June 5, 2016
Site: Dog Mtn
Time: approx noon
Conditions: SW breeze
5-12 with cycles where you could hear it in the trees at launch,
80-85F very warm day. Direction and velocity were cycling.
Cummulative flights to date:
20
Assistance at launch:
left wing tip
Number of flights: 1
crash immediately after launch
Dave and Dianna Auman where at launch
with a friend. Dianna and their friend launched and were having OK
flights from what Dave could see. I decided to have Dave assist me
while standing on the ramp to get a feel for the conditions to make a
decision on whether to attempt a launch. I had Dave on my left wing
tip. From what I recall, he was actively assisting me 80% of the
time I stood on launch. This should have been a clear indicator that I should reconsider attempting a launch. The breeze did not feel consistent and even
the best cycles did not come straight in. This also should have been all
I needed to scrap the attempt and wait to see what the day would
bring. I launched anyway. The launch on that short ramp had me
intimidated but my run and take off felt OK with the wings reasonably
level. Immediately after launching I got my right foot up and over
the leading edge but I was unable to put enough pressure forward
with my hands to keep the nose from pitching up significantly. About
the same time I felt I was turning left and input right rudder to
correct. I applied too much rudder and found myself in a sharp right
turn at a high bank angle headed for the treeline on the right side
of launch. With no room left I held things steady and slowed the
ship down with the slim possibility that I would clear the tree line.
I was 6-8ft short and impacted the only dead snag in the tree line.
The glider hung up where it hit. I was easily able to disconnect
from the sling attaching me to the glider and get out of the tree.
The glider sustained significant damage. Very likely that I will
need to rebuild the entire left wing panels which will take several
months of shop time. My injuries were minor abrasion to my right
elbow and major bruising to my rib cage on the left side.
What did I learn:
Cleaning
sand out of the glider is a lot easier than a re-build. 20
consecutive successful launches and landings off a 70-80ft high dune
might have been sufficient training to launch and land at this site
if all of those flights had been in the bare glider or hammock sling
seat configuration where I had mastered kicking up into the cage.
This was a ramp launch, cycling breeze, slightly crosswind and lots
more vertical to the LZ (read: intimidation factor)...my focus was
getting up into the cage as quickly as possible having only done this
once on the last session I had at the beach which was clearly
insufficient.
What to do next:
I need to practice more at Kiwanda
until kicking up into the cage becomes not only automatic but with as
little perturbation in pitch as possible. Rudder control must also
be much more automatic (part of what I experienced was over control
into that right turn). I believe at least 20 more flights off the
dune needs to happen where I kick up into the cage with very little
pitch perturbation. This may take even more than 20 flights. The
coastal dune site I have been using requires a right turn fairly soon
after launch to avoid landing in the surf so my experience to date
actually has given me some practice in making small roll changes
without over control. The key here is that it was not enough
training in the final flying configuration I will be flying the Easy
Riser in. Recall from my previous training flight that it was the
first time I kicked up both feet onto the leading edge and flew down
in the cage. I had convinced myself that it was so easy to do I did
not need to repeat it before going to the next step and launch from
the Dog Mtn ramp. Needless to say I was wrong on that decision. Two
things happening simultaneously I believe was key to my incident at
Dog. Failing to execute the swing up into the cage without
maintaining constant angle of attack and at the same time needing to
make a roll correction to maintain a straight off flight path.
Clearly I was unable to do both. Another part of this I did not get
to explore was the landing which requires the pilot to drop both feet
off the leading edge while holding pitch steady. I noticed this on
the last flight off the dune. I dismissed it as something minor but
feel it could cause a whip stall if one got in a hurry to drop while
still well above the ground on approach. This glider is very easy to
fly but will quickly spin in if stalled in a turn. The last flight I
had at the beach I found it took a mental effort to let my feet come
down out of the cage since it is such a secure and comfortable
position. So I think dropping my feet early is not going to be a
problem but I'd rather make darn sure through sufficient practice at
the beach.
Unfortunately the impact very likely
tweeked the entire frame so I will need to do a complete re-build
involving at the very least, fabrication of the lower left leading
edge spar which was completely broken on impact and then, of course
re-covering and re-rigging. I am also guessing the internal root
diagonal brace rib was also destroyed so I will need to create a form
to reproduce that curved rib with new tubing. Because of the
difficulty in covering I experienced with the first re-build, I plan
to replace any of the frame tubing I need to in order to achieve a
completely straight and true frame. I will likely document this in a
continuation of my intitial re-build blog (easyriser1.blogspot.com).
Re: Pilot safety
I did not break ribs but I did bruise or crack a couple that took at least two months to heal. I plan to buy a rib cage protector vest available for go cart racers next. The pilot position totally exposes the rib cage to those 2 inch hang tubes so that any lateral force on impact is going to do some damage to your rib cage. With this configuration I would judge this to be almost as important as wearing a helmet.
Re: Pilot safety
I did not break ribs but I did bruise or crack a couple that took at least two months to heal. I plan to buy a rib cage protector vest available for go cart racers next. The pilot position totally exposes the rib cage to those 2 inch hang tubes so that any lateral force on impact is going to do some damage to your rib cage. With this configuration I would judge this to be almost as important as wearing a helmet.
