US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Another Accident at Torrey Pines Tue May 28, 2019 3:24 pm
Yesterday we had another accident with a paraglider pilot rescued by helicopter at Torrey.

Pilot claims paraglider malfunctioned causing the crash..

Gabrial Jebb was interviewed and said "100% of paraglider accidents here are Pilot Error".
He also said the only thing they rent are "Helmets and Radios".

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/ ... 84391.html

When I saw that interview it shocked me to here 100% of accidents with para gliders at
Torrey Pines are pilot error. There is a high percentage of pilot error as in any manned flight
but 100% is not even possible…

This kind of thinking really kills people.


B R

There is no way that 100% of paragliding accidents are pilot error. A larger percentage may be pilot error at a place like Torrey with generally smooth laminar flow winds. But if two newbie collapsible canopy occupants fly into each other (and both die) with at least one under "radio control" of an instructor, is it pilot error OR Instructor error?

And let's assume (possibly wrongly) that the collapsible canopy occupant that "crashed" yesterday had been trained by Air California Adventure Inc. Well, if true, that would also be a potential failure of one or more instructors working for Air California Adventure Inc.

But perhaps this pilot was competent but doing dangerous maneuvers - on purpose. Don't employees of Air California Adventure Inc. inform more experienced collapsible canopy occupants to not risk themselves or the safety of others but doing such dangerous maneuvers? If not then aren't they negligent to some degree?

I would add that I have had some "pilot error" hang gliding accidents. None of those resulted in significant injury. My worst accident was close to 100% likely to have been weather related. That's called an unpredictable and non-pilot error accident. I would say that the majority of collapsible canopy accidents are non-pilot error related (except perhaps that flying a collapsible canopy is, in itself, a "pilot error").

At the time of his interview, Gabriel Jebb had no idea if this latest accident was pilot error, lack of good instruction, or somehow weather related. If the "pilot error" was due to lack of good instruction on the part of Air California Adventure Inc., or because Air California Adventure Inc. failed to inform this collapsible canopy occupant to not do risky maneuvers above the City of San Diego's Glider Port then the burden of responsibility falls on Air California Adventure Inc.

I have no doubt that thermals can be produced on the west facing steep slopes at Torrey Pines. Bringing that into the picture means that this could have been a weather related accident - and no fault at all of Air California Adventure Inc. But Gabriel Jebb of Air California Adventure Inc. has gone with the 100% certainty that includes his business being either a little to a lot at fault.

ARP wrote:Gabrial Jebb was interviewed and said "100% of paraglider accidents here are Pilot Error".

He should know ... he's the one who trains them to make all those errors.