Some good news

Holy crap! I just felt that feeling you get when you almost fall over a ledge. I'll bet that pi loo ot will never forget the leg straps again. Checklists people!!!!!

Glad no "physical" injuries are among the wreckage.

Sean
7T

I did wonder how long it would take for the story to make it on RAS...

Not to ruin the growing myth with facts, but here is my recollection of questions already posed...

1) The leg straps were absolutely checked prior to takeoff. If I unhooked them prior to bailout, I will never know. I may have unhooked them while hanging in tree. I do know that most of my weight in the parachute ride was sustained by my arms, which made navigating to the correct landing point more difficult than normal.

2) The descent speed was between 60-80mph IAS, with the vertical speed averaging between 15 and 30kts from 18k down to 8.5k. The HP-14 is an incredible ship in this regard, and performed flawlessly through all stages of flight.

On Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 10:49:37 AM UTC-7, Christopher Giacomo wrote:
I did wonder how long it would take for the story to make it on RAS...

Not to ruin the growing myth with facts, but here is my recollection of questions already posed...

1) The leg straps were absolutely checked prior to takeoff. If I unhooked them prior to bailout, I will never know. I may have unhooked them while hanging in tree. I do know that most of my weight in the parachute ride was sustained by my arms, which made navigating to the correct landing point more difficult than normal.

2) The descent speed was between 60-80mph IAS, with the vertical speed averaging between 15 and 30kts from 18k down to 8.5k. The HP-14 is an incredible ship in this regard, and performed flawlessly through all stages of flight.

3) The FAA and NTSB investigations are on-going, but ultimately at this point I believe my decision to attempt to make it down through the closing Foehn gap, and "local pilot" mentality to flying in the area contributed to my need to make more drastic decisions (1st spiral in IMC then bailout) in a failed attempt to climb back up and go downwind.

4) I fully plan to share the details of this event, and welcome any constructive comments you may have on the flight and decisions made throughout it. Ultimately, I believe the results of the day came down to the time that each pilot made a decision to takeoff, climb, descend, or pause for additional time to consider each option. I perhaps focused too hard on the solution of descending through the gap before it closed, only to find the bottom of my intended gap also had rocks in it.

Thanks for sharing, and please consider sharing on RAS as a good thing. Each one of us can learn from those accidents that almost happened especially from the source, vs the useless NTSB reports, or just keeping quiet. This is the 2nd bailout due to IMC in wave in the US this year alone that I am aware of, so a good reminder for everyone about the risk of flying in wave and getting into IMC situation, to always consider your options downwind, and to consider installing an electronic T&B such as TrueTrack or other similar options available now in flight computers (and get some IFR training under the hood) if you flying in wave and even for flying in convergence where you occasionally find yourself above lower clouds.

Ramy

On Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 10:59:52 AM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:

When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled...

It was reported elsewhere that the pilot landed within 1 km of Route 16, and so I bet he landed in a tree.



I wonder if the unbuckled leg straps facilitated exit from the harness? Following a stream might have got him downhill to Route 16, but bushwhacking in NH is difficult due to dense undergrowth.

Kudos to pilot for keeping his head and self-rescuing!


To combine quotes from OLC and Billy Madison... "I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul"

http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...Id=-2096417488

last location is my landing spot, the glider is a bit more than a mile due east from where i touched down.

On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:
The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.

As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

Karl, I think a quote from your website is highly appropriate here.

"We do not what we ought;
What we ought not, we do;
And lean upon the thought
That chance will bring us through."
(Matthew Arnold)

Am Dienstag, 20. Oktober 2015 18:48:11 UTC+2 schrieb Ramy:
... but even more kudos for the other pilot for thinking outside the box and turning downwind and fly cross country, significantly increasing his chances to find drier air or a gap further downwind.

Ramy

Why would that be out-of-the-box thinking?! It's pretty much plan A in moist wave conditions.

Bert
Ventus cM TW

Hmm. As I understand parachutes, shoulder straps go "over" the shoulders. The chest strap keeps the shoulder straps from expanding past your shoulders. All the weight of the pilot is taken by the leg straps. Are you saying your armpits were in the "unbuckled" leg straps.

It's hard to imagine a pilot staying alive in a chute with unbuckled leg straps, but it's also hard to understand how one could be supporting themselves with their armpits.

Sean
7T

On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 8:33:19 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Hmm. As I understand parachutes, shoulder straps go "over" the shoulders.. The chest strap keeps the shoulder straps from expanding past your shoulders. All the weight of the pilot is taken by the leg straps. Are you saying your armpits were in the "unbuckled" leg straps.

It's hard to imagine a pilot staying alive in a chute with unbuckled leg straps, but it's also hard to understand how one could be supporting themselves with their armpits.

Sean
7T

Sean, My (most, all?) Security chute does not have a chest trap. There are only two straps that come from the seat and loop through on one side and snap to the opposite side.

On 10/21/2015 4:02 AM, Tango Whisky wrote:
Am Dienstag, 20. Oktober 2015 18:48:11 UTC+2 schrieb Ramy:
... but even more kudos for the other pilot for thinking outside the box
and turning downwind and fly cross country, significantly increasing his
chances to find drier air or a gap further downwind.

Ramy

Why would that be out-of-the-box thinking?! It's pretty much plan A in
moist wave conditions.

Bert Ventus cM TW


When I first began pondering wave flying - and dambetcha, the possibilities of
getting trapped on top or enveloped in IMC and having to "do something about
it" thoroughly got my attention! - my Plan A became "waiting until I was
*forced* (e.g. by approaching sunset) to descend," my Plan B was "retreat
downwind until "some better option appeared" (and *screw* retrieve
inconvenience), while Plan C was bail out. This mental conversation occurred
well before obtaining my license or going XC.

Eventually - thanks to flying large-deflection-landing-flap-equipped gliders
and moving to an area where "really wet waves" were pretty much a rarity, I
inserted - if I was absolutely certain clear air between peak-tops and cloud
bases existed - a Plan A.5) IMC descent through the clouds (convenience - woo
hoo!).

Fortunately, other than sometimes playing the waiting game while aloft
(usually due to gnarly pattern/lower-down conditions), I never really had to
seriously consider implementing any of the other options.

My take on the "need for this bailout" was it was likely due to a form of
"get-home-itis" (i.e. diving for a closing hole) leading to IMC below
peaktops. Once there, the decision to abandon the plane was the right one, I
think.

By way of personal analysis of a traumatic situation that easily could have
ended fatally, even had there not simultaneously been aloft another glider
with whom he theoretically might have been able to discuss the situation(who,
it's my understanding, began a descent for home before reconsidering the
rapidly closing wave window, climbed back aloft and used
altitude/time/distance to implement my Plan B), by committing to the "window
or nothing else" Chris G. forfeited whatever options the time-aloft option
alone may have ultimately brought him....and I realize it was already late-ish
in the day.

So, yes, hindsight suggests to me better options & decisions were still on the
table when he implemented the decision chain that save for deciding to bail
out could have ended fatally...but thoughtful pilots will also recognize he
DID "break the chain." There but for the grace of God...?

Bob W.

In a nut shell: He had the wrong plan A, but the right plan B ;-)
Happily for him, it did work out in the end.

In the Alps, wave with northerly winds is typically stable situation (it can last for a week), and more or less dry. It's a large scale situation controlled by a high pressure zone. If you want to descend in IMC, you just need to make sure that you won't hit an embedded rotor. Ceilings will most probably be where they have been hours ago.

Wave under southerly winds is controlled by a depression coming in, and has a time scale of something like 12-36 hours. With the depression moving rapidly closer, wind direction and moisture can change rapidly over the day until finally the warm front cuts off everything with rain. A descend in IMC without solid information about the clearance between ceiling and ground is just Russian roulette.

Bert
Ventus cM TW