Fatal Paraglider Accident Near Chalfant (Owens Valley)
Steve Roti
Fatal Paraglider Accident Near Chalfant
Written by Tom Woods Monday, 02 November 2009 16:43
A woman from Vermont died after a paragliding accident on Sunday.
paiute_canyon_whitemountainsAccording to Mono County Sheriff Lt.
Robert Weber, Mono Search and Rescue, Mono Sheriff Deputies, Symons
Ambulance, and Chalfant Fire Fighters responded to Paiute Canyon, near
Chalfant for a report of a downed paraglider at about 2:10 Sunday
afternoon.
The Paiute Canyon launch site is located at about 8000 feet in
elevation in the White Mountains above Hi-Head Hydro. Weber reports
that emergency crews were able to hike to the victim, who had fallen
from roughly 200 feet and landed about a quarter mile from the launch
site. Other paragliders in the vicinity told rescuers that the victim
was 37-year-old Guen Gifford, a Vermont resident. Gifford was
unconscious, unresponsive, and had suffered multiple broken bones.
The victim was placed on a backboard and flown out to Reno where she
died from her injuries.
John Olson
On Nov 5, 7:21 pm, Steve Roti <stever...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.ksrw.sierrawave.net/eastern-sierra-news/2668-fatal-paragli...
Steve Forslund
There is a more complete report in the off topic section of the Oz
Report forum, I don't believe it was to be released for public
consumption.
sf
Steve Forslund
Paraglider dead man curve, Rick Masters a retired from flying hang pilot
from the early days of Owens valley is convinced that at a certain
altitude you are in a the "dead man zone", think danger zone at a
thermal site. He based this on the the dead man curve for helicopters,
they need a certain combo of speed and altitude to do a dead stick
landing. He is convinced that our danger level is way too high due to
what we fly. It is about choices but he is convinced that there are too
many who are uninformed or in denial about the danger and would be
better off and safer flying hang gliders. He is not totally wrong.
Sf
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Wells [mailto:danb...@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 08:48
To: skf...@effectnet.com
Subject: RE: RE: Re: Fatal Paraglider Accident Near Chalfant (Owens
Valley)
What does PDMC stand for?
Dan
Dan Wells
503 531-9406
503 539-4601 cell
G$
>
> - Show quoted text -
Steve Roti
equivalent in terms of risk of death. Over the long term the fatality
rates for the two sports are approximately equal, although they vary
from year to year. Here are some recent fatality numbers in the US.
2008: 4 HG fatalities, 2 PG fatalities
2009: 3 HG fatalities, 3 PG fatalities
More statistics here ...
http://www.ushpa.aero/safety_accsum.asp
Steve
Steve Forslund
"what do the statistics say?"
What ever you want them to.
Seriously we don't have great stats and need to know hours flown,
flights etc. to really compare the activities.
My believe is that strong thermal conditions and acro make paragliding
significantly more dangerous for the average weekend pilot.
Sf
Steve Forslund
gliding
Doug Mullin
a. how many active PG and HG pilots there are in the US
b. how many hours of PG or HG are flown in the US each year
c. how these hours break down with experience or ratings
d. how often pilots get injured (accidents and incidents are under reported)
e. whether we should be talking of intermediate syndrome or advanced syndrome or what
For obvious reasons, fatalities are 'known' but (statistically speaking) they are so infrequent it's hard to draw much of a conclusion from them.
But - at least to a binary order of magnitude - I suspect PG and HG are equally dangerous. Maybe HG are 'safer' for the sort of conditions you get in the Owens and PG are better for sled rides, I don't know. Maybe PG has a shorter learning curve than HG but ultimately needs better judgement.
I know nothing about the conditions Guen encountered except from Kari's account; but conditions didn't seem to be strong. I don't buy the 'analysis' that Rick Masters offers - I found it pretty distasteful. Flying a thermic site has special demands. The further you are from the terrain, the better you can cope with a problem. I hate watching pilots ridge soaring at a strong thermic site or letting go of the controls directly off launch. It sounds as though, with an extra 100ft or 200ft of ground clearance, Guen would have been fine.
So I don't think statistics are going to help here - I think you need to look at what could have helped in this case (more ground clearance, maybe better glider control, maybe SIV training) and apply it to your flying. And maybe just accept that flying is dangerous (the more you do, the more likely you are to have an accident; the stronger the conditions you fly in, the more likely you are to have an accident; the less you train for a problem, the more likely one is to kill you).
Thinking of Guen, all the people who knew her and of Kari...
Douglas
________________________________________
From: cp...@googlegroups.com [cp...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Steve Forslund [skf...@effectnet.com]
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 7:05 PM
Steve Roti
about HG or PG. We don't know .... a, b, c, d, e."
It's worth pointing out we don't know those things about many of the
other risky activities humans engage in either -- driving automobiles,
riding motorcycles, riding bicycles, riding horses, kayaking, etc.
Don't underestimate the value of the fatality statistics, because they
go back a long way (two decades for paragliding, 3.5 decades for hang
gliding) and they show how things have evolved from the riskier "early
days" to the more mature sports we enjoy today.
Aviation will always be inherently risky, and risk estimates are often
wrong as NASA found out with the shuttle (statistics proved their
initial estimates were off by over two orders of magnitude). The Owens
Valley where the recent fatality occurred is a challenging place to
fly for both paragliders and hang gliders, and statistics show a
number of fatal accidents on both kinds of wings there. Here's a
gripping story about a could-have-been-fatal accident involving Bruce
Goldsmith titled "Hang Gliding Horror in Owens Valley" ...
http://www.xcmag.com/articles/2000/07/62/
Steve