Freak accident at Highland

[Paul Tjaden]

I've been surprised that no one has mentioned this yet and I'm hoping that I am not stepping on John's toes here but I thought those of you who know and love (but not in THAT way) John Simon should know about this so you could drop him a note. John took delivery of a new Combat L on Thursday and very unfortunately, had an accident on his maiden flight. Let me add here that I think John is a fabulous pilot who has flown Sunny's Combat numerous times before and out flew me by 10 or 15 miles last Spring while setting the new distance record at Highland. Anyway, apparently John was a bit low on final approach and hooked his feet on a runway marker stopping his forward momentum and causing him to hammer in pretty hard. John told me he was transitioning to the down tubes at the wrong moment and missed the left tube so he wasn't able to push out a bit to clear the obstacle with more room. I can commiserate as my worst landing accident (memorialized forever by Gary Smith's great video) happened because I missed a DT at the wrong moment. Anyway, his new Combat had extensive damage and John suffered a broken humerus on one side and wrist on the other. I talked with him yesterday and he says there doesn't seem to be nerve damage but he's seeing a specialist on Monday rgarding possible surgery. I am especially sorry for John's misfortune cause I was looking forward to kicking his butt in Phoenix at Dustin's competition to make up for his taking the Highland distance record out from under my nose last year. Guess I'll have to wait until next year.

Heal quick, John.

Paul

[kcarra]

Paul, In case John isn't reading the server for a couple days, is there some snail mail address we could use to send a note? John, if you are reading the server, I'm so sorry. Heal quickly and send us an update when you can.

Karen

[Flying Lobster]

Shit--very sorry to hear that--John is one of the funniest talented yet modest pilots I know.

marc

[Spark]

Crap.

My thoughts are with you John.

[hefalump]

I'm Stunned ... John I hope you heal up quick.

I was paniced when I first started reading the post by Paul, but terms like "freak accident" conjure up my worst fears ... I'm glad he is recoving.

Being laid up with a broken arm and a broken wrist on the other side is a seroius matter ... but a broken Humerus ... that's just not funny

John, I love ya man ... Best wishes from Mara and me.

JD

[Paul Tjaden]

Karen,

Sorry, I didn't see your post requesting snail mail address until now. I'm afraid I don't have it but you might call Highland and ask one of the guys there.

Paul

[Lauren Tjaden]

Karen,
I have it and have PMed you.
Lauren

[brianvh]

John;
it sucks, but I'm glad it wasn't worse. Now you can catch up on all the things you miss out on while hang gliding...like, um...yeah, all those good things. Other than that, I can't do better than to echo Marc Fink's sentiments. Hope you stop in at the Fly-in for the socializing. We've got all kinds of things to write on the cast.

-Brian.

[Tad Eareckson]

Some years back I was landing at Ridgely and transferred both hands to the downtubes simultaneously. Yeah - I had known that was the wrong thing to do for a couple of decades but even more sections of my brain than usual were switched off.

I had been carrying the extra maneuvering speed like I was supposed to, so as soon as I gave it the opportunity the glider shot up and stopped - straight over the windsock as luck would have it.

I was REALLY expecting to be folded, spindled, and mutilated within the next couple of seconds but Murphy decided to let me off with a warning for once and I fell to a side, recovered, and landed without incident.

I've had a lot of less eye opening but similar incidents involving a lot less incompetence, often resulting from a hand bouncing off of a tail wire. None of the consequences have ever been worse than a little grass staining.

This sounds like - what - the fourth and fifth breaks from the shoulder down amongst forum folk over the course of the past year?

Hopefully these will prove to be the least severe of the run. I, along with others, was really stunned to hear a couple of months ago how serious was Rich's situation. I sure hope that continues to improve at a much faster rate.

With respect to the accident which resulted in the first set of breaks, there probably wasn't much of a list of things one could have done differently to alter the outcome of the flight - once it had left the slope - without benefit of a crystal ball.

In the other two... The hands attached to the doomed arms were holding onto the downtubes - right?

I've always thought that the way we land these things is stupid. We're taking our hands off the steering wheel at about the most critical stage of the flight to reposition them - assuming nothing goes wrong - at locations at which we have less control and where our arms are a whole lot more likely to get torn apart if/when the glider stops real fast and we don't/can't let go in time.

The payoff - if the flare timing is better than mine usually is... We get to stop the glider on a dime, land on our feet, and look cool. I'm pretty happy that nothing comparable is going on when I'm coming down at MSP.

This is the second forum incident reported from a span of eighteen days in which taking a hand off the basetube resulted in a loss of control. The first situation was just potentially dangerous, the second was life altering. Both of those actions were elective.

Mike Robertson is a proponent of rolling in. Last time I saw him he was still blind in one eye and his harness looked like crap but I don't think he had broken anything.

I'm gonna continue opting for landing on my feet - or trying anyway - and I'm not saying that I'd have fared any better than John had I been in his situation but it's a pretty safe bet that if he had been landing the way the tandems and all other fixed wing aircraft on the planet do that he'd be looking forward to a much better 2008 season.

The choice doesn't have to be all or nothing. People have really mangled themselves because they've been more concerned about getting their legs free of jammed pods than they have about landing the glider. I would suggest that we be a bit more open to the idea of bellying in when we've low on stuff like altitude, airspeed, and time. Maybe skid plates over (under) our chests and knees would reduce our reluctance to some degree.

[mikel]

DANG IT !!!!

John,
Sorry to hear this. Rhonda and I are praying for a speedy recovery.....
We wish you the best

'til then, Mike and Rhonda

[brianvh]

I think that's a good observation Tad...I wanted to reply saying there's also benefits to being upright when things get hairy (as championed by Greg DeWolf), but I don't think a thread involving an injury to a friend is the best place to start a potential argument even with good points to be made on either side. Move to another thread and restart the discussion?

All the best to you John...many of us have been there. I guess typing may not be your strong suit right now?

[John Simon]

thanks to all, bvh is right typing is hard. i would like to say more re my episode but i'll have to wait a few weeks i'll post then

again THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL, EVERYONE HAS BEEN GREAT!!!!!!!... surg wed... looks pretty good for me ( prognosis
)

fingers and some bones crossed

john

[theflyingdude]

Sorry to hear about your accident, John, but best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery.

JR

[huddlec]

Well, this sucks. John, if you need a good orthopedic surgeon, the one that repaired Rich's humerus was great. Rich had nerve damage, but it's healing just fine now. Rich can be reached at 301-340-2398. He screens all his calls and is bad at returning calls (actually, he's bad at listening to his messages). Best time to call is 10:00 pm at night.
Hope all goes well for you.
Christy

[carweill]

John,
Take your time.
Wish you a quick recovery.
See you soon

Carlos

[John Simon]

Hello All,
Just posting a quick update - John had surgery today, the Doc says it went very well.
he got a 2-fer. L arm got a nail/rod and R wrist got a plate.
Fortunately his humor is still intact, although he is very much zonked out, thanks to those meds. My humor also still intact, even though many people are calling me Nurse Ratchet these days.
Many many thanks for all the well wishes, phone calls + offers for help.
I am sure John will post (or dictate to post) when he can.....
Heather

[markc]

Thanks for the update Heather, very glad to hear that things are
looking good after the surgery. Sending my best wishes for
speedy healing to John, and hopes for calmer days ahead for you.

MarkC

[jimrooney]

Why did I just have this vision of those movie assembly lines where they're building android robots? Welcome to the terminator club buddy!

Glad things went well
Jim