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“Tad, ---
So they just keep on doing things the way they've always done things 'cause that's the way everybody's always done things - for twenty years.”
Tad’s photos show where equipment can fail to release which made me say, “Holy excrement! I never thought that would snag!”
On the Oz Report there are pictures of a wrap where to me it looks like a weak-link whipped around a carabineer and hooked itself over the improper knot and didn’t allow a Pro-Tow two point bridle to release.
Just one little tiny deviation plus a little creep in the length of a weak-link loop can take the outcome from desirable to deadly in no time at all. (“Hey, what could possibly go wrong?”)
Just where does an accident start. Does it start the night before a flying day when the pilot was making up weak-links spares for the next day of towing? Or does it start with the snag upon attempting to release the next day?
Were we rushing to make up weak-links for the next day and sloppily tied one too long which will enable it to wrap, capture, and fail to release?
Just one seemingly small deviation from the norm can set a new course of events for any of us.
All that said just to say this---and this is the start of my personal pre-hang gliding accident report.
Accident Pilot # 30448, H4, age 62, Las Cruces, NM 88005
The night before Robin and Lee were to pick me up for flying on Saturday, June 25, 2011 realized that I was out of clean underwear and started the wash and forgot it in the washing machine until about a hour before I was to be picked up.
The previous night I had opened a new pack of Hanes underwear and as my mother had taught me I would wash the new clothing before wearing them for the first time.
I only threw three pair in the dryer and before I left I would start the remainder of the wet clothing to dry while I was away flying.
Really this upcoming accident had it’s origin at WalMart when instead of picking up a package of underwear briefs I mistakenly picked up the snug fitting boxer cut. The type with the two to two and a half inch legs that go down to about mid thigh. Although this detailed information sounds unimportant it will reveal to all to be the little, almost unbelievingly tiny, deviation that was the cause of my misfortune and personal injury.
When the dryer finished I went into the dark laundry room and in my haste missed the switch that turns on the light. I removed the dry boxer style shorts and loaded the other wet clothes into the dryer and started the drying cycle.
I picked up one of the dried shorts and shook them out and shifting my weight partially onto my right leg I stepped into the left leg hole of the shorts.
I then partially shifted my weight onto my left leg and began inserting my right foot into the shorts fully expecting that my right foot would end up on the floor six inches to the right of my left foot.
Unseen by me in the dark laundry room the right leg of the boxer shorts was inside out and descending down the left leg hole.
This quite effectively funneled my right leg also down and through the left leg hole of the boxer shorts.
Now that my right ankle bone was tight up against my left ankle bone and my right foot was not six inches to the right of my left foot I was now bound at the ankles and was decidedly off balance.
The waist band had been stripped from my grasp as both legs were too much for one small leg hole. It was now time to step to the right with my right foot to catch my balance.
Before I get to the injury part of my accident report I want to let it be known that I am fully aware that there are brothers and sisters in my sport of hang gliding that are the type to yell, “Whack,” when some pilot does poorly on their flare timing.
I want to be clear that I think that anyone that can find any humor in some else’s misfortune to be “Warped,” or “Twisted.”
Interesting point here: In 2009, 2.2 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 581,000 of these patients were hospitalized.
In an effort to not become an additional statistic with a broken hip I did my best to brake my fall and was successful in mitigating my potential injuries. I was able to brake my fall by abruptly encountering the left front corner of the washing machine with the right elbow’s crazy bone area. Except for some extended numbness in my right pinky finger and the finger next to it I seem to have come out okay.
For those pilots that have a serious interest in safety I hope that this accident report is another shining example that proves that just the smallest change in your procedure or equipment that can develop into a serious equipment malfunction (In my case a wardrobe malfunction.) that can lead to bigger unforeseen consequences.
