Daniels Saturday Jan 28

[sailin]

Looks like it could work tomorrow.... Earlier the better before it goes too west.

Anyone want to give it a shot???

Jon

[Ashley Groves]

I am interested. I have never flown Daniels but am interested.

[sailin]

sounds good Ashley. I am planning on arriving at 930ish (i gotta be on the road home by 3pm....which should actually work out with the forecast tomorrow). Do you need directions?

Jon

[Ashley Groves]

Yes.
I have an old Mid-Atlantic site guide but it does not provide directions for this site.
Also it says I have to sign a waiver and make a donation to CVHGA. I am happy to do both, but not sure how to do it tomorrow AM.
Not sure if this info is still relevant or if it makes it to complicated tomorrow.

[Ashley Groves]

I also have a GPS if you want to send coordinates.

[sailin]

PM sent Ashley

[markc]

Considering it, if I can get my act together and be on the road by 8-ish tomorrow, and if the forecasts don't deteriorate. Would be hard to pass up a late-Jan day in the 50's!

MarkC

[markc]

Later than I'd hoped.... But still looks like there might be a chance for a flight before the winds pick up down at Daniel's. ETA about 10:40.

MarkC

[markc]

Mistake #1 : Not getting to Daniel's *early*, on a day with a Going-Strong-West forecast.
Frickin' DUH!

Mistake #2 : Not accounting for the time that was required to deal with some PG-excitement
in the LZ.

Mistake #3 : Not observing conditions on launch for more than 10 seconds.

Mistake #4 : Not thinking "It might be a good idea to land right NOW, given the lack of
fun-factor" (after launching and finding out how turbulent it was on the ridge).

Mistake #5 : After heading to the LZ, taking a thermal that was the sweetest of the day,
from maybe 400' over the LZ up to 1000' over launch. "Oh hey, maybe it's going to get nice!".

Mistake #6 : Not LOOKING AROUND once I had some altitude, on a clearly challenging day.
Didn't even think about downwind LZs, was completely focused on the main, and on the upwind
fields. SHIT!

Mistake #7 : Lack of flexibility!! I was upwind of the LZ, after that nice thermal, and things
went south in a big frickin' way. Huge lift. Huge sink. In the down-wash of wave, with sink
rates that were off the vario's frickin' scale. I looked around and considered alternate fields...
But the lure of the primary was pretty darn strong; I figured that I would be able to pull things
off if I was really on top of my game. That was a mistake.

Mistake #8 : Yup, you are frickin' WRONG!

Mistake #9 : Semi-contrrolled approach and crash. Pancaked the glider. Probably broke my wrist
and/or hand. AND I'M FRICKIN' PISSED for being such a newb!

Grrrrr!

MarkC

[jyoder111]

@#$%! Sorry Mark. Glad you walked away!

@#$%.

Jesse

[markc]

ahhhhh! gotta couple of percocets left-over from some recent dental work... me happy now!

[Ward Odenwald]

Ditto on Jesse's post with a couple of more @#$%!! I hope that your hand heals fast. You are one of the best, if not the best, pilot in this region so I believe that your long list of issues about what happened today is being way too tough on yourself. You’re PISSED, yes and we can all empathize with that but the only mistake on your list that I believe is worthy of using your other hand (the good one) to whop yourself upside the head is the lack of flexibility issue and even that one is one of those "hindsight is 20/20 things". All the best! Ward

[deveil]

add my brigga-brugga-mugga-fricker! to that “@#$%!” and the “Ditto”

[laszlo]

Mark, I am very sorry to hear this. We truly appreciate the help you and Ashley provided extracting Krista's wing from the tree at the LZ. There was no sign of things "going south" when we watched Ashley to launch and then left at about 1:30. I hope he did not get into any trouble.

You have been the most reliable source of "early reports from launch" for the PG community, and we hope you can soon resume this crucial role. All the best,

Laszlo

[markc]

The chief 'slap-myself-upside-the-head'-worthy mistake was not giving sufficient credence to how nasty Daniel's can be when it goes strong west. I had heard the stories. I knew the local pilot lore. So with a 'gusts to 30' forecast for the afternoon, that should have given me significant pause, given my late launch time (about 1:30).

But I think that a part of me was thinking "Oh, how bad could it be? Just fly for a while, then go on out and land if it gets squirrelly." Humphhh..... Now I know how bad it can get.

Things *really* started cranking on the ground by 3:30. At least I wasn't up in that stuff....

Major thanks to Ashley for his help packing up! And thanks for everyone's encouraging words! No worries, will be back on the horse as soon as I can be.

MarkC

[silverwings]

Mark, wishing you the best. We all make mistakes in our hang gliding career and learn from this one! Of the ones you listed 3, 4, 6, & especially 7 are the f-ups on that flight and some days you might have gotten away with it with no problem but unfortunately that wasn't the case. It could have turned out much worse and you and your glider will heal. If I can be of help, let me know.

[sailin]

MarkC i was sorry to hear how things turned out for you and PLEASE let me know if you need anything. Can't wait to fly with you again soon....you are definitely one of the best and most active pilots in our community......speedy recovery to you man!!! Thank you so much for your account of what happened and the pearls of wisdom that goes comes with them. It is a huge help to our whole flying community.
I ended up launching at about 1145, just behind PG pilots Krista, Lazlo and Randy. The cycles that were coming through at the time were 8-10mph at the most. I wasn't able to do much with the small areas of lift and went into scratch mode right away trying to stay up. After about 5 or 6 passes and little bits of up and little bits of down it was clear I wasn't winning the overall battle. My small climbs in the narrow thermals were short lived as I tried to figure eight as slowly as possible in them, and there was down air all around the stuff going up It wasn't long before I got to the point where I couldn't stay on the ridge close to the terrain anymore...i started to head out to the LZ hoping that I might comes across something going up in the valley. As I turned to headout i saw a PG wing going into a tree in the far east end of the LZ...i couldn't immediately see the pilot and so was unsure of the situation or how serious it could be. It wasn't until I flew over that far end of the LZ that I could see her standing on the ground with the wing suspended in the tree. Thankful! I landed in the primary and helped give MarkC and Ashely directions to where she was.
After breaking down and packing up, I hung out a bit with Amy in the LZ, and watched MarkC launch(130ish???) and work his magic to get up on the ridge. Ashely launched not long after but suffered the same fate as me and extendoed. I'll let him tell his story if he wants to, but it was a scary moment as we saw and heard him clip a tree with his harness and then right wing, and pancake down about ten feet just inside the perimeter of the LZ (ENE corner). Ran over to check on him and with the exception of some bent aluminum he was fine. Thankful again!!!. When I left MarKc was climbing nicely in the valley and Randy was setting up his HG.
Best wishes and speedy recovery to all that have hurt body parts, bent aluminum and torn wings after yesterday. Looking forward to seeing you all back on the mountain soon!!

Jon

[XCanytime]

Mark and Ashley I am glad that you escaped relatively unscathed (sorry about the broken hand/wrist Mark) from approach and landing mishaps. Daniels in a west is vicious and there are plenty of documented mishaps from the past that occurred in the same kind of conditions as yesterday. Glider parts are easily replaced. Thanks Mark for sharing your story and your analysis for the greater good. Best Regards, Bacil

[krista]

mark and ashley -

so sorry to hear the bad news. feel terribly about delaying your trip up the lauch and contributing to the segment of your airtime as the conditions worsened. really appreciate the help with my glider.

krista

[markc]

oh geez krista.... don't even go there, there's absolutely zip/nada/zilch on *you* for poor decision-making on *my* part. REALLY! If an hour makes some sort of difference for the outcome of a day, then that means I was playing it too close to begin with. Heck, I shoulda been there with the early-PG-HG-birds, just like you were!

MarkC

[Pete Schumann]

Hey Mark,

Sorry to read about your not so good flight and landing. I can still picture another Marc's new gear that was hacked up to remove him from a tree over the back. His words have always stuck with me. Strong West is not good and can be scarry at Daniels.

Pete

[XCanytime]

I flew that infamous day April 9th, 1995. It was not west that day, but it was a very unstable day that started out lightly enough and then after 2P it went thermonuclear. An early extendo by the Gardinator was followed by Mitch and Marc climbing out and heading XC to the NE. I launched shortly after they climbed out and gained 2K' flying upwind into the valley in what felt like flying through boiling water. Landing in the "west" field was sporty to say the least. Most of the 25 pilots that were there that day did not launch because the launch was quickly blown out for the remainder of the day not long after I launched. Bacil

[theflyingdude]

Sorry to hear about your accident, Mark. I think most of us that have been around for awhile have put ourselves in the same or a similar situation. It really sucks when you're in that "in the air wishing I was on the ground-mode" and wanting to have a do-over. I've gotten better in my old age at avoiding those situations, but I seem to need an occasional reminder every now and then. There's never a good time to get hurt, but better late January than late March. Wishing you a speedy recovery and good flying in 2012 and beyond!!

JR

[carweill]

Mark,
I count on your recommendations and opinion in many aspects of our sport.
Your insight is consistnetly valuable.
Get back to flying before I do

Carlos

[Ashley Groves]

First time logging in since the flight, so here were my observations. I pretty much did not find more lift than sink while I scratched, so ended up heading to LZ after a short flight. I was actually looking forward to a nice landing, and the approach was setting up nicely until the last few moments when the gulp-factor set in. I was pretty much commited at that point. Maybe I could have high tailed it to a down-wind back-up LZ, but I was low over the houses. It was my first time at the site, and chose not to take my eyes off the LZ.

No worries about the earlier PG extraction Krista. As Mark said, if those extra minutes were the cause, we should not have launced. I heard several times from various pilots about the risks of the west winds... Unless you have "landing cooties".

After that it was pretty much as methioned above, I was OK with making it through (as opposed to over) the first tree, but I was boating it and had no authority when I got pushed towards the second. Once the right wing tip made contact I was to my last option, go limp and let go. I think I bounced well.

Jon and Matt were at my crash site in moments (they must have sprinted). I escaped with a sore sholder and ribs and other miscellneous nicks. Ice and Aleeve when I got home. Broke my non-VG down-tube and the control bar has a slightly new shape, but otherwise looks good. Still have to strip down the glider to look for and other surprises. Found I bent the zipper tang on my glider bag cover during breakdown! Not sure how that happened (stored above me in the harness).

I had help from Matt breaking down my glider, which is a big help with a broken down tube and not being 100%. He left due to a previous engagement, but during the breakdown we were oblivious to Mark's landing, so it was good that it wasn't worse.

Breaking down Mark's glider and loading the cars was a fun adventure as a combined I think we were equivalent to one healthy person.