US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

No clear cause yet but here's more about the accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQ5n7jH-5Y

This is Dan's website: https://www.danbuchananairshows.com

Bummer. I immediately think "lock-out" when I hear of an accident involving towing.


Dan, only 24, had broken his back on March 5, 1981 in a hang glider crash at Slide Mountain above Carson City, Nevada.
I don't know the details. I was taking Mechanical Engineering at Cal Poly SLO that year.
I didn't hear about it until I arrived in Owens Valley that summer to film "Aoli, Comet Clones and Pod People."
Three days after Dan's accident, and the day after Bob Mulligan was killed on his Fledge by the infamous Devil's Slide convergence rotor at Guadelupe Dunes, I flew for 3 hours 25 minutes in spectacular lift above Plowshare at Cuyama Valley with Carlos Miralles and Bob Dunn.


Later on, Dan would pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering as well, but in a wheel chair.
I don't know if I ever met or flew with Dan.
What an amazing guy!