In Response to the Unsolicited Letter from the Lees (and Channing): "Why We Should Invite Paragliders to Join the TTT"

While thumbing through the pile of mail on my desk last week, I came across a letter from Steve and Kathy Lee.  I thought this odd because I’d never recieved anything directly from the Lees before, I’d never shared with them my home address, and being that they were both no longer on the TTT Board of Directors I just couldn’t think of any reason that they’d be writing me.  With my curiosity piqued, I tore open the envelope and was immediately smashed in the face with a massive, ALL-CAPS, screaming wall-of-text.  Oh boy, here we go again…

In case you haven’t read it, the letter opens with a reprint of the ten-point rant against inviting paraglider pilots to join the Tennessee Tree Toppers that Channing Kilgore posted earlier this year.  After two pages of high-octane caps-lock abuse, the letter concludes with Kathy Lee’s slightly more eloquent, slightly more succinct, ten-point list of similar concerns. She's really not saying anything that Channing's tirade didn’t.

When Channing’s message first hit FlyMail back in January, 2015, I responded with a point-by-point rebuttal.  Now, because the same rant has resurfaced in the form of an eyeball-hemorrhage-inducing letter, I’m afraid that I must re-reply.  Since I don’t want to torture your retinas by reprinting Channing’s message in its original state, I’m going to have to take some liberties with it by reducing it to lowercase and shrinking the font until it’s just barely legible.  Think of it as font-karma!  I’m not altering any of the actual text, though.  Ok… here we go… text shrinking in progress... annnnnnd….. we’re…. done!  Oh, wow!  Mmm, that felt good.  Really good!  So good, in fact, that if I were Catholic, I’d have to feel guilty about it!  

1. giving membership to paragliders amounts to giving them as much ownership of the properties, money, and assets as a hg pilot. it’s understandable if a friend asks to spend the night at your house, but to say that it would be really good if you would give him partial ownership of your house is another issue.
   
   By this logic, since I've been a TTT member longer than you have and because I’ve contributed more than you have in terms of donated time, money, and resources, my opinion matters more than yours does.  I hereby override your opinion with my own:  “Paraglider pilots are wonderful members of the free flight community and we should gladly welcome them as TTT members.” 

2. everything the paragliders need help in can all be done volunatarily. there is nothing they need from us that can’t be fulfilled voluntarily.  the only real advantage (for them, not hg pilots) of them joining the ttt is they would have a right in the ownership of ttt assets.  how is it right to obligate those who seek the sole benefit of hang gliding to use their money on projects (paraglider projects) that they didn’t want their money to go to? again, voluntary giving will accomplish this without forecfully obligating those who do not wish to give their assets, fees, etc to the paragliding cause.
   
   This is the same argument!  Since it’s important enough to you that you had to repeat it, I’ll reply more seriously:  A new member in the TTT is no more or less a member than someone who first joined five years earlier.  You and I, we’re both members, nothing more, nothing less, and no member, regardless of longevity or position within the club, has the right to abscond with club property. 
   
3. there are enough disagreements among hg pilots as how to best spend our money, project developments, etc. how is adding paragliders visions for the club site, assets, money, etc gonna help keep the club unifed? it won’t. it will cause eventual more division and harm to the ttt.
   
   These aren’t disagreements among “hang glider pilots,” but disagreements among people.  Adding another type of wing into the mix isn’t going to change a thing, and denying paraglider pilots membership rights isn’t going to magically make everyone on the Board of Directors agree on what needs to be done, when, or by whom.
   
4. given the best case scenario and good will of the current paragliders towards being equally desirious for the benefit of the sports of hang gliding and paragliding, how is this any guarantee that future paraglider pilots will have the best desires for future hang gliding/ttt needs? there’s not. there is no way to guarantee the interests of hang gliding at ttt in the future if we allow paragliders to join now.  so ttt should stay a hg club only.
   
   What does a hang glider pilot really want from life?  A safe place to launch, a huge field to land in, a cold drink in the LZ, a ride back up, and as many friends as possible to regale with every little detail of that amazing sled run.  Guess what?  Paraglider pilots want the exact same things!  Why does it matter how floppy or un-floppy a pilot’s wing is?  Not to say that your point is completely without merit, but it’s certainly possible to protect the club’s heritage without limiting ourselves to a single type of wing.  As far as I know, all paraglider launches are suitable for hang gliders and all hang glider landing zones are suitable for paragliders, so it’s not much of a stretch to find the middle ground here.
   
5. there is already a volunatry agreement between ttt and the paragliders to use our facilities, road access, club site, etc. even some of the hg pilots are willing to help the paras develop their sites. why do they need membership and access to voting rights for the direction of our club?!
   
   Money!  The more members we have, the more dues and donations we collect.  Why should we let those PG pilots keep using "our" stuff for free, anyway?  Footprints on our good HG dirt, breathing up our good HG air, landing in the field that “we” mow, parking their little, rackless, foreign cars in places that were only ever meant for massive, HG retrieval vehicles... I think it's high-time that they started chipping in.  Seriously, these guys need to pony up some dues AND get on the mailing list so that we can badger them about coming out to help with TC 2015.  There's never enough toilet paper, man... every year, no matter how much I bring, it's never enough!  If nothing else, this argument wins the day:  We need more people to bring more toilet paper.
   
6. matt taber of lookout mtn hang gliding stated he would not add paraglider pilots to the mix bec of the increased risk of liability. matt is a savvy business owner. if there was profit to be made one would expect to see as many paraglider pilots flying lookout as the hang gliders. but there isn’t bec matt recognizes and does not wish to assume the safety risks of paras.
   
   Comparing LMFP to the TTT is like comparing apples to wombats!  They are two completely different organizations, and what works for one probably won’t work for another.  Both organizations have their merits (and demerits), and both organizations do a tremendous amount of good for both hang gliding and free flight in general.  Besides, Matt doesn't have access to suitable paragliding launches.  Also, paragliders 
   would get in the way of the money making tandems.  
   
   What safety risks are you referring to, specifically?  Almost every HG pilot I know (including both of us!) has been in a tree, a hospital, or both at some point in their flying career.  As far as I can tell, gravity really doesn't give a shit what kind of wing you were flying when you made whatever bad decision it was that turned your flight into a fall, but we’re all members of USHPA (notice the "P") and we all share the same basic risks, coverage, rights, and responsibilities.
   
7. potential risks of adding paragliders to the club: they could vote all hg pilots off the board if they have more members, they could sell/liquidate any/all assets of ttt by simple majority vote, they could modify in any way they want anything at any site w/ a simple majority vote, they could take the lz fund and use it for a paraglider launch(es) by a pg vote, etc etc. now they will say this is wrongful fear, but no one can see the future what future members will do. but there is any easy answer. let’s not even put ourselves at any potential risk. any and all of these potential issues could be avoided by simple keeping ttt what it is: a hang gliding club.
   
   What kind of crazy, paranoia-infused, fantasy land do you live in where you can envision paraglider pilots liquidating the TTT’s resources?  Why in the world would they do that?  We’ve already discussed this:  They want the same things that we want!  If they buy a new PG launch, guess what?  HG pilots can launch there too!  Yay!! 
   
   And you’re wrong about about being able to see the future - just open your eyes and read the magazine!  I just pulled March, 2015 down from my shelf  and here’s what I found:  The P3 and P4 ratings alone match the total number of all HG ratings issued.  Now think about that for a minute… do you see what that means?  There are more PG pilots staying in the sport long enough to earn intermediate and advanced ratings than there are HG pilots, total!  That includes new students, people taking an intro package, AND the 10 members of the Tecumseh Youth Ensemble that took advantage of a Groupon, but only had two days and will never even dream of upgrading that H1.  It won’t be long before hang gliding exists only because the paragliding community exist to keep flight regulations, launches, and landing zones alive.  The sad truth of the matter is that we need them more than they need us.
   
8. the paras have already had issues maintaining what they had. ttt members have enough areas of concern to manage as is. just see an annual committee assignment meeting and how difficult it is to get things done in and for the club. adding more site responsibilities that involves man power, finances, routine maintenance, time, etc and the already limited ttt resources are stretched. if it’s argued we could all work together, then do it voluntarily. don’t obligate the club and its assets by your personal desire(s) for paras to have partial ownership of the club.
   
   You’re saying that there aren’t enough members to handle the work that the club needs done, and your response to the situation is to righteously and vehemently oppose the addition of new members.  Do I have that right?  Smack yourself in the forehead for me, will ya?  
   
   I suppose that you’re right about more members meaning more work, though.  This is exactly what Notorious B.I.G. was talking about when he wrote “Mo Money, Mo Problems,” right?  A bigger, more active club really would mean more work to do… more garbage to clean up, more events to plan, more dues to collect… a truly tragic situation.  On the other hand, there would also be more volunteer labor, more parties to attend, and more rides back up, so I think it balances out!
   
   Can you imagine the Henson Gap parking lot being full every Saturday morning and the campground being full every Saturday night?  What if the TTT were as busy as Team Challenge EVERY flyable weekend of the summer?  I imagine that it actually was that busy once upon a time, and I wish I'd been there to be a part of it.  Maybe it can happen again with the help of our floppy-winged brethren, and if it did, then I’d consider myself fortunate have had a hand in making it possible.  
   
   Honestly, If you think that having more pilots around is a bad thing, then you're in the wrong sport, my man.  I love flying, but even more than that I love the people I've met and the friends that I've made BECAUSE of flying.
   
9. what if the property issues fall through w/ rick jacob? where will the pilots go? what will they use? they will have nothing at that point. guess who will have to foot the bill to help find them a new place? the hang glider pilots.
   
   There are really only three possibilities in the event that something should happen to prevent the use of Rick’s launches:
   
   1) We we find a new TTT site that works for PG (which would also work for HG - Yay!!).  
   
   2) The paraglider pilots take up hang gliding because once you've flown the Sequatchie Valley you just can't settle for scooter towing in Ohio.  
   
   3) The PG pilots stop renewing their memberships , stop being TTT members, and we get back to dwindling. 
   
10. nothing needs coordinated or can’t be coordinated thru simply talking to the different respective clubs. no one of either side is wishing to restrict the flying opps of anyone. no one is going to launch into each other. all will respect each other in the air. to argue we need to make paras members of ttt to coordinate and share our flying is hardly credible thought.
    
    For once, we are in complete agreement.  The Southern ParaPilots have proven that they don’t need to be members of the TTT to be good pilots, good people, and good friends.  The funny thing about this is that if you were to ask me what makes a good TTT member, that would be my answer: “Good pilots, good people, and good friends.”

I read Kathy Lee’s letter, too, and it’s pretty much the same stuff:  Insecure people railing against change because they’re afraid that the new folks are going to be as short-sighted, judgmental, and one-sided as they themselves have been thus far.  I'm not into making personal attacks against anybody - we all have our fears and insecurities.  It’s human nature to fear the unknown, and what is change if not the embodiment of uncertainty?  

Including or excluding paragliders will not change the fact that the future of hang gliding is uncertain, but it may change the fact that the future of the TTT is uncertain.  Deciding against allowing PG membership because of we’re afraid of unknowable consequences is like driving over a cliff because we’re not sure what might happen if we turn the wheel!  

Channing and Kathy have strong feelings but no facts.  Their arguments are invalid, lack logic, and are based on vague, irrational fears.  It is a xenophobic fear by the in group of the out group (paragliders), and something that would be more at home in an Indiana pizza parlour than on the top of a Tennessee mountain under a sky filled with endless, cottonball-shaped possibility.

The paraglider pilots are good people, on that much we all agree.  From there, I only ask that those of you who are against the idea of inviting them join the club take a moment to look into your hearts with honest eyes and consider your motivations.  If you’re decision is based on fear, skepticism, jealousy, or greed, please reconsider your position and try not to allow those negative emotions to cloud your judgement.  Think instead about the needs of the club, the flying community, and all of the good things that a larger, more diverse membership would bring.

I firmly believe that adding paragliders to the TTT is GOOD!  For a net cost of nothing, we get so much MORE:  More members, more energy, more resources, more money, more flying, more friends, more rides, more exposure, more events, more beer... more, more, more!  It’s the right thing to do for the hang glider pilots, the paraglider pilots, the entire free flight community, and, most of all, for the Tennessee Tree Toppers.

-James Dean. 

Another Year of TC is Finished

It's over.  Everyone has packed up their wings and headed home to Washington, New York, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and many other distance places while us locals shake our heads and wonder what went wrong with the weather.  We can normally count on a few good days during any week in the early fall, but this year was tough!  We ended up with two flying days, but only one of them counted for toward the competition.  The first, as previously mentioned, was a day for launching and landing clinics in which we all had a lot of fun and learned a lot, but the other was the reason that we all took time off from work, packed up our gear, and spent hours (days for some folks!) to travel to the beautiful Sequatchie valley:  Cross Country Flying!

The two ridge-gaps before
Dr. Dales.

It was Thursday and it was windy.  So windy, in fact, that the safety committee was tempted to call the day off a couple of times, but the gusts subsided and safe launch windows were available.  Everyone, about sixty pilots, got off the mountain safely and into some moderately ridge-soarable conditions.

The task for C pilots was to fly 8.3 miles south and to land at Dr. Dale's field, which is a huge field with two crossing landing strips cut into the soft, green grass.  The B pilots were to go a bit past Dr. Dale's, then turn around and make the trip back to Henson's Gap and land in our primary LZ - about 18 miles all together.  The A pilots were to go to Dr. Dale's, then back north to Buc's Knob, then all the way back to Dr. Dale's again for a 36 mile flight.  Wow!  

I launched about halfway through the pack, following my team leader, Jeff Nibbler, into what should have been easily ridge soarable conditions.  The plan was to run the ridge south to the first gap and then take stock of the situation, leaning on Jeff's experience before attempting to make the first jump.  It turned out that the ridge, for reasons I don't fully understand, was barely working at all, so what should have been a stroll turned into a bit of a chore.  I got lucky and found some light but workable lift lines early on that gave me enough altitude to make it to the first gap easily, then another light climb that got me across.

Feeling confident, I charged  ahead of the pack until I reached the edge of the second gap.  Whoa, Nelly!  This thing did not look so big on the topo map in the clubhouse!  Something about the way that it was laid out, maybe the way the trees seemed to flow outward into the valley like water, made the 2nd gap look a LOT bigger than the first.  Or maybe it was just that I was so much lower.  I knew that getting too deep into one of those gaps could be dangerous if I didn't have the altitude to get back out again.  

I could see that I didn't have enough altitude to cross the gap and I didn't want to risk getting stuck in the middle and not making it out of the large, forested area that extended around it in all directions, so I scraped along the ridge for about 10 minutes trying to find a way up.  Our team leader, Jeff, saw me scratching around and called out some lift behind me, so I turned back to see four other gliders climbing in it.  How did I not notice that on my own?  Well, that's why I'm a "C" pilot and Jeff is an "A" pilot and our team's leader!  

GPS Log of my flight.  It was 8.3 miles, straight line,
and very fun!

I turned back to the lift and quickly climbed up to 5200' MSL before Jeff suggested that I turn out to the valley and glide to the target LZ.  I didn't want to leave the climb, but knew that Jeff needed to get me and Brandon, the other C pilot on our team, to our goal as quickly as possible so that he could head back to Buc's Knob before it started to cool off, so I did as directed.  

My first Hang Gliding trophy, created by
Eric Donaldson.

I arrived at Dr. Dale's with around 2000' of altitude to spare and enjoyed a nice, casual descent to the massive landing zone, where my nice, no-step landing was met with hoots, congratulations from my lovely girlfriend, and some high-fives from my teammate and flying buddy, Brandon.  It was Brandon's first Cross-Country attempt, and both of our first time making goal.  We were both very happy as we broke down our gliders and watched as seven other C pilots made goal.  In the end, nine of the twelve C pilots in the competition made goal that day and it was amazing to be a part of it!

That was the only scored competition day of the week, but it was a great day for almost everyone.  My team, "Team Challenged", managed to take second place in the competition, thanks almost entirely to Jeff's patient and wise leadership, and we all went home with some amazing trophies made by our friend and fellow pilot, Eric Donaldson.  Eric's team, incidentally, took first place.  Again.  

We spent the evening with Dennis Pagen and Mike Barber reviewing the day and sharing stories and observations.  We also reviewed the days launches, most of which were very well done!  

Mike Barber and Dennis Pagen review the day's
flight reports and discuss flying conditions.

All in all, it was a good week.  I do wish there had been more flying, but I'm incredibly happy that the one day we had was such an amazing experience and I can't wait for next year.  Until then - happy flying!

Day Three - Still Nothing to Report

What happened to day two?  Rain.  Rain happened.  Day Two was spent most definitely, most depressingly, and most decidedly not flying.  So on we go to Day Three!

Day Three had some hope and some potential, but when the sun came up it revealed another grim situation.  The entire valley was filled with clouds.  The people in the valley probably called it "fog", but from our lofty vantage it was clearly a massive, unbroken cloud.  When clouds or fog keep us from flying we call it being "socked in", but I'm not sure where the term comes from.  Maybe it's because, when your drowning in fog, everything looks pretty much the same as if you were wearing a sock over your head.

Task committee calling the day off.

The Team Challenge is a competition centered around thermal soaring and thermals are formed by the sun heating the earth, then that hot air swirling upward through the atmosphere's natural temperature gradient until it reaches the dew point and condenses into clouds.  Puffy, white cumulus clouds, which are an excellent sign of lift.  There wasn't much hope of any of that happening, but the task committee decided on a few goals for the day anyway and met repeatedly as the day went on to delay the start-time for the meet due (or "dew"... ha!) to the fact that the clouds in the valley just weren't burning off.

At about two in the afternoon the committee decided that the day over and all tasks were cancelled.  Bummer.  There were more than fifty gliders set up in the grassy area behind the Henson's Gap launch and more than fifty pilots eager to do some kind of flying at this hang gliding meet so something had to give.  Luckily for us, the fog eventually did burn off and the wind slowed down to a very safe, comfortable level (even though it was cross) and we were able to get a little practice in.  Nobody expected to have very long flights, but even a short flight is better than no flight at all!

A pilot launches at Henson's Gap.

The meet directors turned this into a "launching and landing" clinic by setting up video cameras on the launch and in the LZ (landing zone) to document our launching and landing techniques.  Later in the evening we all sat in the pavilion and participated in reviews of every single launch made for the day.  It was a fabulous learning experience - Mike Barber and Dennis Pagan can spot a potential launch problem from a thousand miles away!

The landing zone filled up as about fifty pilots enjoyed short
 flights in the mild conditions.

There were a few less-than-perfect launches, including my own during which I let my nose get too high, and a few less-than-perfect landings (mine was fine) that resulted in a couple of broken glider parts, but, thankfully, no broken pilots.  We will review the landings in detail tomorrow night, as it took about two hours just to go over the footage of all of the day's launches.

At the end of the day, because it was not an official competition day, my team gets to retain it's coveted position just right of the launch ramp, so we piled up our gliders and sheltered them under JC's UltraSport.  We'll be back out there in the morning, and the weather is finally starting to look good!  

JC's UltraSport - aka Mother Hen

Day Zero, Day One - Move Along; Nothing to See Here

Ready to Fly - The day before
the competition looked
great!

Registration day went well enough and plenty of people showed up early to get a little bit of pre-meet warmup flying in.  I managed two short flights, but it was good to have a chance to test out my glider after having had to replace one of the leading edges.  The new patch on the sail looks great, too!

Pilot Registration &
Team Assignment

Team selection went quickly and I ended up on a team of all local friends with whom I have flown many times before.  Our team's name is "Team Challenged", which was proposed by J.C. (and pre-proposed by the infamous Rex of Lookout Mountain Flight Park if I have the back-story right).  Flying with friends is what hang gliding is all about (and beer... friends and beer), so I think we have the perfect team!  I'm very excited for the comp to start, but there is just one more obstacle to overcome:  The weather.

The first day of Team Challenge 2011 dawned with some hope as the morning numbers on the computer forecast site showed a lot of potential for soaring, but as the sun came up it quickly became clear that it was not about to become clear.  The clouds weren't going to cooperate.  They looked, in fact, a bit like the defensive line from a prison football team, all in drab, gray uniforms as they shoulder into each other and work hard stop every single, thermal-generating ray of sun from ever getting to the ground.

Linked form
http://www.icelandphotoblog.com/index.php?showimage=214

Then we got the wind forecast and realized that there were not going to be any places for good, safe launches in the Sequatchie Valley so the flying day was called.  Canceled.

Instead of flying, everybody piled into the clubhouse to listen to a great seminar about soaring in the Sequatchie Valley by hang gliding legend Dennis Pagen.  It was very educational and I hope that the weather cooperates soon so that I can put some of what I learned from Dennis to the test... but tomorrow's forecast just came in and it looks like rain.

Rain.  Ugly little wads of water shooting toward our heads like evil, bullet-shaped drops of thermal-killing hate......

Team Challenge 2011 - Back for More!

Inventory check: XC bag, camel-back, vario, GPS,
two radios, spare parts, helmet, video camera,
and some bolt-on wheels for my glider.

It's been a year since my first hang gliding competition and things sure do look different.  I've changed jobs, moved to Chattanooga to be closer to my kids, and my soul-mate has moved down from Michigan to be with me.  Life is good.

Since I'm now only about an hour away from Dunlap, TN, the Hang Gliding Capital of the East and home of the Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge, I'm not going to have to camp out!  The competition is only about an hour from my house, so I'll come home to sleep.  It'll mean long days and short nights, but it'll be good to sleep in my own bed.  Another thing that will be different this year is that my girlfriend is going to drive the retrieval vehicle for my team.  It's going to be really great to have her involved!

Gloves - coated with silicone for extra grip
on the glider's down-tubes.

Last year I didn't do very well in the competition.  I had a lot to learn and didn't get a lot of time to practice or study due to a pretty demanding work schedule.  This year has been a little bit better, but my flying has had different challenges.  Namely, two crashes and the loss of a friend and flying buddy.  The first crash was due to a landing that didn't go as planned, the second was a launch that didn't go as planned, and the friend was Tim Martin, who got caught by a passing storm front.

The most important hang gliding
food of all:  Beer.

All of these incidents were frightening, humbling, and educational, and I think that I learned more from them than I did from all of the rest of my flying experiences together, but when I think back on the year it's the fun times that I remember... not the scary or sad times.  I had so much fun flying with my friends and, if you've never done it, you just can't understand how amazing it is to be 7,000 feet in the air with nothing but the wind in your face while you, literally, play in the clouds.

The cold-weather gear.  I probably
won't need the hat or pants this early in
the season, though.

I'm a better pilot now than I was a year ago and I'm looking forward to this year's Team Challenge even more than I looked forward to last year's.

So... it's prep time.  I've been flying all year, so there wasn't as much to do as there was last year.  Charged the radios, changed the batteries in the GPS and Vario, cleaned my helmet and washed my cool-weather clothes (they were a little stinky).  Cleaned my harness and fixed (hopefully) a broken hinge housing on the lower part of the back-plate.  I cleaned out the jeep and loaded in my spare tip-wand and down-tube... now it's time to go to bed and dream sweet dreams of out-flying my good friend, Dr. Barry.

 

Blown Launch

August 3rd, 2011

First of all, I want to thank God for looking out for me. Again.

Secondly, I need to give a huge, all-caps THANK YOU to Steve, Channing, and Ollie for being such incredible friends and flying buddies. These guys didn’t even hesitate before giving up one of the best flying days of the year to hack their way through the dusty, thorny, tick-infested undergrowth in order to help me get my equipment off of the side of the ridge. You guys are amazing.

So, if you haven’t guessed yet, I crashed yesterday. Blew a launch at Whitwell and ended up in the trees maybe sixty feet below launch and to the left where, luckily, there were plenty of trees to catch my glider. The whole thing was over in about four seconds, so fast that I didn’t even have time to get scared. My life didn’t flash in front of my eyes and I didn’t shed a dramatic, solitary tear for my soon-to-be-lost loved ones right before impact, but there was a very distinct moment when I realized that I was probably going to die. That brief instant in time was captured as a snapshot, an engram, with all dimensions in perfect clarity, and now I find that my mind keeps returning to it, searching it, repeatedly probing it the way a person’s tongue might keep poking at a sore tooth. I wasn't hurt, but I’m still going to carry this with me for a long, long time.

The sequence of events was as follows: I approached the edge of the cliff in light winds under the guidance of a wire crew that I knew and trusted. I settled the wing on my shoulders, set my angle of attack, walked out to the edge, and heard calls of “neutral” from both sides. I launched. My wings were level and my attitude was good. My launch run was a little too aggressive and I could have been a step closer to the edge of the cliff, but I didn’t pop my nose or get nailed by an unexpected updraft. It seemed to be the opposite, in fact. Instead of flying away from the mountain, the glider seemed to settle directly downward, my left wing dropping a bit faster than my right wing. Only a slight imbalance, but it was enough for the left wing to scrape a bush and initiate a weird, low speed, nose-down turn that ordinary control inputs could not correct. I might have been able to save the launch if I’d climbed into the right corner of my control frame, but I’ll never know that for sure. Anyway, I tried to correct the turn and realized that I was not in proper control of the glider. It was only a few seconds, but it really seems like a lot of things happened. I pulled in and tried to roll out of the turn (though not aggressively enough), but the glider didn't respond. I saw that the trees below me were very close. I saw that I was pointed back toward the mountain realized that a crash was unavoidable. I pulled in harder for the last half-second of my brief flight then pushed out as hard as I could into the face of the cliff right at the moment of impact. I’m not sure what, exactly, happened right after I collided with the terrain, but the glider didn't actually connect with the rock face so I assume that my wings caught in the trees and stopped my forward motion. I swung forward on my hang strap as the glider slid down a few feet before catching the base tube on a 5” thick tree while pinching the right wing between that tree and another that grew up at a slightly different angle. I opened my eyes and stood up on the base-tube, checked myself for damage and making sure that the glider was secure before calling out on the radio that I was all right. Completely fine, in fact. I kept waiting for something to start hurting, but I really was fine… Thank God.

So, what went wrong? I think that it was a few things. First and foremost, I did not take the launch seriously. My attitude was that I had done it before, conditions were good, and I knew what I was doing. It wasn't a conscious attitude at all, I wasn't strutting around all puffed up and cocky, but looking back I can see that my internal attitude toward the launch and conditions was somewhat dismissive. I am a mountain pilot and cliff launches are a simple, basic skill, right? To be completely candid, I even recognized that other pilots, most with vastly more experience than I have, were having weird launches. I even went so far as to comment on those launches to a friend before my own launch... I *knew* something was off and that I should pay attention to it, but still didn't let that affect my launch procedure. Why? Because I thought I knew what I was doing, I guess. I have to think about that some more and come up with some way to temper my confidence with my ignorance and lack of experience. It's not always easy to realize when we were being foolish until after the dust has settled. Intermediate Syndrome in a nutshell, right?

From a technical perspective, the biggest problem was that my wings were not loaded when I launched. This is what Ollie, one of my wire-crew, saw and later told me. I had the wings balanced and level, but not loaded. I thought that I would fly from the cliff, but instead I did a Mary-Poppins launch and tried to use my hang glider as an umbrella. Because there was a head wind, I didn't focus on aggressively diving from the cliff’s edge at all, but launched as if I my wing were already flying. That accounts for the settling sensation that ate up my ground clearance and put me in contact with the bush that started my turn.

If I could do it over again there are, obviously, a few things I would change. Since I still haven’t managed to figure out time-travel, I will have to settle for adjusting my behavior in the future:

• I will force myself to take a moment to recognize the risk involved with launching a hang glider. To paraphrase Ollie: This isn’t a game we’re playing and if we don’t take it seriously it’s going to kill us. I never thought twice about it before launching yesterday and commented later that it was one of the first launches that I wasn't afraid of... that should have been a pretty big warning sign.
  
• I will always, always, every time, talk to my wire crew before launching. I knew both of the guys on my wing yesterday, I knew that they were going to follow the standard wire crew dialog that we had rehearsed before, and I saw them perfectly wire off half a dozen folks in line before me. Even so, I should have taken the time to make eye contact with each of them and to review the procedure. They did absolutely nothing wrong, but that’s not the point. I didn't need to take the time to review the procedure for their sake, but for my own – the extra 15 seconds on the ramp would have given me time to connect with reality, stop rushing, and helped to remind me that launching a hang glider was a serious business deserving my full and deliberate attention.
  
• I will take a few seconds to pause at the "red line" before calling clear. I’m not talking about loitering on launch while I get my courage up – just holding still for enough time to feel what the wing is really doing before I call clear. Yesterday I walked forward, felt in control, felt level, had a good nose angle, and went for it. I don’t think that I was on launch for more than three seconds, total. No hesitation, no fear. I don’t want to ever linger on the ramp, but I do need to be sure that every aspect of my body, wing, and crew are ready to launch and doing that is going to take a little extra time. If I’d taken a few seconds to stand there making sure I that I knew what the wing was doing, I think that I would have recognized that it was resting heavily on my shoulders when it should have been lifting in the light head-wind. I would have known to either wait for the lull to pass, to get the wing into the wind and under load, or to dive from the cliff in a no-wind launch. Instead I launched as if I were already under load and it nearly killed me.That’s it. I learned an important lesson from a mistake that many pilots don’t live long enough to make twice and I’m happy to have the opportunity to share it. If it helps even one person avoid making the same mistake, then I think the whole ordeal will have been worth it. If anyone would like to comment, offer advice, or share helpful suggestions then please do. I am always glad to have criticism and advice (and praise!!) about my flying.
  

Yesterday seems like it should have been a pretty bad day for me and I certainly would have preferred getting high and going long, but in a lot of ways that I came to realize last night over dinner (thanks again, Ollie), I think that yesterday may have been one of the best days of my life. It could have so easily been the worst, or the last, day of my life, but instead I am sitting here, one catastrophe wiser than I was a day ago, writing, drinking coffee, feeling thankful for my friends, and listening to my girlfriend sing while she paints the upstairs bedroom.

Life is good.

Days Six and Seven - Blown Out, Rained Out, Done.

Day Six - Pretty, but dangerous.

Day six was called due to unfavorable wind conditions and a dangerously turbulent landing zone.  It looked like it could have been a great cross-country day (and it was - epic for some of the folks who launched from Lookout Mountain), but during the Team Challenge we tend to be a little bit more conservative. 

Day seven was a long, cold, rainy mess.  We held out for as long as we could in the hopes that the weather would turn and that we would be able to squeeze in one more competition day, but the cool drizzle never really stopped.  Many of us launched and landed in the heavy, buoyant air, but nothing was scored and there was no chance at really going up.

Day Seven - Yuck.

Saturday night ended with live music, an award ceremony, pulled-pork sandwiches, and beer.  Lots of beer.  A whole keg of it!  I stayed for the awards ceremony then headed home as the band started up again.  I was tired and the forecast for Sunday promised rain, so I decided I'd be happier in my bed and that I could use Sunday for unpacking, washing, then repacking in preparation for my move to Chattanooga.

All in all, it was a wonderful learning experience.  I didn't score very well and never made goal, but my first two attempts were pretty amazing and I know I'll never forget the cows!  Special thanks to my team ("The Ollie Oops!") driver, Lori, for being awesome, to Dennis Pagen and Mike Barber for invaluable instruction, to Ollie for being an incredible mentor and team leader, and, most of all, Dean Funk for going out of his way to help me figure out why I wasn't thermaling well.  Dean - you rock. 

I am disappointed that we only had three competition days, but I did learn a lot and I plan to be back up in the air to apply that knowledge as soon as I can be.  Next year is only a year away and I can't wait!  Hopefully I won't qualify as a "C" pilot again...

Thanks for reading.  If anyone is interested in learning more about the sport of hang gliding please send an email to kreebog@gmail.com and I'll gladly answer questions, find a school for you, or help you in whatever way I can. 


James Dean
H-3
kreebog@gmail.com
KJ4RPB