[Rick Masters]

A "freak gust of rain"

I remember flying my old single surface hang glider in the rain at the beach. We never even thought about what the rain would do to the performance or handling. It never crossed our minds. We couldn't tell. The big problem was sand sticking to the fabric.

Later, on epic cross country flights beneath 100-mile cloud streets, we would sometimes skirt the edge of overdeveloping clouds and encounter rain. But we didn't avoid it for any reason other than there's lack of lift in rain. Rain and mist at high altitudes is kind of magical. I always loved flying near clouds.

Paragliders seem to be a different story. If you get them wet, they go crazy and try to kill you. Then after the crash, they say, "It wasn't my fault! I was hit by a freak gust of rain!" And their friends say, "Oh, what an inferior pilot! He didn't handle his brakes right!" Meanwhile the hang gliders fly by overhead.

VIDEO: http://www.tio.ch/TioTV/Ticino/807889/N ... a-sul-web/

[Rick Masters]

I'm trying to keep up with the national PG championships in France - a field of 120. So far I've learned of a broken back Sep 2 and two other hospital admissions today in quick succession, one "more severe." A soaring parachutist also died on Sep 4 in Isere but I don't think that was related. Parachuting is hands-down the bloodiest of sports. Participants have gone to a lot of trouble to manipulate statistics to paint a happy face on a pig. If you want a true picture of the risk of free-flight, try using only the time spent within the PDMC - 466 feet and below - for all types of aircraft and parachutes. It's ugly.

Unless you have an airframe.

[Rick Masters]

I have verified 62 paragliding deaths this year, so far. Compared to hang gliding, paragliding is stuck in 1974, and has been ever since it became popular in the late 1990s. Hang gliding solved its problems in only 5 or 6 years. But it's impossible for parachutes to solve the problem of collapse. Paragliders should be kicked out of the U$HPA because of this. It should be unacceptable to sportsmen to tolerate such slaughter.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Paragliders should be kicked out of the U$HPA because of this. It should be unacceptable to sportsmen to tolerate such slaughter.

I can guarantee that paragliders will not be kicked out of USHPA. The sport of paragliding now owns USHPA. Look at the new ratings every month. Look at the membership numbers and the rates of change. Look at the USHPA President. Look at the USHPA Executive Director. Look at the SOP changes.

The sport of hang gliding has no future in USHPA. The best hope for the sport of hang gliding is a new organization dedicated to the sport of hang gliding. That new organization does NOT have to be anti-paragliding, but it DOES have to be pro-hang gliding. At the current time, the best hope for that new organization is the US Hawks. Thanks for joining us Rick!!!

[Rick Masters]

I was taught to assume that the conditions are always worse than the worst observation you've made. You must fly as if you are in THOSE conditions at all times because those are the conditions that can be present at any moment.

A wise hang glider pilot wrote those words a couple of years ago. Thirty-five years ago, I made this a rule in my flying in Owens Valley. It was simple. Always fly faster than you actually need to fly at any given moment and you will survive a sudden encounter with a powerful thermal. Likewise, if you are working a thermal, always fly faster than you actually need to fly. In other words, in strong conditions, retain abundant kinetic energy.

You can do that on a hang glider because the mass of the hang glider and the mass of the pilot are connected. Kinetic energy translates into maneuverability of the aircraft. Maneuverability in turbulence = survival.

KE = 1/2 x m(v x v)

Hang gliders are much faster (v) than paragliders, so kinetic energy shoots up dramatically beyond what is possible with parachutes. You cannot do this on a paraglider where 90-percent of the mass rests with the operator. All hang glider pilots are intimately aware of this fact (if not the math).

That new organization does NOT have to be anti-paragliding...

Actually, it does or nothing will change. I suspect that a great many of the soaring parachutists killed following collapse in turbulence and thermals, about 2/3 of the PG fatalities I have documented so far, could have been brought into the HG camp but were not. They could be successful HG pilots today. Instead, they are dead.

They were the people who were pulled away from hang gliding by cynical marketing while not being presented with an effective counter-argument. They didn't get the message. Why? Because hang glider pilots drank the KoolAid of political correctness applied to a technological, scientific argument. Being "anti-paragliding" is not being mean. It is not racist. It is not a form of class warfare. It is simply stating the truth: that paragliders become dangerous in strong conditions and should be left at the beach.

Hang glider pilots need to relay the message that paragliding is only a transitory step to hang gliding, not an end in itself. Paragliding can provide that easy initiation to the wonders of flight, but it only the first baby step to piloting a structured airfoil - where security exists. Hang glider pilots need to explain to soaring parachutists that inland XC paragliding is nothing but putting lipstick and fancy clothes on a pig. That the proper move would be to step up to structural airfoils designed to survive natural atmospheric dynamics and stop gambling their lives on an obviously inferior technology propped up by marketing hype and uncritical peer pressure.

The numbers speak for themselves. 1268 dead (today's count). A thousand paraglider collapses. Collapse, death. Collapse, death. Collapse, death. Collapse, death. This has become the public's impression of free flight. It's time for hang glider pilots to defend and take back their sport.

[Bob Kuczewski]

That new organization does NOT have to be anti-paragliding...

Actually, it does or nothing will change. I suspect that a great many of the soaring parachutists killed following collapse in turbulence and thermals, about 2/3 of the PG fatalities I have documented so far, could have been brought into the HG camp but were not. They could be successful HG pilots today. Instead, they are dead.

What I meant is that the US Hawks can be officially neutral with respect to paragliding in the same way that we're officially neutral with respect to skiing, bowling, and ping pong. We support our hang gliding members regardless of whether they're also skiers, bowlers, or even ... golfers.

However, there are times when other sports may come into conflict with hang gliding. If someone wanted to close down a hang gliding site to build a ski slope, bowling alley, or golf course, then we might find ourselves in conflict in that circumstance. Similarly, if someone wanted to curtail (or eliminate) hang gliding at a site in order to better support or promote paragliding, then again we would be in conflict.

As you correctly point out, paragliding also comes into conflict with hang gliding to the extent that it reduces participation in hang gliding by diverting potential hang gliding pilots into paragliding ... and sometimes killing them. But the same could be said of any sport (including skiing, bowling, and golf) to the extent to which it diverts time and is sometimes fatal (Sonny Bono might have lived a longer life as a hang glider pilot).

So it's a matter of degree. Because the sports draw from the same pool of people willing to fly light aircraft, and because paragliding is provably (via your own extensive research) more dangerous than skiing, bowling, and others, it can impact hang gliding to a greater degree than those other sports. But at the same time, the sport of paragliding can also be an ally because they certainly want to keep flying sites open (although not always for hang gliding ).

In the end, I think there are certainly enough conflicts to justify some degree of separation in representation to ensure that hang glider pilots are not disenfranchised by the growing number of paraglider pilots. That's one of the primary goals of the US Hawks.

Another primary goal for the US Hawks is truth and education. Your former site and your blog here are excellent in presenting the dangers of paragliding. People may be critical of your motives, but your site and posts clearly raise an awareness that's missing in the paragliding community. As a hang glider pilot and a paraglider pilot, I am glad to see you bringing this information forward. I also welcome members of the paragliding community to come here and debate you. I suspect they're afraid to do that, and that's why you've been kicked of of their forum. That's all the more reason to give you a prominent place to post your research here on the US Hawks. Thanks Rick.

Finally, since you've already accumulated a sizeable database of paragliding statistics, please let me know if you ever need help re-hosting it to this forum. I'm sure we can come up with some automated tools to help with that process. Just let me know.

[Rick Masters]

I have little interest in wasting anymore of my time endlessly "debating" soaring parachutists intent on attacking the messenger or trying to psychoanalyze their 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine-fueled tribal rationalizations about what they think they are doing.

The numbers speak for themselves. An astounding 1269 deaths, the majority by collapse, are utterly indefensible. It's not sport. It's something else. People who accept this have mental problems.

The debate should clearly be between soaring parachutists. But where is it?

[Bob Kuczewski]

The debate should clearly be between soaring parachutists. But where is it?

I guess I qualify as a "soaring parachutist", and there is no debate because anyone bringing up any problems gets kicked off of their forums.

[Rick Masters]

What kind of car is this?

I can't tell.

[Bill Cummings]

It looks like a Fubar truck.
Maybe a El Camino or a Toyota pickup.
Check the “blue book,” before purchasing and run the VIN through “Carfax.com”.