On Feb 8, 3:57*pm, Don Johnstone wrote:
At 14:36 08 February 2012, guy wrote:

The more troubling aspect of this event to me are the reports of
several people that "a glider" had been flying very low relative to
the chair lifts for several days before this event. *Flying close to
terrain is part of the soaring experience but we must remember that
doing so in the proximity of people is not good for the sport, nor for
the pilots, nor for the people beneath the glider.

Guy

How things differ. If we had to avoid flying close to people when ridge
flying in the UK we would not do any at all. Virtually all the hills worth
soaring have people walking along them and gliders very close to them, most
of the walkers wave and seem to enjoy the experience.
The two largest top of the hill sites in the UK have public footpaths along
the ridge line between the airfield and the ridge.

It's the same in the US, of course (common race separated only
language, etc.). We do seem to have a few news reporters willing to
search for a willing dupe to regurgitate the "quotes" they seek or,
failing that, just make the quotes up out of whole cloth. I've taken
the time to dig around on the bulletin boards used by hikers in the
mountains where I fly to see if gliders get mentioned. We do... and
it's all positive.

-Evan Ludeman / T8