behind (still not ready to go) and got hauled up right to where Bob had been getting up. Unfortunately he had come back to near the airfield and was now on the deck circling right below me but just above the trees and being pushed north by the winds.

I joined up with Dan Spier on his ATOS and Larry Bunner came over as Bob landed back at the airport. Larry and I were in radio contact flying as a team, so we just coordinated ourselves in the thermal as Jim Prahl joined us.

The thermal was working reasonably well. There were no cu's around, as forecast, but the lift was averaging 133 fpm, so we stuck with it. It turned out that we were in exactly the right spot and any pilots who were still in the air (lots were landing) were struggling.

All four of us climbed to 3,000' at 1 minute before the first start clock at 2 PM, 1 km away from the start cylinder edge. Larry and I headed out together after Jim and Dan, but they turned around as they saw that they were going to break the cylinder wall before the start time. They had forgotten that it wouldn't have mattered at all (my scoring system allows you to go before the first start time with little penalty).

Larry and I hit the start cylinder edge at exactly 2 PM. Not one second before. Never a better start.

We could see a few very very tiny wisps that were actually very high cu's out ahead of us. They were too far away, but I found the lift at 2.5 km out so even though it was blue and our future was unclear, it looked like at least we would have a good start and maybe find lift out in the blue.

Now very widely spaced and almost totally insignificant cu's were within reach. Larry and I were radioing each other and saying when we should leave. We were staying in the thermals until we got to about 3,000' when they would peter out.

We made it to a wisp and sure enough it was marking lift, as well it should, for how short lived these wisps were. Prahl and Dan followed us and Larry and I showed the way, team flying and spreading out to search after each thermal.

We were able to find wisps for about seven out of the ten thermals that we needed to get to goal. The pilots after us apparently didn't have any wisps to guide them.

The winds were more southwest as we headed north indicating on-shore flow from the Chesapeake Bay. We could see great swirls in the wheat fields and follow the wind lines in the waving wheat.

Twenty seven kilometers from goal we found great lift getting us to 3,600' AGL. Both bodies of water on our east and west were quite visible. It looked like we almost had it made into goal. But not quite.

Down to 1,200' AGL nine kilometers from goal I spotted some birds circling. I called Larry back to the spot and we climbed out quickly getting more than enough to make it across a couple of inlets and into goal, a long grass (uncut as it turned out) runway in the middle of a bare field (just sprouts coming up). They hadn't used that runway in a long time.

Larry and I were the first pilots into goal, with with Jim and Dan coming along ten and fifteen minutes later respectively.

Paris was next in, seventeen minutes later, taking the second clock at 2:15. Mark Frutiger won the day flying the fastest but taking the third start time. Greg Dinauer flew with him but started one minute too early.

Larry and I got great arrival time points which made up for being second and third fastest. I didn't necessarily want to take the first start time, but in this case, flying with three pilots and in good communication with Larry, it turned out to be a great idea.

Eleven pilots made it into goal with three start times. All the pilots that started at 2 Pm made it to goal. The last start time used was 2:30 PM although 2:45 was available to be used, if needed.

When we got to goal we broke down under the very nice set of trees that lined the narrow road paralleling the runway on the western side. The pilots who came much later didn't see us  and landed with Dan in a field further on. Only Paris and Jim Prahl joined us under the trees.

# Pilot Glider Time Total
Points
1. Mark Frutiger Wills Wing T2 154 01:15:38 882
2. Larry Bunner Wills Wing T2C 144 01:22:44 870
3. Davis Straub Wills Wing T2C 144 01:22:48 869
4. Paris Williams Aeros Combat L 13 01:24:16 791
5. Jim Prahl Moyes Litespeed S 4 01:31:46 761
6. Tom Lanning Wills Wing T2C 144 01:28:01 750
7. Greg Dinauer Aeros Combat L-13 01:29:37 734
8. Charles Allen Icaro Z8 12.9 01:30:35 724
9. Stephen Desroches Wills Wing T2 154 01:33:30 697
10. Terry Reynolds Wills Wing T2C 144 01:33:44 666
11. John Chambers Aeros Combat 01:44:11 610

USHGA On-line accident reporting system

March 1, 2006, 10:44:34 EST

Accident reports

Easy to use reporting system.

calendar|CIVL|Joe Gregor|PG|USHGA

http://www.ushga.org/emailacc.asp

Steve Roti «steveroti» writes:

We received approximately fifty paragliding accident reports submitted through the online form in 2005, plus a few submitted on paper.

Joe Gregor «air_medal» writes:

As of today we have received nineteen, count 'em nineteen, accident reports on the hang gliding side for the calendar year '05.

The CIVL form for reporting incidents and accidents: http://ozreport.com/data/IncidentreportFAI.xls

Discuss Accident reports at the Oz Report forum

Mike Haas's accident at Hang Glide Chicago

Tue, Sep 13 2005, 6:00:06 pm GMT

The USHGA official hang glider Accident Review Chairman.

Mike Haas

accident|aerobatics|aerotow|Hang Glide Chicago|job|Joe Gregor|Mike Haas|site|tow|USHGA|weather|XC

Joe Gregor «air_medal» writes:

After Angelo's post in the Oz Report I decided to review my information concerning the reporting on Mike's accident. In his e-mails to me, Angelo's concern seemed centered on a lack of acknowledgement for his contribution, and the long timeframe required for the report to hit the magazine.

Angelo did indeed send me a detailed report via US Mail, which all have now seen, and which I used in drafting the Executive Summary for the column in HG Magazine. Other sources include statements from at least four other witnesses and numerous e-mail messages of discussions concerning the accident from a digest maintained by the local club.

At the time of Mike's accident I had been the HG Accident Review Chairman for only a few months. There was no one on the committee but myself. In the previous three months, we had experienced seven fatalities or near-fatalities:

3/3 on an XC from LMFP,
4/22 on a launch from Sugarloaf Peak, CA,
5/17 a structural failure experienced during aerobatics in NC (Bo's accident),
5/28 another structural failure at Dry Canyon, NM,
6/19 a h-2 outlanding at Hull Mountain, CA,
6/24 a severe weather related event at King Mountain, ID,
and 2 days later, on 6/26, Mike Hass' accident.

There is no way that one man (even if he didn't have two jobs and a family) could simultaneously perform a creditable investigation of seven geographically separated accidents and maintain situational awareness with the constant flow of minor accident reports flowing in day-by-day. The only solution was to create a process which relied on local volunteers to conduct the data collection and at least some of the analysis for each major accident.

I tried to outline a vision for this process in one of my early columns. The USHGA SOPs call on the Regional Directors to serve in this role, and they are the first people I look to, but we are all volunteers (the accident review committee has limited resources and no budget) so I would appoint as Principle Investigator whomever seemed willing, motivated, and in the best position to accomplish the task. I would draft an Executive Summary for the column based on their input, be it a larger report (my ultimate desire) or just a collection of facts and analysis they were able to put together and/or send my way. I would share the Summary with the Principle Investigator for their comment and changes before submitting it to the magazine. Is it a prefect process? No, the resources don't exist for perfect, but it was at least functional.

In the case of Mike's accident several names were offered up to me as a potential Lead for the investigation. Angelo's was not one of them, presumably because he was not on-site at the time of the accident. Everyone should be thankful to Gary for stepping up to the plate when no one else was willing. Had it not been for him, it seemed to me at the time, no creditable investigation of Mike's accident could have been accomplished. Angelo's report was received by USHGA on 27 September - three months after the accident - and sometime later forwarded to me. I included it with all of the other information coming to me on Mike's accident, but I continued to look to Gary to lead this particular investigation, as I looked to others to lead the remaining six accidents. When Angelo e-mailed me 6-7 months later wanting to know why nothing had been done, I believe I told him that Gary was on it and that he should send his information Gary's way so it could be included in Gary's report. I agree, it would be desirable for the committee chair to acknowledge every letter, report, and e-mail as they come in. There is simply not enough time in the day.

I also acknowledge the long time it took for Mike's accident to make it into the magazine. I do not know what can or should be done to accelerate the process in this regard. Even running the extremely long columns I was writing, at two accidents per column, and one column every other month, and a two month set-up time for the magazine, it would take over nine months to achieve print on the fatal/near-fatal accidents we had lying in wait. In addition, I felt it would be unfair to unduly rush those who volunteered to give up their time and energy to do the difficult job of investigating these accidents.

In my mind the major point of the magazine column is to relate lessons learned. These lessons will not spoil due to a few months delay. They may spoil if the investigation is rushed, however. Since the magazine column format is ill suited to play the role of instant messaging anyway, I felt that any attempts to rush an investigation would prove counter-productive. If you want immediate dissemination, the Oz Report is the appropriate vehicle, not the magazine.

As for the Conclusions and Recommendations, I probably deserve to take a small hit there. The Probable Cause is the part that relates to what made the accident happen. But the Recommendations, those are there to help others find a way to avoid suffering the same fate. The Probable (and I mean probable) Cause in Mike's accident was, quite literally, a failure to maintain aircraft control. Nothing more definitive than that can be said. But telling pilots that the lesson learned here is to maintain control of your glider, that is less than illuminating. So when I write a Recommendation, it is not intended to outline should have been done in this accident; it is intended to highlight things that could be done to mitigate or prevent a similar future accident.

In the info I received on Mike's accident, there was no objective logbook review. Instead, in addition to Angelo's report, I received things like: "This pilot was very experienced at coastal ridge soaring, and less experienced (although he had recent experience at a FL aeropark) with aerotow." There was no consensus that Mike had ever towed the higher performance wing he was flying the day of the accident, and Angelo himself one e-mail stated that "It's very possible that this was his first tow on the Lightsport." One reporter indicated that Mike had recently taken a few years off to build a house "but still managed a few dune flights each year." His last reported aerotow was in October of 2003. Altogether in my mind, this became an experienced foot-launch pilot who had relatively little aerotow experience, and none of it current. I admit that this may have been a poor characterization, but that is what I came away with from the information presented to me of a pilot whom I unfortunately never knew.

With 20/20 hindsight, in the case of Mike's accident, I should have written "flying a new class of wing" or "after a long break in activity, indicated reduced proficiency" or something similar; rather than using the all-encompassing "new launch method" phrase. Water under the bridge. I have done the best I know how given the limited resources at my disposal. My Reserve commander once said that you know you are in the zone when your employer, your family, and the Reserves are all equally pissed-off at you. By that criterion I have achieved 'balance.' I strongly encourage anyone interested in the position of HG Accident Review Committee Chair to contact USHGA and let them know. I see no need to carry out a task that could be better performed by another willing volunteer. Your application will have my full support.

Discuss "Mike Haas's accident at Hang Glide Chicago" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Arlan

Fri, Sep 2 2005, 3:00:00 pm GMT

Two very unnecessary deaths.

Arlan Birkett

accident|altitude|Angelo Mantas|Arlan Birkett|Cloud 9|competition|crash|fatality|Gary Solomon|Guy Denney|Hang Glide Chicago|HG & PG Magazine|Joe Gregor|John Licata|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Mike Haas|Nathan Martin|news|Peter Birren|PG|power|sport|tandem|tow|tug|weaklink

Peter Birren «peterb» writes:

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I report Arlan Birkett and a student died Saturday evening, September 3, during a tandem flight at Hang Glide Chicago. Arlan's family in Madison, Wisconsin has been contacted with the news and arrangements will be forthcoming.

From the south end of the NS grass runway, John Licata saw the take off. Arlan was towed to the north, across low power lines and a highway, then appeared to have a major problem with the glider. At a height of about 250 feet, the glider turned 180º and, John says, fluttered to the ground like a wounded bird, tumbling and spinning as opposed to a so-called lawn dart. The impact was in a corn field north of the airport. The student's girl friend was present and was interviewed by the police.

A few possible scenarios and situations can be imagined but they are only speculative. The description, however, seems to point to some sort of a structural failure. More information and suppositions will be available tomorrow when the wreckage is thoroughly inspected.

Arlan and Hang Glide Chicago were just this month featured with a nice 2-page article in Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine. Arlan had been an instructor for about 10 years (longer?) And contributed greatly to a sport he loved so much.

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

I'm stunned. I'm having a real hard time processing this on a personal level. Last year Mike, then another good friend and former HG pilot was killed last month in a motorcycle accident. Now this.

I have very little info on this. Apparently the glider got off line, then the weak link broke at the tug. This happened around 250', according to the tug pilot, Gary Solomon. Despite the altitude, it sounds like they impacted at a fairly steep angle, although this information is third hand. John Licata witnessed this, but didn't want to talk about it anymore, which is understandable since he also witnessed Mike Haas' crash.

Given the time of day, conditions should have been smooth. There are some thoughts pilots have shared with me, but they are pure speculation so I won't mention them at this time. John and Kris Grzyb are supposed to look over the glider tomorrow.

Arlan was a great guy. He was involved with banking, but walked away from that to start a HG business because that's what he wanted to do. When I got recertified as an instructor last year, instead of seeing me as competition, he thought it would be good to have someone around to do hill training, and gave me an old but airworthy trainer. His efforts gave lots of pilots a great place to fly or just hang out. His quiet demeanor and droll wit will be sorely missed.

Nathan Martin «natdogg1» writes:

Easily the best man I've ever met died today and his student barely older than I (20s). Arlan Birkett and Jeremia died on impact today around roughly 6-6:30 PM. Apparently what can only be described as a freak accident occurred. The glider got out of whack and wasn't corrected soon enough, this progressed into a lockout. At this point no-one is yet sure why, but it is known that the weaklink failed to break (250lb) and as far as we understand the tow rope broke (400+lb test) they were at a high angle of roll and had no time to recover. This all occurred immediately after takeoff and they couldn't of been higher than a few hundred feet.

I had known this man nearly six years of my life and had never witnessed anything less than great respect and kindness to all he knew. Jeremiah was in his 20s I believe and was thought to be a slick pilot by other instructors and was expected to solo. Both will be missed greatly and the holes in our hearts will take some time to mend.

(editor's note: These are very preliminary observations. Guy Denney «guydenney» will be writing up a report and sending it to Joe Gregor and hopefully to the Oz Report. Recent reports indicate that there was apparently no problem with the tandem glider in advance of the lockout. I have asked Guy the following questions:

How heavy was the student? How heavy was Arlan?
How many flights did this student have before this flight?
How long was the tow rope? Was it longer than the regular rope used for towing regular pilots? Was it 300 feet long?
Could the tandem have hit the prop wash? Was the tandem below the tug?
Did Arlan have extra handles on the down tubes to allow him to have extra control (like they do here at Cloud 9)?
What was the strength on the tandem side of the weaklink? Was it stronger than the tug side weaklink?

Arlan used an over/under style harness and the student pilot was on the bottom.


Here is the tandem over/under harness setup at Cloud9.)

Discuss "Arlan" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Report on the fatality report

Tue, Aug 30 2005, 2:00:01 pm GMT

The trouble with accident reports.

accident reports

accident|aerotow|Angelo Mantas|Cowboy Up|exercise|fatality|Joe Gregor|Mike Haas|USHGA

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

The other accident report, which finally turned up in the June issue, was inadequate and incorrect. Joe Gregor, in his report, touched on the factors involved in the accident, but then goes onto a recommendation saying "Exercise great caution when learning a new launch method". Mike had been aerotowing since 1992. How does flying aerotow for twelve years constitute learning a new method?

Dealing with the USHGA accident report process was a real eye opener. I talked to all the witnesses, including some very long and difficult discussions with Arlan. I wrote up a report and sent it in to the USHGA office. Then I heard nothing.

When I called the USHGA office, they said they had my report, and that it had been forwarded to Joe Gregor, but I still heard nothing from him. I posted to the hang gliding list to get Joe's e-mail, then I finally got something of a response from Joe. It seems I was being ignored because I was not the "official" investigator, that the regional director appoints. I know the pilot they appointed, he's a former student of mine that I was in contact with. I sent him a copy of my report. He said my report was more detailed than his, and that he sent a copy of my report along with his to Joe.

Two things bother me about the Haas report in the HG/PG magazine. The most frustrating and galling part is how they simplify Mike's accident and make it easy to dismiss. Anyone reading the recommendation can easily say "oh, he shouldn't have been learning to aerotow on a thermally day" when he was actually very experienced at aerotowing. The reasons behind the accident are many and not so easily wrapped up. The scariest thing about Mike's accident is that a number of seemingly little details added up to a situation that was fatal, and yet could easily go unrecognized even by an experienced pilot. As I said at the end of my report:

"Mike was a Hang IV pilot with over twentyyears experience. He was not a “hot dog” and was very safety conscious. No one who knew Mike could believe that this happened to him. Although I feel I have a better understanding now of what happened, I can’t help feeling that if this could happen to him, none of us are safe."

The second thing that gets to me is the functioning (or the lack thereof) of the accident report process. I understand they need a protocol, but what good is that protocol when facts, reasoned thoughts and viewpoints are ignored? When the procedure ignores input? I saw some of the comments from Joe Gregor to the "official" investigator, and they sound like he considered me an annoyance. I used to be a big advocate of sending in accident reports, but when I see the ball dropped so badly, I think, what's the point?

Why didn't I write this sooner? Mike was a dear friend of mine, writing up the accident report was very difficult, although I feel I did an objective job and solicited others for input to make sure it was complete. No one had any real changes, and a pilot who was there and had to break the news to Pam, Mike's widow, thanked me for dealing with it.

When I saw how the report was being botched by Joe Gregor and the USHGA magazine, I was furious, I just couldn't deal with it. First, I didn't want to write a response in anger, then I kept pushing it and the bad memories away and did nothing until now. Besides setting the record straight on Mike, I think it's also important to point out flaws in the accident reporting system.

I was talking to Bart at Cowboy Up about Mike's accident, and what he took from the report in the magazine confirmed my fears that someone simply reading that report would get an erroneous view of what happened.

(editor's note: I look forward to constructive criticism from others re Angelo's report here.)

Discuss "Report on the fatality report" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Lesson from an aerotow accident report

Wed, Jun 22 2005, 5:00:01 pm EDT

On Memorial day weekend, a pilot made a few mistakes which ended up hurting her.

Blue Sky|Joe Gregor|Steve Wendt|USHGA

Blue Sky|cart|Joe Gregor|Steve Wendt|USHGA

https://ozreport.com/pub/images/hollyaccidentreport.jpg

A few weeks ago there was a bad accident here at Blue Sky involving an experienced (three years) aerotow pilot who made a number of mistakes. You can read about her accident in the accident report above, which Steve Wendt, the owner of Blue Sky immediately wrote up and sent to Joe Gregor and Jayne DePanfilis, at the USHGA.

I spoke at length with Steve about this accident and he was quite open and willing to talk about it and about the lessons that can be learned.

First, the pilot couldn't find the portion of her V-bridle that attached to her keel and decided to tow off her shoulders, something that she had no experience with.

Second, she flew her more advanced glider when Steve felt that she would have normally flown her less advanced glider after not flying a lot lately and in the middle of the day.

Third, she didn't have a weaklink on the shoulder portion of her bridle, only on the portion that went to the keel, so she flew with didn't have a weaklink.

Fourth, she pulled in hard right away as she came off the cart. With no experience towing off her shoulders she didn't have a feel for the bar pressures that she would experience without the V-bridle.

Fifth, with her arms straight back she had much less control over the glider.

Sixth, she began to PIO immediately because she was pulled in so hard.

Seventh, she didn't release immediately once she started to PIO trying to "save the tow," even though she was out of control, because she had experience successfully towing and didn't understand how much trouble she was in, being out of control so low and so soon off the cart.

Eighth, without a weaklink the tug pilot had to release her, but too late when she was already in a too dangerous condition, but when she was endangering the tug pilot. The pilot was too low and too out of whack to recover in time.

Discuss aerotowing at the Oz Report forum

Terry Spencer's accident (part 3)

Tue, May 17 2005, 5:00:01 pm GMT

Terry was told not to land where he "landed."

Terry Spencer, Chad Elchin

Chad Elchin|CIVL|fatality|Joe Gregor|Joseph Andrew "Terry" Spencer|Steve Kroop

I spoke with Steve Kroop, Flytec Championship meet organizer. He stated that at every meet pilots are told not to land in the launch areas and near the tug landing areas. They are told and shown where to land away from the launching operations. I remember this to be the case for all the Flytec Championships also.

To encourage pilots to land out of the areas being used for launching, two vehicles with carts are dedicated to retrieving pilots who landed away from the launch lines. These carts were kept busy bringing pilots back with their gliders when weaklinks broke or pilots came back for relights.

Terry tried to land in a very busy area as you can read in Joe's Report here, an area that he was told not to land in. You can see from Joe's report how trying to land where he did could have easily lead to Terry becoming disoriented.

The pilot in command bears ultimate responsibility for his own safety. In this case Terry chose to fly with a medical condition which restricted his ability to land safely and chose to keep this information from the meet organizer. He also chose to land in an area that presented him with unique dangers and an area where he was asked by the meet organizers not to land.

His death and that of Chad Elchin, again due to his own mistakes, came during the same week (https://OzReport.com/7.098#3) and were a heavy emotional blow to the pilots in the Washington, D.C. and Maryland area, a number of whom were at the 2003 Flytec Championship. No one wants to blame the victim, but it is unfair to blame others, when the victim is at fault.

No doubt some will find this judgment heartless and cruel. I ask them, more so than blaming others who are in fact not to blame? Should the people connected with Flytec and Quest be blamed, just because they provided the venue? Should a tug pilot be blamed, just for doing what he was supposed to do? Have a heart.

The desire to blame others is certainly understandable and apparently universal. Today (9 AM EST) the BBC, while reporting on the opening of the trial of a Chechen for the Breslan massacre, included a reference to that fact that some of the mothers of some of the children killed there blamed a teacher at the school for not saving their children. This women lost two of her own children and saved ten children.

Other than the last paragraph the above was written last Saturday. Joe Gregor «air_medal» responds after reading the first two parts of my report today:

I think, if you wish to present an impartial and objective opinion, you need to point out in your column that Terry's 'medical condition' was not presented as the sole cause of this accident. Indeed, there is no way to know for sure how much it may have contributed to this particular event. I found no medical evidence that he even had this condition, beyond the statements of other fellow pilots.

Nevertheless, the accident report I wrote was a good-faith effort to explore all possible issues and settle on a 'Probable Cause,' in the hopes that we can develop guidelines that could prevent a future accident. In that vein it warranted serious discussion. We will never know with certainty what actually happened to Terry on that day. That knowledge is now lost.

(editor's note: In all three parts of this report I linked to Joe's report so that readers could read his report for themselves. I also did not report Terry's 'medical condition' as the sole cause of Terry's accident. Nor did I imply that Joe stated that. I quoted the relevant parts of Joe's report and added a further report from one of his fellow pilots. I also quoted the relevant parts of the CIVL and local rules. I don't know how much more objective I can be here. I very much appreciate receiving Joe's report and being able to make it more widely available.)

Discuss "Terry Spencer's accident (part 3)" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Terry Spencer's accident (part 2)

Mon, May 16 2005, 6:00:03 pm GMT

Terry came to the Flytec Championship with a "medical condition."

Terry Spencer

Blue Sky|CIVL|fatality|Joe Gregor|Joseph Andrew "Terry" Spencer|Lisa Kain|Marc Fink|Paul Tjaden|Quest Air|Steve Kroop

Joe Gregor writes in his accident report (here):

The pilot had suffered a blow to the head during a previous launch accident a year or so ago which resulted in a loss of consciousness for approximately twenty minutes.

The pilot reportedly admitted to having a vestibular problem, resulting in spatial disorientation when moving his head while in a turn on approach. This problem had reportedly resulted in at least one hard landing including glider damage at a local mountain site. It was related that he had devised a fix to this problem by holding his head steady and scanning with his eyes only while in a turn close to the terrain. During this same incident, the pilot also reported having problems seeing the ground through his glasses. It is unknown if he was flying with the same glasses at the time of this accident.

Possible complications due to a previously demonstrated spatial disorientation problem.

The accident pilot had admitted to problems in maintaining orientation (vertigo) when moving his head while turning on approach and close to the terrain. His solution was to keep his head stationary while turning and scan using eye movement only.

This would have severely restricted his ability to clear for traffic from multiple directions.

Head movements required to adequately clear the area on-approach may have triggered/aggravated the pilot’s vestibular problem, causing spatial disorientation during the final turn(s) and inadvertent ground contact at high speed.

Last week I just happened to speak with Paul Tjaden, a pilot who flew with Terry and he mentioned that Terry had mentioned problems with spatial orientation. I asked him to write up what he told me:

About two weeks prior to Terry's accident at Quest, Terry and I spent two hours driving to Blue Sky flight park where he shared some things I had not heard before. This was a couple of years back so my memory may be a bit clouded but I'll tell you what I think I recall.

Terry had been involved in the race horse industry, first as an exercise jockey and later as a horse shoer. During this time of his life he was knocked unconscious at least once if not twice. As I recall, he told me that he had received a concussion once from a fall and again when he was kicked by a horse he was shoeing.

During this same drive, Terry asked me if I ever became disoriented while flying. When I answered no, he told me that he had a problem with this that had caused another serious whack and unconsciousness when he failed to round out on final approach to a landing at Woodstock. He said that he had solved this problem by learning to keep his head very still, especially when close to the ground, and use his peripheral vision more. I don't know if his previous injuries had brought this on or if it had been a long standing issue.

I personally flew with Terry many times and never saw him making spiral dives to the LZ. Terry actually impressed me with his piloting skills and his cautious attitude. I watched him "potato" on launch numerous times waiting for a safe cycle to launch in. In retrospect, I guess he perhaps shouldn't have been flying at all if he had the spatial orientation problems I just mentioned. But Terry lived to fly. It would have torn out his heart to give it up. Could you quit if a similar problem came up? So I guess I don't blame him, he had learned to cope well with his small handicap, but maybe the extra stress and confusion of a large competition wasn't a good idea for him.

I have also been told (but am unable to independently verify) that Terry was knocked unconscious when he launched unhooked from Woodstock. In addition, Terry was known for the skill he showed with high angle slipping turns into the Woodstock LZ.

The CIVL Sporting Code states:

2. 20.4 Fitness

A pilot may not fly unless he is fit. Any injury, drugs or medication that might affect the pilot’s performance in the air must be reported to the Director before flying.

The CIVL Sporting Code only applies to Category I competition, but CIVL asks that meet directors use it for Category II competitions also, and the Flytec Championships is a Category II competition. The Quest Air waiver, which all contestants are required to sign, states:

I certify that I have no medical, emotional and/or physical conditions, which could interfere with my safety in this activity, or else I am willing to assume and bear the cost of all risks that may be created, directly or indirectly, by any such condition.

It would appear to me that Terry did have a medical condition that had already caused him to have a bad landing and get knocked unconscious in a hang gliding accident and that he didn't report this condition to the meet director as he was required to do. I asked Steve Kroop what would have happened if someone reported a medical condition, and he said that Quest would require (and has required) a written statement from the person's doctor saying that they were fit to fly.

Notice that Terry had a method of dealing with his spatial orientation problem, but that in a difficult landing situation he may not have been able to use that solution and could have easily become disoriented.

Marc Fink «in_a_cloud» writes:

In honor of Terry's memory--please drop any further public discussion of his accident. It is a very sensitive issue with his family and friends.

Lisa Kain came up to me today at Quest Air and had nothing but praise for the first article in this series. I told her that I would be receiving email like the one above.

Discuss "Terry Spencer's accident (part 2)" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Terry Spencer's accident (part 1)

Fri, May 13 2005, 8:00:03 pm GMT

Terry spiraled in in April, 2003 at the Flytec Championships

Terry Spencer

fatality|Joe Gregor|Joseph Andrew "Terry" Spencer|Quest Air

Recently I had a discussion of Terry's accident with pilots from his area which prompted me to write this series of articles. Here's the background:

https://OzReport.com/7.103#2
https://OzReport.com/7.112
https://OzReport.com/7.113#5

I spoke with Joe Gregor, who wrote the accident report on Terry's accident, at Quest shortly after Terry's death. You can find Joe's report here.

In my original article on the accident I wrote that, "A competitor augered (literally) himself into the ground today, doing two three sixties very low." (I didn't know who it was at the time). I was criticized by Terry's friends who were with him at Quest Air at the time for this description as they apparently couldn't believe Terry would do this. They were unhappy with me despite the fact that I was just describing what I and others witnessed.

Well, if they still doubt the accuracy and validity of that original observation, I suggest that they check out Joe's report.

Discuss "Terry Spencer's accident (part 1)" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

I'm not dead

Sun, May 2 2004, 2:00:03 am EDT

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

Joe Gregor|Rodger Hoyt|video

Rodger Hoyt «rodger» writes to Jayne after she asks for his accident report:

Not sure what you are talking about; I have had no accidents in recent history. Please read the Oz Report more carefully.

Perhaps you refer to a video I forwarded to the Oz Report from the ValleyVille HGA website. I have no info about that accident; I just saw the video and sent it to Davis. The accompanying report was anonymous.

Jayne, I am furious about your failure to verify facts before accusing me of having an accident and failing to report it, and exacerbating your blunder by cc'ing Joe Gregor. In your zeal to obtain reports, please refrain from starting unfounded rumors about fictitious accidents which could jeopardize my personal reputation as a pilot. I demand an apology immediately, to myself and to Mr. Gregor, and anyone else to whom you've spread this malicious untruth.

Discuss accident stats at the Oz Report forum

GIS⁣ site guide »

Wed, Dec 10 2003, 2:00:04 pm EST

GIS based site guides

GIS|Joe Gregor|Robert Franklin|USHGA

Parker «parke» writes:

I work as a developer for a company (Coleman) that maintains a *huge* US national recreation database… campgrounds, lakes/reservoirs, fire lookouts/cabins, guides/outfitters etc. as can been seen at http://www.colemanouternet.com

One of the primary goals we have been working hard on is an eventual "one to many" relationship with all this data and all the people needing it. Meaning, forest service rangers, army core engineers, weekend warriors, recreation developers etc. can all go to a single place to enter/maintain recreation data and it will automagically be "pushed" to whomever needs it via XML feeds, scheduled SQL data dumps etc. Update one source and it reflects all over.. a good concept.

Flying sites like Mr. Franklin's (and others like Wrongwind's, Mr Florit's Para2000 etc) could benefit from this type of thing, but I think (in the US anyway) the only way for this to happen would be to have USHGA run the show and "lean" on chapter information officers to update an USHGA "officially sanctioned" DB as opposed to however they maintain their site data now. Then whomever wanted to use that single data source could request a feed for their local chapter website, publication, press or whatever. It would only ever need to be updated in one "official" place, but be available everywhere… accurate and current. USHGA wouldn't necessarily need to actually develop/host/maintain this database, but they could give their official "blessing" to someone who does want to tackle a project like this.

Anyway, absolutely 100% of our feedback/research has been positive about this type of data management. Forest Service data managers (and other information managers we work with) *hate* (read: HAAAAATE!!!) having to try and keep recreation information current and accurate all over the internet. The current way they do it is an incredible waste of time and resources. It's potentially the same thing with flying sites (on a much smaller scale of course). There needs to be a definitive, all encompassing single data source even if there are many, many places that data is used.

The rather defeating caveat to all this is that people tend to be stubborn about information they feel they "own". That tends to blow this whole concept out of the water because people won't then use the system. Perhaps USHGA's influence over local chapters would negate this. Another caveat is that this really only applies to the US. Oh, how nice it would be to have a single global database of all free flight sites!

Robert Franklin «bobfranklin» responds:

I fully intend to make this happen as an open project for the users' benefit with or without anyone else, but would love to see a cooperative project.

I have gone to great lengths to control information visibility, even to the extent that a site may only be listed like the following:

Anonymous Name
USHGA Insured Site
HG PG
location: general quadrant lat 39N lon 176W
Contact:
USHGA Chapter
Site manager etc.

My database receives lat lon data in three styles but stores it as standard decimal so can be used by any system.

The open GIS standard is a broad spec that can describe and display almost anything. When the time comes for any data I/we have collected to be repurposed, I am positive that if it is not exactly compliant at that moment, it can be parsed or reformatted to fit any subset of the spec that it needs to fit. At this moment though, since I would not be serving maps to the general public, the main use would be as a lat lon with any other descriptors that would be deemed appropriate: name, activity descriptors, ownership etc. This might be for republication to other sites, like outdoor activities etc.

I provided Joe Gregor with my data's lat lon coordinates back in the Spring, which he reprojected using his own GIS system as scatter dots on a map, for a presentation he did on Hang Gliding to the Smithsonian.

I doubt that I would have any difficulty in adapting anything into compliance.

Discuss "GIS⁣ site guide" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

The Terry Spencer Fund

Wed, Apr 30 2003, 1:00:03 pm EDT

Joe Gregor|Joseph Andrew "Terry" Spencer|Tom McGowan

Tom McGowan <mcgowantk@yahoo.com> writes:

We have set up an account for anyone who would like to make a contribution to offset some of Terry's medical, funeral, and other expenses. To make a contribution, you can:

(i) mail a check to Tom McGowan;
(ii) send your contribution directly to the bank by making a wire transfer or making an electronic transfer, or
(iii) through Paypal.

The information on how to make a contribution is provided below. We do not have any information yet regarding a memorial service for Terry, but will forward any information we receive. We would like to thank everyone who has contacted us to ask how they can help. Terry was a good friend and he will be greatly missed. Thank you. Tom McGowan Steve Kinsley Joe Schad Bruce Engen Joe Gregor

If by mailing a check to Tom McGowan, please make the check to "The Terry Spencer Fund - Acct. No. 0019-2283-6694 For Deposit Only": Mail to Tom McGowan: 7413 Austin Street Annandale, VA 22003

Wire or electronic transfers to the bank (contact : Tom McGowan <mcgowantk@yahoo.com> for details)

Paypal information: <theterryspencerfund@yahoo.com>

Discuss "The Terry Spencer Fund" at the Oz Report forum   link»

USHGA – Awards »

Mon, Oct 28 2002, 10:00:02 pm EST

Aaron Swepston|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Aaron Swepston|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Joe Gregor|John "Ole" Olson|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Aaron Swepston|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Aaron Swepston|C.J. Sturtevant|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Aaron Swepston|C.J. Sturtevant|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Aaron Swepston|C.J. Sturtevant|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Aaron Swepston|Dan Nelson|Davis Straub|George Sturtevant|Jamie Shelden|Joe Gregor|PG|record|Thayer Hughes|USHGA

Dan Nelson «dnelson024» sends us this USHGA press release:

Topping the list of this year’s award winners is Steve Roti, who was given the USHGA Presidential Citation. This award is the highest honor given to a member of the Association for outstanding contributions to the sport at the local, regional and national level. Steve, a master-rated paraglider pilot from Portland, OR, is an active member of the Cascade Paragliding Club. He is a past USHGA Board member, and for the last few years, has been an invaluable part of the USHGA publications teams. Most recently, Steve re-energized the association’s website, bringing several new tools and functional changes online. He has also helped streamline the editorial process for the magazines by creating an online repository for magazine submissions and editorial works.

Joe Gregor, of the Capital Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, was honored with an USHGA Exceptional Service Citation. This award is given to a member in recognition of outstanding contributions to the Association over the last year. Joe has helped keep all hang glider and paraglider pilots in the air through his exceptional work on the FAA’s Sport Pilot NRPM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making). Joe helped draft USHGA’s response to the Federal Aviation Administration’s proposed Sport Pilot (SP) and Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) rules, helping to preserve and protect the rights of USHGA members to fly our gliders. Joe has endured endless bureaucratic meetings and read—and responded to—reams of paperwork. In short, he has done what few could — He effectively worked the political and bureaucratic processes.

Mark Windsheimer of Airtime Above Hang Gliding (http://airtimeabove.com), based in Evergreen, CO, earned the honor as USHGA’s Hang Gliding Instructor of Year for 2002. Mark is an advanced-rated instructor and a valued member of the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. Mark truly earned this award, by meeting and exceeding all the award criteria. That is, the award goes to the individual who best exemplifies a leader and teacher. The criteria for the award include skills as an instructor, serving as a role model for the sport within the pilot and general communities, and involvement in and support of USHGA and local club programs. Mark Windsheimer does all this and more, living up to his new title of USHGA Hang Gliding Instructor of the Year.

On the paragliding side of things, Robb Sporrer of Eagle Paragliding (www.eagleparagliding.com) received the USHGA Paragliding Instructor of the Year. Robb owns and operates Eagle Paragliding in Santa Barbara, CA. An advanced-rated instructor, Robb has the enviable talents of a natural-born teacher. His instruction methods focus first and foremost on safety, and then on the great enjoyment to be had in this sport. Like Mark, Rob meets and exceeds all the criteria for this honor. Robb is an active member of the South Coast Paragliding Association, and works with that club to preserve and enhance the flying opportunities in Southern California. But Robb also lives a second life—that of a model. His work in this field can be seen most readily in an Old Navy TV ad with Morgan Fairchild (that’s Robb with the pitchfork).

The USHGA named The Fly Paper (or, as it is affectionately known by its readers, eFly) as the Newsletter of the Year. The Fly Paper, a.k.a eFly (www.paraglider.org/flypaper) is the online publication of the Northwest Paragliding Club, and is edited by Ernie Friesen, with assistance from C.J. Sturtevant, George Sturtevant, Thayer Hughes, Beth Friesen, and a host of contributors. The USHGA Board voted The Fly Paper as the best example of a newsletter which exemplified the ideals of: valuable information content, support to members and clubs, layout, safety promotion and instruction.

Three pilots were singled out for USHGA Board Commendations for the outstanding contributions to the promotion of safe, enjoyable flight, and for their volunteer work with their local clubs and the national association. Those pilots receiving the USHGA Commendation are:

Matthew Graham, of the Capital Hang Gliding Association. Matthew is a director-at-large on the CHGA leadership roster, and in this role, he promotes the sport to the general public, and helps bring new pilots into the fold.

Bill Wixon, of the Southern New York Hang Glider Pilots Association. Bill is a tireless volunteer, serving the SNYHGPA as both Secretary and editor of their newsletter, Hawk Talk.

Dick Vobroucek, also of the Southern New York Hang Glider Pilots Association. Dick, an Assistant Professor of Hospitality & Tourism at Rockland Community College, was recently named "rookie of the year" by the SNYHGPA. Dick started hang glider pilot training two years ago and has been a valued volunteer for the local club ever since.

The Board also presented a Special Commendation to Mr. and Mrs. Rick Walker. The Walkers are Texas ranch owners in the Zapata area, and are great friends to the flying community. They have hosted parties—complete with barbecued wild javelina taken on their ranch— and flying events for hang glider and paraglider pilots for many years. Indeed, Rick has gone so far as to use his helicopter to assist with pilot and wing retrieval from far-flung corners of the Texas countryside. Davis Straub notes in his June 20, 2002 Oz Report that Rick flew his helicopter out on retrieval of the rigid wing (Flight Design Exxtasy) belonging to Jamie Sheldon after she set (but didn’t officially claim) the Women’s Rigid Wing World Record.

The Board of Directors (after nomination from Aaron Swepston) has also awarded an USHGA Commendation to Mike Daily for the work that he's done on the Trafton Training Hill. Mike is a hard-working volunteer with the Cloudbase Country Club, located in the Seattle-area.

USHGA Awards are presented annually at the Fall Board of Directors meeting. To find award criteria and nomination information, visit www.ushga.org.

Jayne thanks those who helped with the NPRM

Wed, May 8 2002, 6:00:04 am GMT

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dennis Pagen|HGMA|James "Jim" Zeiset|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|Mike Meier|NPRM|USHGA

Jayne m. Depanfilis <jayne@ushga.org> writes:

The USHGA Response to the NPRM was submitted to the DOT docket management system today by Bill Bolosky. Bill Bryden is responsible for writing the original draft and he completed numerous revisions of this draft based on an email exchange between members of the Sport Pilot Task Force and the Executive Committee that continued throughout this past weekend.

Mike Meier is also to be commended for his participation in this process. Mike recently represented the USHGA at the EAA sponsored meeting held in Osh Kosh to discuss the creation and implementation of the FAA's Consensus Standards. Mike gave a very impressive presentation regarding the history and experience of the HGMA. He also provided invaluable commentary during the writing of the USHGA's official response to the proposed Sport Pilot NPRM. Dennis Pagen chaired each of the Sport Pilot Task Force Meetings and Jim Zeiset provided enduring leadership throughout this entire process.

Joe Gregor edited much of the document himself while Bill Bolosky and I did the final edit. Bill Bolosky observed today, and rightfully so, that many others played a role in this important process. It was a successful collaborative process and I think Bill Bryden said it best when he commented that next time, "we'll get started even sooner."

I am very proud to be a member of the United States Hang Gliding Association. I am proud of the work that the Sport Pilot Task Force, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, accomplished on our behalf. I was so pleased to have worked with each one of the individuals involved in this process. I consider each one of them to be "experts in their own right." We are fortunate to have so many astute volunteers working on our behalf. This is a great time to be a member of the United States Hang Gliding Association. Thanks to all of you and a special thanks to Bill Bryden.

Discuss "Jayne thanks those who helped with the NPRM" at the Oz Report forum   link»

My boys did good

Wed, May 8 2002, 6:00:03 am GMT

Curt Warren|Flytec Championships 2002|Gerolf Heinrichs|Glen Volk|Kendrick "Ken/Kenny" Brown|Mike Barber

Kenny Brown <FlyaMoyes@aol.com> writes:

First thanks to you for the reporting and the meet organizers for organizing the two great meets in Florida this year. I followed the daily events with interest. I want to publicly recognize and congratulate Glen Volk, Curt Warren and Mike Barber for the fact that they each won a day at the Flytec Championships.

(editor’s note: I hope that Kenny can forgive me, but I just couldn’t help adding this note. You may recall that Gerolf and Curt were racing into goal to be the first flex wings in on the first day of the Flytec Championship side by side, neck and neck. 100 yards out Curt dives down next to the ground and gets into ground effect, nosing out Gerolf at the finish line.

Gerolf then proceeds to slam into Curt when Curt flares. Plenty of witnesses say that Gerolf had many other options as to where to land, that it looked as though he deliberately altered his course so as to come close if not hit Curt, but I can’t imagine that he really wanted to take out his own control frame and suffer as he did.

Still, the funny part (as in strange) was apparently how angry Gerolf was at Curt for beating him across the line. Seems like there is supposed to be this unwritten rule, that says that Gerolf gets to win the day when you’re on the Moyes team. Well, at least you are not supposed to beat him out by one second.)

Discuss "My boys did good" at the Oz Report forum   link»

USHGA responds to NPRM

Tue, May 7 2002, 12:00:05 pm EDT

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Joe Gregor|Mike Meier|PG|record|USHGA

www.ushga.org

The USHGA response came out on Monday night, just in time to go to the FAA. I’m sure that the full 23 page document will be available on their web site soon. Here is the executive summary of this very well thought out response (Bill Bolosky states “Bill Bryden did most of the work, and Mike Meier & Joe Gregor also did more than their fair share (as well as many other people)”:

Executive Summary

The USHGA has examined the provisions of the NPRM 11133 and makes the following comments in our response:

1)The USHGA has a well-established and enviable record of safety improvement and of leading industry self-regulation.Towing and two-place instruction have been absolutely integral to that success.Failure to preserve those would be highly detrimental.

2)The USHGA notes the proposed rule has many novel and refreshing aspects that may substantially benefit the light end of general aviation.However, many of the provisions would be detrimental if applied to hang gliding and paragliding activities.Our concerns regard the future of our two-place operations, aerotowing hang gliders, and the consequences these rules may have for the powered ultralight industry and the resultant collateral affect upon our sports.

3)The USHGA believes the Sport Pilot (SP) and Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) rules do not apply to hang glider and paraglider two-place operations.We are further concerned that enactment of the proposed rules could create expectations that compromise our ability to retain our two-place Part 103 exemptions in the future.

a)The USHGA recommends that the provisions of our two-place exemption be conducted under a deviation authority or be codified in Part 103.Alternatively, they could be codified in an SFAR designed to address a second tier of operations beyond the scope of Part 103 but beneath the general aviation aircraft the proposed rule has grown to encompass.

b)The USHGA strongly believes that any attempt to force our two-place operations under the proposed rules would significantly curtail two-place instruction availability, because the economics would drive a large majority of instructors out of the business.There is also a possibility that no certified gliders for instruction would ever become available.As discussed in Appendix B, these would have a deleterious effect upon the sports of hang gliding and paragliding producing fatality increases and significant societal economic cost.Should hang gliding and paragliding be forced to operate under these rules, several of the proposed operational limitations would be issues for hang gliding and paragliding, including:

i)the 10,000 foot altitude limitation,

ii)the fixed landing gear requirement (since hang gliders and paragliders do not have landing gear),

iii)the 80 hour maintenance course,

iv)the make and model signoffs, and

v)The instructor 5-hour requirement in make and model before teaching.

c)We believe the accident data used to argue safety improvement and economic benefit is suspect and the statistics and conclusions are of questionable credibility.

d)The USHGA recommends the 10,000 feet altitude restriction should be deleted or alternatively removable with a logbook endorsement.

4)The USHGA has extensive experience conducting safe towing operations.However, a means to accommodate the towing of ultralight gliders without exemptions is a FAA desire.Our recommendations, in order of preference, would be:

a)Modify Part 103 to incorporate the USHGA aerotowing program provisions.

b)Create a second SFAR to accommodate the towing and other second tier operations modestly beyond the realm of Part 103 but beneath the small general aviation planes the proposed rule has grown to encompass.

c)Modify Part 103 to permit deviation authority.

d)Should both above options be unacceptable, then modify the proposed rules to accommodate towing as outlined below.

5)Modifications to the Sport Pilot proposed rules would be required to facilitate towing as follows:

a)The USHGA requests that sport pilots be permitted to tow ultralight gliders not exceeding 155 pounds if they meet experience and training requirements and receive a logbook endorsement.

b)The USHGA recommends the make and model instructor endorsement limitation be removed and just category or class endorsements be utilized.

c)The USHGA recommends that simple in-flight adjustable propellers be permitted or alternatively permitted with a logbook endorsement.

d)The USHGA endorses the use of self-certifying medical certificates or alternatively a valid driver’s license.

6)The requirements for an aircraft capable of safely towing ultralight gliders are very unique and are not met by any standard or primary certified aircraft in existence.Special, purpose built ultralight trainer type vehicles and experimental aircraft are the only means to procure a vehicle capable of safely towing a hang glider aloft.The USHGA has concerns that the economics of LSA certification may preclude the availability of affordable tow vehicles.The USHGA specifically requests:

a)Ultralight tow vehicles similar to current ultralight trainers but with the characteristics as discussed in Appendix D of this comment be permitted to operate under Part 103 with deviation authority, with modified rules of Part 103 or under a new SFAR designed to address a second tier of operations beyond the scope of Part 103 but beneath the general aviation planes the proposed rule has grown to encompass.

b)Additionally, we request that Special -- Light Sport Aircraft, Experimental -- Kit Built LSA, Experimental – Exhibition, and Experimental -- Amateur Built aircraft be permitted to tow ultralight gliders.

c)The USHGA requests that a provision be integrated into the proposed and existing rules to facilitate towing and especially the training of new tow pilots for hire or compensation with experimentally certificated aircraft.

d)The USHGA recommends the definition of weight-shift control aircraft be re-considered to ensure wings with control surfaces activated by the motion of the fuselage relative to the wing not be precluded.

e)The USHGA requests the certification rules for weight-shift control aircraft accommodate the use of several different easily changeable wings with one powered fuselage.

f)The USHGA endorses the rule’s 16 hour and 80 hour course requirements to inspect and service powered LSA with the proposed new repairmen certificates.

Corrections to USHGA’s response to the NPRM

Thu, Apr 11 2002, 6:00:04 pm EDT

Bill Bryden|Joe Gregor|PG|USHGA

From USHGA’s Sport Pilot NPRM Task Force:

Call For Immediate Comment on the Sport Pilot / Light Sport Aircraft NPRM

We need your help.The 90-day comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on the Certification of Aircraft and Airmen for the Operation of Light-Sport Aircraft comes to an end onMay 6th, 2002. In order to be sure that your comments are considered, they must be submitted to the FAA very soon. You must identify the docket number – FAA-2001-11133 – at the beginning of your comments. The fastest way to submit your comments is through the Internet to http://www.faa.gov/avr/arm/proc.cfm, and look under the subsection: Notice of Proposed Rule Making:“Certification of Aircraft and Airmen for the Operation of Light-Sport Aircraft”, click on docket number FAA-2001-11133 Notice #02-03, that will take you to the DOT/Docket Management System site (http://dms.dot.gov), click on “ES Submit” to register your comments.You may also address written comments to the Docket Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room Plaza 401,400 Seventh St. SW,Washington,D.C.20590-0001. You must submit two copies of your comments. You should not use the U.S. Mail to this address, because mail delivery in the D.C. area is still being substantially delayed by security measures. Federal Express or UPS is preferable. You can also send your comments by mail or FAX (719-632-6417) to the USHGA office atP.O. Box 1330,Colorado Springs,CO80901-1330, and the office will forward them by Federal Express to the FAA.

If the rule is adopted as currently written, there is a danger that we will lose our ability to fly tandem in hang gliders and Paragliders – even for training purposes – and that we will lose our ability to use aero-towing to launch hang glider flights.

Please keep in mind that all comments will become part of the docket, and will be made public. Your comments should be polite, reasoned and factual. Where possible they should focus on specific ways in which the proposed rule will affect you as a hang glider or paraglider pilot.If your flying was positively affected by tandem or aero-towing in the past or the loss of tandem or aero-towing would affect you in the future, briefly explain how this is of personal significance. Even if the loss of either privilege would not affect you directly, explain how you feel their loss would negatively impact the sport, in terms of safety, economics, and the ability of the sport to survive. Would the dealerships and manufacturers on whom you depend for service, training, and new products be able to survive if these operational capabilities are lost? Would flying sites be lost? Would the economic viability of the sport suffer? Would safety be compromised if the best training methods and launch methods were not available?Make it concise, one page or less, and personal.Our goal for member comment is to simply impress upon the FAA and others the significance of the proposed rule’s issues for our operations and future.

The USHGA will also be submitting comments in response to the NPRM.Members of the USHGA Sport Pilot Task force have been meeting with representatives of the FAA, most recently on April 10th, to discuss ways in which the proposed rule would affect hang gliding and paragliding and evaluate options to address those concerns.These discussions have been very useful in helping the USHGA to formulate its response, and make plans for addressing concerns raised by the proposed rule.

The essence of our comments will be to point out that for reasons of safety, and in order to provide for the survival of the sport, we need to preserve our ability to fly tandem and to aero-tow launch.

By way of background, the NPRM came out of a nearly ten year process of reviewing part 103 (in which the USHGA participated) for the purpose of addressing certain ultralight operations that were taking place outside of the scope of the limitations contained in Part 103. In some cases these operations were being conducted under exemptions granted to Part 103, and in some cases the operations simply involved vehicles which did not meet the limitations of Part 103, or two place operations not being conducted under an exemption. The result of this process was the present proposed rule, which intends to move operations that do not fit within the definitions and limitations of Part 103 into a new regulatory context, involving certificated airmen – to be known as Sport Pilots - and certificated aircraft – to be known as Light Sport Aircraft.

For more details on the FAA proposed rules, please see the articles by Joe Gregor and Bill Bryden in the September 2001 issues of Hang Gliding Magazine and Paragliding Magazine, and on our website www.ushga.org. A further article by Joe Gregor appears in the April magazine issues. You can also access the entire NPRM at http://www.faa.gov.

The two issues for hang gliding and paragliding which will be most affected under this proposed rule are tandem flying in hang gliders and paragliders and aero-tow launches in hang gliders. The FAA is prohibited by its own policies from using exemptions as a long-term solution to issues that can be addressed by regulations. They therefore propose that at some time after the adoption of the new rule, there will no longer be exemptions made to Part 103, and existing exemptions will not be renewed.

Currently, two place hang gliding and paragliding, and aero-tow launches of hang gliders are allowed by exemptions to Part 103. If these exemptions become unavailable, it will be necessary for us to seek another way to be allowed to fly tandem and aero-tow launch legally. Unfortunately, the proposed Sport Pilot / Light Sport Aircraft rule, as presently written, does not provide a means for us to continue either tandem flying of hang gliders and paragliders or aero-tow launching of hang gliders.

In discussions with representatives of the FAA, they have made it clear to us that they do not wish to stop us from flying tandem or from aero-towing. They understand that these operations are fundamental to our sport, and they have assured us that they want to work with us to find a way for us to continue these operations.

As the first part of that process, at the FAA’s request, we are going to submit comments to the FAA requesting that the proposed rule be changed so that provision is made to allow Sport Pilots – with proper training – to aero tow a hang glider for the purpose of launching the hang glider, using a Light Sport Aircraft which has been appropriately designed and certified for hang glider aero-tow launch operations.In these comments we will also be pointing out to the FAA that tandem flying is a fundamentally necessary method to provide training in both hang gliders and paragliders in the safest possible manner. We will further point out that aero-tow launching of hang gliders is the most practical way to extend the benefits of tandem training to the largest number of new pilots. And we will point out that aero-tow launching is fundamental to the continued healthy existence of hang gliding in many areas of the country where foot launching from mountains and hills is not an available option.

As the second part of this process, again at the FAA’s request, we will be submitting new applications for exemptions for tandem flying in hang gliders and paragliders and aero-tow launching of hang gliders.In the process, we will address some problems with the current exemptions, and thus make the exemptions more workable. It is expected that these exemptions will, when granted, provide us with the means to continue to conduct these operations legally until alternative regulatory solutions can be developed which will allow for these operations without the need for exemption.

The FAA has expressed their commitment that Part 103 will not be changed. Privileges which exist under 103 (not including those granted by exemption like tandem and aero-towing) will continue to exist under Part 103. Hang glider and paraglider operations that have not required an exemption in the past are not threatened by this proposed rule. However, our tandem and aero-tow operations are in jeopardy, and we need to help the FAA help us to find solutions. The first step is to have our comments entered into the docket, which provides the FAA with the justification they need to find those solutions.

Please take the time to send in your comments NOW.

Sport Pilot License

Wed, Mar 20 2002, 2:00:09 pm EST

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dennis Pagen|Florida|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|Malcolm Jones|Mike Meier|Richard Williams|Steve Kroop|USHGA|Wills Wing

Jayne DePanfilis, USHGA Executive Director «Jayne» writes:

The USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force met inOntario,CA on Saturday, February 10th with high ranking FAA officials to discuss our specific concerns regarding the proposed Sport Pilot NPRM. The FAA was represented by Mike Henry, FAA General and Commercial Division Manager responsible for the supervision of Part 103 Operations, Sue Gardner, Technical Expert for the Sport Pilot NPRM and Assistant to Mike Henry, and Scott Sedgewick, Aircraft Certification Service, Small Airplane Directorate. The USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force was represented at this meeting by USHGA President, Jim Zeiset, USHGA Treasurer, Bill Bolosky, Executive Director, Jayne DePanfilis, Task Force Member and Technical Editor, Mike Meier of Wills Wing, Task Force Member and Technical Editor, Bill Bryden. Task Force Chairman Dennis Pagen was unable to attend. Chairman Dennis Pagen directed the preliminary task force meeting the day before. Task Force members Malcolm Jones ofWallabyRanchFlightPark,Orlando,FL and Steve Kroop of FlytecUSA andQuestAirFlightPark,Orlando,FL, were just two of the attendees at the preliminary meeting the day before. A list of action items and a detailed agenda resulted from this meeting under Pagen's supervision.

The Sport Pilot Task Force was able to schedule an exclusive meeting with high ranking FAA officials as a result of the rapport that Executive Director DePanfilis began with Sue Gardner in the aftermath of the events of September 11th. This breakfast meeting held in conjunction with the USHGA Board of Director's meeting and Air Sports Convention in February, gave the USHGA Task Force the opportunity to address issues of specific concern to USHGA members. Please refer to the homepage of USHGA's website at www.ushga.org for a synopsis of that meeting provided by Treasurer Bill Bolosky. This synopsis was posted to the home page of the website immediately following the meeting in February and was recently revised with comments from Bill Bryden.

Hang glider pilot, NTSB employee and friend, Joe Gregor graciously agreed to review the proposed Sport Pilot NPRM in preparation for the release of a comprehensive review of the NPRM which will be featured in the April issues of both magazines. Joe's article not only reviews and highlights the pertinent facts of the proposed NPRM, it also provides detailed critical analysis of the lengthy document. This is an excellent article and one that follows the first article Joe wrote for the magazines last fall when USHGA was anticipating the release of the NPRM. The release of the much anticipated NPRM was postponed as a result of the September 11th tragedy. Both of Joe's articles were reviewed by the NPRM task force and technical editors and the task force agrees that his observations and analysis are accurate and reflective of our true concerns.

A copy of Bill Bolosky's synopsis of our meeting with the FAA will also be included in the April magazines as a sidebar to Joe's article and Bill's synopsis includes USHGA's preliminary opinion and recommendations for USHGA's strategy concerning the preparation of our official Association response due in early May. Bill's letter also includes information pertaining to the second and final meeting that will take place in Florida during the Lakeland Air Show when once again members of the USHGA Sport Pilot Task Force will meet with high ranking FAA officials to discuss USHGA Tandem and Towing Exemptions and the importance of Aerotow Flight Park Operations to the future of our sport. FAA officials expected to attend this meeting include Mike Henry, Sue Gardner, Scott Sedgewick, Mike Gallagher.

The Sport Pilot Task Force will begin the preparation of our final analysis of the Association's response immediately following this meeting. Bill Bryden is the expected author of USHGA's final official response to the proposed NPRM.

Please consider that USHGA learned from FAA officials in February that our response needs to be one that relates to the safety considerations and economic impact of the NPRM as it is currently fashioned. It takes time and a great deal of thought and fact finding to prepare this kind of meaningful report and while it may appear on the surface to our members that the task force is invisible, the task force has been working nonstop behind the scenes to compile resources, collect data and to provide qualitative and quantitative analysis in support of the USHGA's contention that the NPRM in its current format presents serious challenges for aerotow flight park operations and tandem instruction. Aerotow flight parks and tandem training are both critical to the growth and continuation of our sport.

I regret that a staff member from the USHGA office may have inadvertently given Richard Williams the impression that the USHGA and our Sport Pilot Task Force are doing anything but working continuously behind the scenes to be sure the Task Force is prepared for our final meeting with the FAA in April. Allow me to reiterate that the USHGA membership is very fortunate to have such a panel of experts on the Task Force including USHGA officers, manufacturer's representation, aerotow flight park representation etc. Bill Bryden was one of the original members of the ARAC Committee when deliberation of the Sport Pilot NPRM first began. Dennis Pagen's credentials speak for themselves.

Please refer to the USHGA website for updates on the USHGA's position as it relates to the proposed NPRM. You can expect updates to begin immediately after our meeting with the FAA the second week of April. Members will still have about three weeks to prepare statements of letters of concern. It is not yet clear whether a letter writing campaign will be our preferred approach to our response to the NPRM. These letters must be thoughtful, insightful and they must contain real data indicating supporting the argument that both the continuation of tandem training and aerotow flight park operations are critical to the survival of our sports.

USA Sport Pilot

Sun, Feb 24 2002, 10:00:06 am EST

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dan Johnson|Dennis Pagen|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|Lookout Mountain|Mike Meier|PG|record|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dan Johnson|Dennis Pagen|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|John "Ole" Olson|Lookout Mountain|Mike Meier|PG|record|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dan Johnson|Dennis Pagen|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|Lookout Mountain|Mike Meier|PG|record|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Bill Bolosky|Bill Bryden|Dan Johnson|Dennis Pagen|Jayne DePanfilis|Joe Gregor|John "Ole" Olson|Lookout Mountain|Mike Meier|PG|record|USHGA|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Mark G. Forbes «mgforbes» writes:

The "executive summary" is that we've been involved with the process for quite some time (years) and we're going to be meeting with the FAA folks at Sun-N-Fun in a couple months to hammer out some more of the details. Thoughtful comments would be a good thing, but bear in mind that *our* concerns will probably not be best addressed by major changes to the NPRM, but rather by other means within FAA. And scrapping the whole Sport Pilot proposal is just not going to happen, so we don't think directing our effort that way is a good use of our time and energy.

[Jayne writes...]

As you know, the FAA Sport Pilot NPRM was released just one week prior to the USHGA's board meeting which was held in conjunction with the Air Sports Expo in Ontario California, February 7-10th. The United States Hang Gliding Association created a Sport Pilot Task Force last summer and we teleconferenced in August to discuss the release of the NPRM. The release of the NPRM was postponed until the beginning of February due to the events of September 11th.

Members of the Sport Pilot Task Force include Bill Bryden, Dennis Pagen, Mike Meier of Wills Wing, Matt Taber of Lookout Mountain Flight Park, Dan Johnson, Malcom Jones of Wallaby Ranch Flight Park, USHGA Treasurer Bill Bolosky, USHGA President Jim Zeiset, USHGA Executive Director Jayne DePanfilis, and Joe Gregor. Joe provided USHGA members with a detailed report about the history of the NPRM, which was published in both magazines this past fall. The article can be read on USHGA's website. Members will also find a direct link to the Sport Pilot NPRM on USHGA's home page, www.ushga.org

Members of the Task Force including Bill Bryden, Mike Meier and Dennis Pagen, have actually been involved to varying degrees with the Sport Pilot NPRM since ARAC first met over 10 years ago. Bill Bryden participated in ARAC Committee meetings.

I want to report that USHGA members are fortunate to have such an articulate group of experts working diligently to protect and promote our interests with respect to aerotowing hang gliders and conducting tandem hang gliding and paragliding operations.

USHGA met exclusively with FAA officials for a breakfast meeting during the Ontario Convention and Bill Bolosky provides a written report outlining the results of that meeting below.

I have developed a very good working rapport with Sue Gardner since the events of September 11th and Sue is the Technical Expert for the Sport Pilot NPRM. USHGA representatives appreciated the opportunity to meet with the FAA and to ask questions and to express our concerns. The FAA was very attentive and we remain optimistic as we continue to work closely with them. We look forward to meeting with the FAA again during Sun N Fun in April.

This is not a formal statement of USHGA's position on the NPRM. We are waiting until we meet with the FAA again in April to release a formal position statement. We will be able to develop a more accurate and effective statement as we continue to work with the FAA over time. We will still have plenty of time in April to initiate a letter writing campaign etc. but we would like to do so after we have followed up with written correspondences from the task force and after we meet again with the FAA in April.

Bill Bolosky bolosky@microsoft.com writes:

On the morning of February 9, 2002, several people from the USHGA had the opportunity to meet with three senior-level people from the FAA to discuss the implications on hang gliding and paragliding operations of the new Sport Pilot proposed rule. Attending from the FAA were Mike Henry, FAA Manager of General Aviation, Sue Gardner, overseer of the NPRM, and Scott Sedgwick from the Operations Office in Kansas City; from the USHGA were President Jim Zeiset, Executive Director Jayne DePanfilis, Director Bill Bryden, Mike Meier of Wills Wing and myself.

Many of us have had legitimate concerns that the proposed Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft rule, if implemented, would limit our abilities to aerotow and to fly tandem. Currently, these operations are conducted under exemptions from FAR part 103 that have been in effect for twenty years. The NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) states that it is the intention of the FAA to stop issuing long-term exemptions such as these. Furthermore, the NPRM is not worded in a way that would allow Sport Pilots to operate tow planes. This is the source of the worry that there may be serious adverse consequences from this rule.

The essence of the message conveyed to us was that the FAA in no way intends to interfere with the hang gliding aerotow and hang- and paragliding tandem operations. Sue Gardner said that the FAA understands that we have an excellent safety record and a quality program, and that they do not want to stop us. Because the Sport Pilot program as it will be initially implemented will not allow aerotowing, they indicated that they would be open to the concept of extending the aerotow exemption, possibly in a modified form, until such time as new rules are made to allow for "semi-commercial" operations. Because this would not be a "permanent" exemption, but rather only until further rulemaking can be accomplished, it is an acceptable use of the exemption process.

Tandem is a different issue. There is currently no intention by the FAA to produce a formal rule that will allow two place operation of part 103 legal ultralight vehicles (ie., hang gliders and paragliders). Therefore, renewing the tandem exemption in perpetuity would constitute "rulemaking by exemption," which is frowned upon by their lawyers. Instead, they are seeking a letter of deviation authority, which would allow them to grant to USHGA a deviation from the rules, permitting continued tandem operations under our current program. From our perspective, there would be little change, but this is legally more acceptable to the FAA. Furthermore, this deviation would be approved by (and renewed by) the Flight Standards group at the FAA, rather than through the exemption process. Exemptions are handled by different people who are less friendly towards us.

There will be a follow-up meeting between the USHGA and the FAA at Sun-N-Fun in April to discuss details of the plan to make the necessary legal requests to have the new exemption and deviation approved. We will continue to report to the membership on the progress of this process.

Many of us came away from our multiple sessions with the FAA with the optimistic viewpoint that our current operations will not only be preserved, but also be finally made legal in all phases. However, the ARAC process that we have participated in since 1993 indicates that the final results that the FAA produces are not always what was envisioned. The process of final rulemaking will take several years. It could well be that the personnel responsible for the rule could change along with the attitude and intentions of the FAA. Therefore, we are convinced we cannot be lulled into inaction at this point.

We believe that it will be appropriate for USHGA members to send in formal comments to address the problems with the proposed rule. However, the comments that the membership makes will be more useful if they're made in light of the results of the USHGA/FAA meeting scheduled to take place in April. Therefore, we suggest that you wait to send in your final, formal comments until you hear from us in mid-April. The comment period extends until May 6, 2002, so there will still be several weeks left to do a good job with the final versions. Of course, the sooner you read the NPRM, the more time you'll have to mull over exactly what's been proposed and what you'd like to see happen in the final rule.

[Squashed copy of the NPRM in MS Word format here:] http://home.mindspring.com/~mgforbes/sportpilotNPRM.doc

When the final version of the USHGA comments are ready, we will make them widely available to interested pilots by posting them on our website and providing links in all of the usual email lists. We hope to have them ready shortly after the April meeting. If any members have ideas that they would like to see in the comments from the USHGA, please send them to us at «ushga».

Mike Meier «Mike» writes:

The impression I've gotten from the FAA is that what they will most likely respond to are comments that are thoughtful, specific in detail and at the same time broad in scope, and well documented by facts and numbers.

While we don't want to discourage members from responding, it would be perfectly reasonable for us to point out that it is not likely to be the number of comments, nor the level of passion expressed in those comments that will make a difference to the FAA.

Rather, I think, it is the quality of the comments, and the degree to which the arguments contained therein can be supported.

Sport aviation and the FAA

Mon, Jul 9 2001, 12:00:04 pm EDT

Davis Straub|Joe Gregor|record|Robert Sweeney|USHGA

Robert Sweeney «soarxc» writes:

This is an excellent article coming from someone with great perspective on these events. Joe Gregor is a Fusion pilot in MD, as well as his other credentials: http://www.go-get.com/skyline/0106/1.htm.

Quote from the article:

It is important to note that, "This proposal would include the towing of gliders or unpowered ultralights as a Sport Pilot privilege. The U.S. Hang Gliding Association has extensive experience in this arena...The safety record of these operations has been extremely good..." Current tow parks operators, and those who enjoy flatland flying, can breath a cautionary sigh of relief. But lest we get too comfortable the FAA notes that: "To preserve this safety record, the activity does require operational guidelines similar to those implemented by the USHGA, and provision is made for the FSRB to establish those...the FSRB could easily adjust the criteria as necessary through administrative action to correct any unforeseen problems to preserve safety." The good news is that we may continue to operate pretty much as before. The bad news is that we are on the slippery slope to becoming a fully regulated aviation activity