To Mario,
Just wondering: Look at the shadows of the hills. The launch is into shadow. The wind is changing as you noted. When a hillside is in shadow, the ground air is not heated. Downslope air flow may have begun and the launch may have thus been into mild downslope flow, perhaps even mild lee rotor. Your comment on this would be interesting. Heal fast!
joefaust777

To Joe,
Does slowly walking up to launch with a fully inflated wing overhead look like downslope flow to you?
You really need to do some studying before dumping such nonsense
...besides the fact that you (ignorant) paraglider haters are not welcome here anyway.
mariomohl 

To Mario
1. What occurs in one place in one moment does not force what will occur in a later moment at another place.

2. You noted wind was changing; change is caused; the causes of the change ought to be examined as closely as possible. You can have inflationary wind in the walk from more than one kind of wind source; indeed lee rotor can have a section that acts like upslope wind. Did you have downslope flag information...and how much downslope wind information did you have?

3. I have been studying wind for 50 years; I do not claim expertise, but qualified enough to face your general request for your understanding of what might have happened in your launch and and near launch incident, especially with questions that you or others might address. You assumed that I did not do studying.

For you to hold questions and surmise simply as "nonsense" might clue you to a possible habit of rashness that might have been part of the day's challenge. Inadequate wind information in geographical downslope points ...rashly launched into...might be part of the problem.

At nil-wind there are various helicities in the air that will change the shape of a soft canopy. At low-wind there are additional helicities that will change the shape of a soft canopy. At high winds there are additional helicities that will change the shape of a soft canopy. Slopes, plants, moisture differences, releases pockets of warm air, falling pockets of cold air, etc. make complex even what might seem to be mild-air conditions; release times for such changes are variable.
joefaust777 

To Joe,
     Nil wind helicities !!!   Now that's a new one.
Wouldn't have thought someone could be that stupid.
Go away.   mariomohl 

To Mario,
The true picture of air is extremely complex of motions. In natural settings with plants, rocks, slopes, there is no such thing as truly laminar air, especially in the boundary zone. Soft canopies will take the shape of the helicities, only modified some by ambient flows caused from loadings; but when sail loading is altered by the direction of the helicity immediately entered, then shape of canopy is altered.
joefaust777 

We are enlisting members of World ParaGliding Association
to study your video and perhaps bring forward ideas about the incident.
joefaust777 

To Joe,
You and your fake assoc. are not welcome. Please keep your paraglider hatred and stupidity to yourself.
mariomohl 

To Mario,    
    The org is not fake; all is up front and growing; nothing hidden. Legitimate, for real. No hatred, only love, care, concern, and desire to advance paragliding.  We are all working to advance design, activity, safety, knowledge, and good changes. Membership is growing; participation is growing. Selling nothing. No dues. Target is robust unlimited paraglider design and unlimited paragliding activity done safely. All scales. One activity of WPGA is to address your incident.
joefaust777

Thanks for sharing the video some of my students showed me this link.
It all helps for me to produce a safer pilot within my school.
Rob Chsiholm freeflightbrighton 

A parachute is not an appropriate device to attempt to fly. Look at the video. The sail lost its shape because it lacked an airframe. It is impossible for me to understand how anyone could be so stupid as to attempt to launch a paraglider in conditions that threaten turbulence. Perhaps during your recovery you can contemplate why 80 paraglider pilots have died this year.
Rick M.
[[THE ABOVE NOTE was deleted from the reply posting by video poster.
Note was replaced here for safety-critical analysis of the incident.]]

Que garrón, como decimos en Uruguay a algo así!! No pintaba eso para nada...! La vela parece como picada, poca incidéncia...Esta std en configuración? Se nota bien que la tenías algo frenadita e igual colapsó abruptamente! Que pena que se disparó y se puso a tu altura bajando juntos y no aguantando un poco la aceleración hacia el planeta. Ya está...Me imagino lo que estás pasando...Solo queda desearte la mejor recuperación posible...Saludos, Alan.
pipkeajaj 2 weeks ago
De donde salió eso?! Si me pasara eso a mi me costaría volver a confiar en las condiciones...
guill3

@guill3rmo Gracias Guillermo, ese es justamente mi problema.
mariomohl 

 

A sunny, windy, high pressure day comes to an end.
7 p.m., the wind is slowing down a bit allowing even a few normal wings into the air.
" A 75% assym out of the blue? It sure felt that way. A strong enough downdraft to fold a well loaded wing, that late in the day? Others in the air reported smooth sailing. To me it meant a year out of my life. "

• Analysis:
• Time of day.
• Shadow of hills.  Launching into shadow.
• Wind is changing.
• "well-loaded wing"
• Uses information about others in the air.
• [ ] Wind date on the slope in front of him???? Oct. ___, 2011
• [ ] Structure of the hill behind and in front?
• [ ] Rate of plant-heat bubble releases upon the shadowing of the hillside in front of the launch? Rate of bubble coalescing?
• Yes, the trimmers were set slightly open, same position I had flown that wing the previous day.
• No hint of it having a soft nose until this event and this one clearly goes beyond just nose.
• v
• v
• [ ] “Help understand, please” 

  http://paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=43114

Here will be an analysis of what is brought up at other forums on the incident:
 

PC opines: " It looks like mechanical turbulence in their, sometimes in high pressure systems it can persist much longer than usual. It happened to me that in a ridge soaring flight in such conditions, wake turbulence from the other gliders around persisted so much that I hit it even after the other glider was long gone from my vicinity. In you case I think it was the terrain that generated it. Maybe combined with your trimmers generated the collapse. "

DT opines: "The wing seems to ripple a bit while kiting it to launch, suggesting some turbulence. For a speed wing that looks a bit odd considering the load on those wings. Just before you had the collapse, you can see in the video a slight drop in altitude. You were braking the wing before this happened and you released the brakes right before the drop. The wing surged just a bit and combined with mechanical turbulence this led to a collapse. AsPC mentioned the whole series of events looks very much like wake turbulence (the slight drop and the acceleration after the drop) although there wasn't any other wing in your vicinity. "

Mario muses:
"Mechanical turbulence is a definite possibility but this is our usual launch site and has been for years. Kind'a hard to accept such monsters are lurking right where we usually play. It does take a half serious downdraft to blow out a well loaded wing, right?

This is the tough part for me. Trying to imagine what it takes to deflate a wing from straight overhead, and that such "niceties" could be floating around, invisible, at so called "safe" hours of the day and in well known areas.

From the look of things, I guess I'll have to write this one off to "a sum of factors". Would've preferred to find a nice, cleancut, duh explanation."

G opines:
i have looked at the video several times now and i am sure your left side seems to look more braked than the right? it looks like it is flying assymetrical. when you first get airborn all your weight went to your left looking out yet still on a mini wing if anything the wing should of went left. were the lines checked for knots at the upper cascade on the right hand of the wing looking out on the upper c's. this once happend to me on a golden 2 and as i launched all looked fine until i tried to turn on the knotted side and soon as i did the whole peeled away, caught it just in time but had to fly out to the landing. if its neither of the above then like said above this is just unforgiving when close to the ground.

watched again and as you jump off it looks like your trailing edge drops alot and then imediately surges forward as you see the whole ripple run through the glider
31 seconds then at 46 to 53 seconds

NH opines:
Have you noticed the quick tuck on the trailing edge of the right side of your glider immediately preceding the collapse? I seems to me that the wing may have been in the very beginnings of a negative spin induced by that tuck when suddenly, it was completely released causing a surge and the asymmetric collapse possibly even exacerbated by turbulence from a passing wing. I can't tell what caused the tuck, but I don't believe it was turbulence, the most likely culprit is over braking that side for balance. Since your wing was just getting started it may have been flying slow and more susceptible to stall/spin.

T opines:
My analysis is simpler: you didn't keep the wing over your head. It's a common mistake to use the brakes to keep a certain line tension as if that were proportional to internal pressure but not focused on keeping the wing vertical above you (the key to active flying), so when you feel the pressure drop you bring the breaks down, but as you are dropping you want glide, so released them in a hurry when the wing was still surging, and now made it worse because it's
a) surging from slower speed,
b) taking in more air to replace the one sucked in by the brake so less pressure,
c) going slower so harder to counter without stalling and d) when you pumped the wing you took away speed from the pilot, making the surge larger. If you had kept the brakes for a bit longer until the wing was back in straight flight, maybe it wouldn't have done that.

However I have never flown a speed wing, so I am drawing conclusions out of paragliding logic applied to a faster wing, that's all.
 

    Mario is replying. He admits not ever knowing about helicities occurring in nil wind.  He does not seem to realize that the wind at one moment in one place can be very different from wind at a different moment at a different place. He does seem to be open to strata difference. Or many other kinds of turbulence that can occur unexpectedly.   He does not want to discuss the possibilities of wind structures during the time of wind changes. He deems World ParaGliding Association as "fake."  He sees me as PG hater, which is not true; I just want solutions to some real problems in PG ways.    etc.    He, as you noted, started a thread wanting to discuss his lack of knowing what happened. Then he seems closed in so many ways.   Rick, do you have a place to put a fatality into a future year; Mario can be placed in that collection, sad to guess?     ~~JoeF
 

JoeF, 

In the 1970s, I co-wrote a treatise on Charles Manson and his influence on his “family” members. You could take look at each member, analyze their histories and recognize a common thread – a damaged personality that Manson had learned to manipulate. A few years later, a friend was “captured” by the Moonies. Part of the indoctrination was to convince the new recruit that he could not trust anyone outside the cult and must not even talk to anyone from outside. This is a common thread in all cults and is the reason that people who have fallen under their influence must often be “kidnapped” by de-programmers and forced back into the real world.

When I recently came across the proponent of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), the writings that I shared with you, I found greater insight into understanding cults. I had begun to suspect that a significant segment of paragliding culture had become a cult when

1) my expert analysis of nonrecourse danger zones in paragliding (the PDMC) resulted in personal attacks without rational discussion and

2) I realized that paragliders were inventing a new language out of existing aeronautical terminology where definitions were changed; e.g., acrobatics vs. aerobatics.

It was as if rational discussion were prohibited – and indeed, I believe it is. This is peer pressure at work. The cultists weave an imaginary world with an imaginary language. They reinvent themselves as heroes embarking on something completely new and wonderful, rather than an inefficient and very dangerous kludge of a perfected technology (hang gliding).

Mario has been successfully indoctrinated. He sees the proven world of aviation as a threat to the narcissistic vision of himself as hero and is now unable to engage in rational discourse. His only alternative is to turn to other NPDs within his cult for guidance. This is what is so dangerous when impressionable and adventurous young people go to paragliding schools and fall within the influence of these proselytizing NPDs who cannot recognize or understand the quality of risk in what they do. Even after his terrible and debilitating injuries, Mario cannot bear to even consider the possibility that he could have been misled by his NPD “friends”. Those with differing opinions have become the enemy. He can only seek guidance from within the cult. He is fully programmed.

I agree with you that he will likely jump back on a paraglider and possibly experience another accident. Repetitive accidents are very common in paragliding because the theory of pilot error is a myth. Despite what we easily recognize as the truth – that paragliding is a significant gamble – Mario will continue to believe, as a result of his NPD, that he can master the paraglider just like his “friends” who have not yet fallen.

Of course, the dead do not speak – and this is why I have tried to give them a voice. Their voices can reach those who have not yet fallen under the influence of the cult.

Rick Masters

Mythology of the Airframe

http://www.cometclones.com/mythology2011.htm