Cliffside incident report

[Mark Sanzone]

I arrived with George and Dave to find a couple of pilots (Wes, Mike) there.  Conditions were light so we talked and a couple of more pilots (Evan, Issac) showed up.  Mike mentioned it had be N at the top when he got there.  It picked up so Evan led the way and stayed up so I launched next.  Others followed and there were a number of short flights with top landings.  There was a wind line on the river moving toward us so we expected the wind to pick up and it did.  

I set off east and eventually got above the ridge and out to the John Day river going in to the strong wind.  It was interesting as the windmills on top were pointing slightly north of the ridge indicating I was flying on the lee side.  I was flying well off the ridge as getting closer was more turbulent and less lift (as one would expect on the lee)  We speculated that it may have been a wave coming over the top that I was catching.   I have flown this ridge many times but the windmills always were pointed toward the river a bit.  

Anyway I was thinking about heading back as it was bumpy and penetration was slow.  It then that the shit hit the fan.  

I had full collapse with the wing going behind me then a big surge into a spiral with a cravat on one side and asymmetric on the other . I fought it with brake and weight shift, but had to do a full stall to stop it.  I believe when I got out of the stall is surged and but me in a spiral in the other direction.  Another stall attempt and then the wing was flying again with a cravat on the right that I was able to control with weight shift and brake.  I then fished out the tip pulling in the stabilo line.  I was very glad I was high when this happened.  I remember checking terrain a couple of times thinking I have lots of altitude to sort this out.  I have had some violent collapses before but the was the longest cascade of events I ever experienced in 22 years of flying.  

I immediately turned and flew to the river to land, as it was too strong to top land.  I then managed to botch taking the wing down in the high wind and had a short drag banging up my right knee and elbow.  Anyway I am fine but wanted to share my experience while it is fresh in my mind.  Comments welcome!

Mark 

[Dirk Larson]

Phew, glad you’re physically okay, Mark. That was a griping story! 

-Dirk

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 20, 2019, at 8:31 PM, 'Mark Sanzone' via Cascade Paragliding Club <cp...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Tim Bugge]

Launched my HG at 1545 and climbed butter to 28k while penetrating slow east to the turbines.  I kept my distance from the ridge because those turbines were pointing more north than I’ve ever seen when there was enough lift to get me up there.  The rotor turbulence became lager as I flew south over the river.  The rotor did not go below about 15k.  Wind was strong SW at the river. 

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[Michael Coppock]

Thank you for the impressive report Mark! Glad you managed the cascade so well. Yes, I had considered going to CS, yesterday, but was concerned re most models showing significant N component to winds, and thus lee conditions.
Will be hiking to the towers early today.
Mark, glad your skills were up to the challenge!
Michael

[Michael Cook]

Damn Mark, that sounds exciting. I was watching you for a long time wondering about whether you might find some rotor up there. Glad you're OK - that's ugly stuff. It makes me think about radios and person to person comm. I stuck around until everyone got on the ground and watched you land but I did not have my radio on while waiting around. Maybe we should do that. If you had needed help no one up top would have known.

Food for thought.

[Dirk Larson]

I try to keep a radio on and in my back pocket while on launch and not flying. Seems like something that should be standard. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 21, 2019, at 8:46 AM, Michael Cook <groov...@gmail.com> wrote:



Damn Mark, that sounds exciting. I was watching you for a long time wondering about whether you might find some rotor up there. Glad you're OK - that's ugly stuff. It makes me think about radios and person to person comm. I stuck around until everyone got on the ground and watched you land but I did not have my radio on while waiting around. Maybe we should do that. If you had needed help no one up top would have known.

Food for thought.

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[Travis Potter]

Whoa, glad you are ok, thank you for sharing!

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[Dan Wells]

[Dan Wells]

How much altitude do you think you lost from frontal to recovery?

Dan

On Wednesday, November 20, 2019 at 8:31:46 PM UTC-8, Mark Sanzone wrote:

[Mark Sanzone]

I pulled my track log.  It showed a 228 Meter drop in 30 seconds! That surprised me. 

Glad I was high. 

Mark 

Sent from my iPad

On Nov 20, 2019, at 8:31 PM, Mark Sanzone <msan...@yahoo.com> wrote:



[Travis Potter]

Jesus, meters? 

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[Mike Steed]

748 feet, 249 yards -- two football fields including end zones.  This is why a maneuvers clinic is a good idea -- you need to react correctly and quickly, including when-to-throw.

Mike

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From: cp...@googlegroups.com <cp...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Travis Potter <second...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2019 9:15 AM
To: Mark Sanzone <msan...@yahoo.com>
Cc: Cascade Paragliding Club <cp...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: CPC: Re: Cliffside incident report

 

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[Discover Paragliding!]

I was playing with hard spirals a few years ago, once at Pine and once at Woodrat. Coming down from over 9000' or so after some XC flights. Looking at the vario some weeks later, I noticed the decent rates in excess of 4500'/min.

If you get uncontrollably wound up, your decent rate approaches (can exceed) 50 mph straight down. Things can happen very fast.

On both of my 'hard spirals', I grayed out and couldn't see anything which inspired a fast exit to the spirals. (I now know my left eye goes gray first, immediately followed by the right. Weird feeling...) If I had been out of control, I probably had (maybe) another two seconds before I was unable to respond further. Only two seconds to get the reserve out in that situation. :-(

This will be even worse with small wings. I freaked out Stu and Maren when they couldn't find me up at 3000' on a 15 meter glider after a long arduous tow up. 3-4 circles of decent, and I was setting up to land. (Oh, there he is...)

Brad

See you up there!

Brad and Maren
Your 'Couple' of Instructors
www.DiscoverParagliding.com
Phone: 503-440-0733 (c)

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[Bill Briskey]

I similarly lost about 80 feet in 3 seconds during a collapse over the Whaleback LZ a few years back.  I was acting as the wind dummy for the NorCal Xcountry League before their launch from Whaleback Mountain.  After showing everyone where not to look for lift, I ended up circling over the LZ catching lots of rough-edged bubbles but nothing substantial enough to take me any higher than about 500 feet AGL.  A sudden collapse after 10 minutes of working the site got my attention and reminded me that it was very risky to be poking about that low at mid-day in thermic conditions.  Now at PF4 (stage four pucker factor on the five-point scale), I landed immediately after recovering.  I tried to kite to the corner of the LZ from mid-field and the wing tried to get there before me - the wind on the ground was strong enough to kite but switched directions like water sloshing around in a washing machine.  

The specifics of the collapse were that my left brake tension went to zero.  My immediate reaction was to give a dramatic yank on that brake in hopes of keeping some air in that side to stop the event. When I looked up, I saw the whole wing collapsing, starting from the left tip across to the right tip.   The wing quit flying and I dropped, turning 30 degrees to the left.  The lines were slack all the way across to the right tip, which was the only point of the wing to which the lines were not totally slack.  I looked forward presumably to find the horizon and just as suddenly as it started, the wing re-inflated with a BANG loud enough that it probably scared all the wildlife within a mile.  I pulled both brakes hard as it shot overhead to keep it from getting in front of me and found I was still turning left so I leaned right and corrected with right brake.  I then searched for sink to get down and was out of the harness at 50 feet AGL reviewing my PLF skills because it was a roller coaster closer to the ground.

In my case it was clear that I experienced the caustic effects of dramatic localized wind shear from pockets of juvenile air with anger management issues.  You probably got smacked by a combination wind knuckle, caused by a ridge irritated from fans blowing the wrong direction.  I'm glad we're both here to joke about it but still acknowledge due respect for the potential consequences.  Like you, I have also taken SIV courses, one each time I bought a wing, and their learnings have been utilized both in surprise situations as well as in providing more familiarity with my wing.  I'm due for my third with my latest purchase and I have already had a 50% collapse with it resulting in my first cravat.  It flies noticeably different and recovers from events differently than my last wing, so that's even more incentive get a refresher.  

Bill (peanut gallery) B

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