[JoeF]

Rick Masters found a further link regarding the missing Kiwi
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/arti ... d=12359879


ushga.aero

Ten days ago, after launching his paraglider on a cross country attempt toward Wendover, Oroc went missing in the part of Nevada we hang glider pilots call "bumfuck Egypt." Probably cooked in the record high temperatures if he wasn't killed at impact. The cover of his book seems to portend his fate.
https://www.amazon.com/New-Psychedelic-Revolution-Genesis-Visionary/dp/1620556626

[eagle]

Why Paragliders Can't Talk About SAFETY
They are taught, to Lie about crashes. hiding some real danger factors till PARA 4 & SIV Clinics
They are also taught, We will lose the site, if we don't buy insurance and Join the Club
They will lose there Hang/Para Jobs, for non support or speaking out.

They can't talk about the drugs or Police Control for your safety
They can't talk about the instructor/Tandem internal war for profit and control.
They cant hide the fact that our leaders want to Commercialize our freedom to fly
They cant talk about the racketeering operation, cornering the market and bringing it to bare
They Can't talk about illegal control of Flying Site for profit.


WHY because they Collapse ....

Why Paragliders Can't Talk About SAFETY
See Video https://youtu.be/4EKpQvs0V4M

We're Lost.jpg (7.64 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

SIV CLINIC – $1200 – 3.5 DAYS
SIV stands for Simulated Incident in Flight. ...
These clinics gives pilots a new awareness of their wing and how to handle events which are presented while flying in the wild.
Participating in a SIV Clinic will increase a pilot's confidence and open a new dimension of flying a paraglider

[Craig Muhonen]

Lawyers prepare to move on paragliding; target passenger flights.

Skydiving and Paragliding Accidents and Injuries
Because of the dangerous nature of aerial sports, injuries from skydiving and paragliding accidents are almost always serious and are often fatal. Adrenaline junkies are at the mercy of the equipment and training they receive for their high flying excursions; and when the equipment is faulty or the training is inadequate, the results are often deadly. Instructors, equipment manufacturers, employees, and recreation companies may be legally responsible for accidents that occur when a skydiver or paraglider uses their services.

COMMON SKYDIVING AND PARAGLIDING INJURIES
Broken bones
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
Spinal cord injuries
Paralysis
Death

SKYDIVING AND PARACHUTING
Skydiving and parachuting accidents caused 21 deaths in the United States in 2010 (dropzone.com) One aspect that many of these accidents have in common is that the victims were often experienced skydivers. These fatal accidents were most often caused by:
Product defects
Equipment malfunction
Improper packing
Cord defects
Harness failure
Defective steering handles

PARASAILING AND PARAGLIDING
Parasailing and paragliding accidents are different from skydiving and parachuting accidents in that the passengers are often inexperienced and the sport is not regulated at the federal, state, or county level. They count on operators, instructors, boat drivers, and other officials to guide them in their sailing/gliding excursions. When these trained officials fail to properly do their job, the results can be devastating for victims. Common causes of accidents include:
Faulty/worn equipment
Bad weather
Poor training
Improper maintenance of boats
http://thomasjhenrylaw.com/practice-areas/skydiving-accidents/
__________________________

No mention of hang gliding.
Hang glider pilots who wish to contribute financially to the defense of parachuting (paragliding) should remain in the U$hPa.
They will, of course, say it is in defense of free-flight.
But I would like hang glider pilots to make a differentiation.
Hang gliders are the simplest form of sailplanes.
Paragliders are the most complicated form of parachutes.
They are not even remotely the same.

Every time that we can bring to the forefront, these true statements, the freedom to choose wisely is enhanced for the upcoming "pilots". (Only if it made available during ground school classes) . U$hpa And it's hang glider supporters do constantly distract everyone by saying "look at us.... we're so cool, and safe"

We should all keep the truth about the dangers of paragliding as a "hot topic"
Give kids a better choice of "foils".

Craig Muhonen

[Craig Muhonen]

International paragliding tourism is primarily a sport of the well-heeled elite. On the World Cup competition circuit, competitors want new paragliders because they "bag" out in a short period of time. This slows them down. Thus paragliders are frequently sold or traded away in poor countries and used by the growing numbers of new enthusiasts from those countries until they fail from UV degradation, wear or end-of-life issues common to thin material and stitching. Money-making tandem paragliders are the most sought-after and extreme wear on some of these being used commercially has been noted all over the poorer Third World
    This latest incident in India may be a case in point. The "maneuvers" mentioned may not have been violent tumbles or other agressive flying. Perhaps it was just a turn on final. After all, the failure couldn't have been very high for the passenger to have survived.
    Two observations point to this conclusion.
    First, the joyriding Nepalese commander was flying from an obvious high site without a parachute. Likely, it was not a choice but a necessity. He may not have been able to afford or obtain one. There is even the possibility that the paraglider had not been designed as a tandem, was too small and he was doing everything he could to avoid extra weight, such as flying without a parachute and choosing only small passengers.
    Second, the paragliding association spokesman, clearly wary of the potential government clampdowns common in India after paragliding accidents, described the 5,000+ ft launch as a "low" site where parachutes would not have time to deploy, which is obviously not true, and he refused to change his story about a tree collision the following day despite the emergence of witnesses who claimed they saw the paraglider split in two. This denial was apparently an effort to avoid scrutiny by the authorities, which might reveal safety violations to which the paragliding club had turned a blind eye. Why would they do this? Because the clubs invariably receive a percentage of the authorized pilot's income for the privilege to fly from their site and in some cases, have access to legal counsel retained by the club in the event of an accident.
More: https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/west-bengal/kalimpong-paraglider-split-in-mid-air/cid/1676570

==============================================================================================
Best Research Rick

FROM THIS: In,1919 To Save Lives of Pilots
"The Air Chute"

Air Chute.jpg (72.37 KiB) Viewed 2953 times

TO THESE: a gaggle of PARA chute ists In 2021 To Lives of Pilots

a new friend 1.jpg (54.77 KiB) Viewed 2953 times

RISK...Collapse REWARD...Dirty Undies or Death
=============================================================================================
Choose a solid Airframe for your glider, your life 'Hangs' in the balance.

[Craig Muhonen]

FROM THIS: in 1948

cars.jpg (22.17 KiB) Viewed 2952 times

TO THIS: in 1969

LowAndSlow12DaveCronk44 (3) 22 1.jpg (131.85 KiB) Viewed 2952 times

TO THIS: in 1979

Co River.jpg (2.46 MiB) Viewed 2952 times

RISK of COLLAPSE is nil... REWARD...THURST FOR GRAVITY, QUENCHED
1969 thru 1979 was the perfect storm for Hang Gliders. 1979 till the present, not so much now.

[Craig Muhonen]

Why Paragliders Can't Talk About SAFETY
They are taught, to Lie about crashes. hiding some real danger factors till PARA 4 & SIV Clinics
They are also taught, We will lose the site, if we don't buy insurance and Join the Club
They will lose there Hang/Para Jobs, for non support or speaking out.

They can't talk about the drugs or Police Control for your safety
They can't talk about the instructor/Tandem internal war for profit and control.
They cant hide the fact that our leaders want to Commercialize our freedom to fly
They cant talk about the racketeering operation, cornering the market and bringing it to bare
They Can't talk about illegal control of Flying Site for profit.


WHY because they Collapse ....

Why Paragliders Can't Talk About SAFETY
See Video https://youtu.be/4EKpQvs0V4M

We're Lost.jpg

SIV CLINIC – $1200 – 3.5 DAYS
SIV stands for Simulated Incident in Flight. ...
These clinics gives pilots a new awareness of their wing and how to handle events which are presented while flying in the wild.
Participating in a SIV Clinic will increase a pilot's confidence and open a new dimension of flying a paraglider

Truely great post Eagle
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Starting At 16:24 in the video are these quotes:
....."Begin to see yourself,....(then I insert,
And remembering that you are flying a high tec Parachute Glider, and Not, a light weight, Solid Airframe Glider.
......not as a fixed thing.....(then I insert,
Like a Pilot with license and rating cards up to date
......butt as a living breathing verb, right??...in Chinese language.......
then I add, where paragliders are made, and ....if they're so good, why do U. S. Manufactures, NOT build them here??
......"Our Community" ........Then I add,
"A community of "Paragliders", and a big difference from an "Association of Pilots", like true Hang Gliding, and aviation IS.
glad you've made that clear to us.

"The Verbs & The Nouns", is it now?
.......

[Craig Muhonen]

Real Hang Glider Wing, attached to, REAL STUPID


You, for REAL, can't fix Stupid

[Bob Kuczewski]

I was trying to remember when Pamela Hargett died at Torrey. A quick search of the U.S. Hawks web site brought up this post by Rick. Thanks Rick for your years of documentation here on the Hawks.   

Paragliding

I have chosen May 12 as the beginning of the annual paragliding slaughter in the northern hemisphere, using the somewhat spooky coincidence of the paragliding deaths of

Pam_Hargett_by_Rick_Masters.jpg (6.9 KiB) Viewed 1549 times

Pamela Hargett at Torrey Pines on May 12, 2012 and

Meg_VanScriver_by_Rick_Masters.jpeg (14.84 KiB) Viewed 1549 times

Meg VanScriver at Lookout Mountain on May 12, 2013.

Here's a look at the last 8 years of world paragliding deaths to May 11 - from my list.
Note that it can take a year to get close to a reasonably complete total, so the 2017 number is probably real light.

2017    26
2016    29
2015    24
2014    35
2013    21
2012    32
2011    24
2010    27

That's the good news.
The bad news is that tomorrow things are about to get really ugly again.

One reason these numbers are higher than the numbers for hang gliders is that in stronger conditions hang gliders are fun but paragliders become uncontrollable death traps.
No accident illustrates this fact with greater poignance than Meg VanScriber's fatal accident.
From my reflective writing:

She was a hang glider pilot and mechanical engineer who had unfortunately transitioned to paragliders. Margaret Julie VanSciver had served with the Peace Corps in Tanzania, later worked with Engineers Without Borders in Rwanda for two summers, and more recently began an association with Africa Aid.
    On the anniversary of Pamela Haggert's death at Torrey Pines on May 12, 2012, Meg VanScriver fell from 40 feet during a terrifying out-of-control episode. Immediately upon launching, her canopy encountered strong lift and underwent partial deflation at the tips which turned it downwind toward the mountain. The paraglider "then rolled into an inverted position with the wing underneath" the helpless woman and the entire canopy partially deflated. Van Scriver fell through, bringing the lines taut, and the canopy re-inflated.
    "At this point the wing was accelerating back towards the launch and the pilot initiated a 180-degree turn, again entering the rising air. The glider again rolled right and collapsed, spinning the pilot 180-degrees back towards the hill. The pendulum action threw the pilot into the ground."
    Emergency responders found her unconscious and having difficulty breathing. She was taken by emergency responders to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, where she died later that evening.

Drawn from USHPA and other sources

[Craig Muhonen]

Thank you Rick

We repeatedly warned about this, and even turned to the police to reconcile it without success. But the police are not able to stop the locals from flying on a
paraglider with tourists, since in Georgia there is no law prohibiting a commercial
flight on a paraglider.

Yet.

Senseless loss of life.

If only a mother would have said,

"NO and FUC* NO,

you're not flying one of those paraglider deathtraps"

Ghosts of Wind and Cloud by Rick Masters Vol X: The Silken Jungle: 2018-2022 283
Vakhtang Gomelauri Minster of Internal Affairs, Georgia
It is very hard for us, for everyone, especially for the families, their friends, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You know that six people were our employees, and two were
emergency medical service doctors. Unfortunately, 8 people died. One person who
was paragliding was injured and the foreign tourist who was with him also died. The
injured Georgian was taken out from the ravine and he is being taken to the clinic by
emergency workers.
(RIP)
2131 PG tandem fatality M. Thiman, joyriding client from Pakistan
2132 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Zaza Loria, pilot
2133 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Dimitri Kaadze, co-pilot
2134 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Levan Chokheli, crewman
2135 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Andro Kujoshvili, crewman
2136 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Giorgi Margiani, crewman
2137 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Kakha Torchinava, crewman
2138 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Ketevan Gulaghashvili, doctor
2139 PG fatality / Death of rescuer Giorgi Venetski, doctor

• PG tandem serious injury Nugzar Razmadze, 32, commercial joyrider
July 29, 2022 Gudauri Ski Resort, northern GEORGIA
It was the deadliest paragliding-related accident in the history of paragliding. A local
joyrider with a passenger from out of the country fell against the talus slope of a steep
cliff shortly after taking off from the Gudauri Ski Resort. Although the previous
Georgian regime had purchased some French Super Pumas, ostensibly for mountain
rescue, they had been outfitted with plush interiors instead of rescue and medical
equipment, and then used for the personal convenience of the ruling elite. So an immense and ancient twin engine, 24-passenger Mil Mi-8T transport helicopter of the
Border Police, produced in the Soviet era and generally acknowledged as unsuitable
for mountain rescue, was dispatched by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
One of about 20 Mi-8s operated by Georgia, it was manned by pilot Zaza Loria, an
esteemed airman with 30 years of experience, his copilot, two crew members and two
medics from the Ministry of Health. As they hoisted the two hapless paragliderists
aboard, the tail apparently struck the cliff face or a tree, and snapped off one of the
three vertical rotor blades. Onlookers started screaming, capturing the moment on
cell phones, as the helicopter suddenly began to spin. After one or more full rotations, the out-of-balance rotor caused its hub to fail and both hub and rotor flew off.
The huge helicopter went wildly out of control, spinning faster and twisting onto its
side. It plummeted hundreds of feet to a deadly impact in the rugged ravine below,
erupting in a massive, flaming explosion that was immediately obscured by a towering column of billowing black smoke. All aboard were killed except, miraculously,
the joyrider himself, Nugzar Razmadze, who was evacuated to the First University
Clinic for emergency surgery for a concussion and damaged limbs. Razmadze is now
the target of an investigation to determine if air transport traffic rules under Article
275 of the Criminal Code of Georgia were violated by his tandem joyriding flight.
The tragedy was such a devastating blow to Georgia that neighboring Turkey
2022, <https://www.grandangoloagrigento.it/cronaca/si-lancia-con-il-parapendio-morto-55enne>
© 2022 Rick Masters
Ghosts of Wind and Cloud by Rick Masters Vol X: The Silken Jungle: 2018-2022 284
immediately responded with official condolences. Interior Minister Vakhtang
Gomelauri raced to the scene of the crash.
"Paragliding is truly a big problem,”
he told reporters as he stood on the road to
the ski resort, gazing down at the smoldering wreckage below. “Hardly a week
passes without a rescue operation, without
deploying a helicopter. I do not know
why paragliding incidents happen often
here. There is wind, there are gorges, or there are no professionals. How the licenses
are issued... Everything will be explored and we will, by all means, figure it out."
Minister Gomelauri proposed that the regulations on paragliding flights should
be tightened or banned altogether, and meanwhile, flights will be suspended for a certain period of time. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated that this is a great
tragedy, and the whole country is devastated by it. He declared July 30 a day of
mourning in Georgia. He added that the government would support the families as
much as possible and the Ministry of Internal Affairs would distribute 100,000 GEL
(US$35,087) to every family, and the Ministry of Health would also give 100,000
GEL to the families of the medics.
Three years before, following the drowning death of Filipino joyriding client
Bryan Vale de Guzman in a river landing below Gudauri on May 31, 2019, a
commercial tandem operator with Sky Atlantida at Gudauri Ski Resort gave a prescient warning in a since-deleted Facebook post about the unregulated and dangerous
nature of tandem flying in Georgia.
Небеса Атлантиды commercial tandem operator for Sky Atlantida
In Gudauri, there are more and more paragliding accidents. We repeatedly warned
that this was very bad. Residents from local villages acquire paragliders and try to
fly with tourists for money. Already in half a year, various paragliding incidents have
happened. We repeatedly warned about this, and even turned to the police to reconcile it without success. But the police are not able to stop the locals from flying on a
paraglider with tourists, since in Georgia there is no law prohibiting a commercial
flight on a paraglider.

1450 AA 1451 Georgia Today 1452 Georgia Online 1453 Небеса Атлантиды/Facebook
VIDEO 1454 Daily Mail/Twitter
1450 TURKEY: Kachkachishvili, Davit, "8 killed in northern Georgia helicopter crash," AA, 29 Jul 2022,
<https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/8-killed-in-northern-georgia-helicopter-crash/2648989>
1451 GEORGIA: Dumbadze, Ana, "Interior Minister: Sadly, all 8 people on board died in helicopter crash in Gudauri," Georgia Today, 29 Jul
2022, <https://georgiatoday.ge/interior-minister-sadly-all-8-people-on-board-died-in-helicopter-crash-in-gudauri/>
1452 GEORGIA: Kentacky, Marcin, "Paraglider who survived in Gudauri was operated on, his condition is stable," Georgia Online, 30 Jul 2022,
<https://georgiaonline.ge/national/50017/georgia-paraglider-who-survived-in-gudauri-was-operated-on-his-condition-is-stable/>
1453 GEORGIA: "We repeatedly warned..." Небеса Атлантиды, Facebook, 6 Jun 2019, <https://www.facebook.com/gudauriparagliding>dl
1454 UK: Two views of Georgia helicopter crash; Brown, Tom, "Terrifying moment rescue helicopter crashes and explodes while attempting to
rescue two paragliders trapped on cliff face in Georgia," Daily Mail (London)/Twitter, <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article11062457/Terrifying-moment-rescue-helicopter-crashes-explodes-attempting-rescue-two-paragliders.html>
© 2022 Rick Masters

[Craig Muhonen]

Rick Masters wrote;
"nobody could be that stupid".

Correction: Thousands of people are this stupid.
It remains unbelievable to me that that so many people bet their lives that they will not be killed by a simple thermal. This is a bad bet. Thermals are a natural and common occurrence in the atmosphere. It is impossible not to encounter them. Contrast this incident with a hang glider pilot in the same situation. His sail, supported by an airframe and capable of withstanding several Gs of negative load, cannot collapse or lose the airfoil shape that allows it to fly. The hang glider pilot senses the lift, turns and banks, and joyously rides the thermal into the sky.

Why would anyone chose to fly a paraglider when the risk is so extreme and clear? Why would anyone choose the risk of becoming a helpless human falling from deadly altitude over the joy of secure freeflight? The only answer is that soaring parachutists are delusional. They create a false reality and eagerly share it among themselves until they are ultimately crippled or killed. The ones who are not yet crippled or killed blame those who are for being poor pilots. Anyone outside the sport is castigated for stating the obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjPmpocQurE

Why would anyone chose to fly a paraglider when the risk is so extreme and clear? They create a false reality and eagerly share it among themselves until they are ultimately crippled or killed. The ones who are not yet crippled or killed blame those who are for being poor pilots. Anyone outside the sport is castigated for stating the obvious.

These are the same people who all of a sudden showed up at the different H4 launch sites in the early 90's, and said, "we're hanging and we're flying pretty good so can we join your club"? HG Pilots being conservative and all, said "sure why not", and that opened the floodgates of "paragliders" and their big money tandem businesses and then the ushpa's media machine was "hatched", which effectively crowed out the Hang Gliders. The modern Telluride Airforce was so bold and even made a video showing a paraglider over town with the song, "I'm a Hang Glider..."

Here's a excerpt from John Heiney at the Telluride Hang Gliding Festival’s 25th Year, which was the rocking-est fly-in ever.
Rainy, But Good
© John Heiney

"The atmosphere of the 1998 flying season has been somewhat overbearing for the majority of hang gliding enthusiasts. Not since the early days of the sport have pilots been inundated with so many decisions regarding choice of gliders. And since mainstream promotional hype has crept into the hang gliding industry, many flyers have found themselves forced into an identity crisis (not to mention a financial crisis) over which wing they should be buying/flying. Pilots are showing signs of stress not before seen in this traditionally most free-spirited of all recreational activities"......

Insurance companies had had enough of ushpa's BS, and tripled the rate, which they wouldn't pay of course, and in 2019 shut down all foot launched flying at some major ski areas. ushpa is coming apart and leaving a vacuum and I think the time is right to go back to LLoyds of London with a new Hang Gliding proposal. They underwrote specific use HG once and for a long time, with a spotless safety record in some cases like TAF.
They might be glad to rescue the, "Single Pilot, Unmotorized, un-towed, original Hang Glider Pilot" away from
the new death trap crazy paragliders and the commercial industrial complex.
H0.