Daniels Punji Sticks

[George]

I'm writing this with the hope that it can serve to help prevent it from happening to anyone else.

On Monday the 23rd I started to launch but failed and wound up in the brush. I'm not sure if I actually killed the wing or if the launch was un-salvageable from taking a deflation on the right side anyway. In any case this sort of thing happens and ordinarily one gather's one's wing and climbs back up for another go at it but... when I fell I landed in a patch of what amounts to Punji Sticks where someone had cleared brush by grabbing a bush or sapling and striking downward at an angle with a cutting implement. This leaves sharpened spears sticking up from the ground. I severely lacerated my left lower leg along the shinbone exposing the bone in one spot.

Luckily I was not alone and other pilots aided me. Thomas landed early and found a local to come up with a 4x4 truck. I called Petrus on the phone immediately after I saw what had happened just to make sure someone knew what was going on and it was comforting to have a cool head on the other end of the line to work out what to do. Fabian patched me up with his great first-aid kit and I was able to make it home. The urgent care in my neighborhood quickly deemed my injury beyond the scope of their abilities and sent me to the hospital ER where I was stitched up. I have some more pain to work through but I will have a full recovery and I count myself lucky I wasn't punctured in a more vital location.



George

[Matthew]

Thanks for the info.

Hope you heel quickly.

I'll bring my machetes and weed whacker next time I go to Daniel's.

I suggest others bring clean-up tools as well on the next Daniel's day.

Matthew

[Dan T]

Many of the pilots who fly Daniels regularly are of the opinion that a comprehensive safety clean up of the site is probably a bigger job that we are likely to be able to handle with machetes, weed whackers and volunteer laborers. It's been suggested that we hire someone to either brush hog the site, or with the landowner's permission, clear it with heavier equipment. It has been suggested that we put a request to the CHGPA Board to investigate the cost and practicality of hiring the job out to someone who can bring in the must effective mechanical equipment. In an effort to fulfill the requirement to post the request I submit the following:

As a member of the CHGPA I make a request to put a motion in front of the CHGPA Board to obtain a cost estimate for removing the vegetation from the launch site that is creating a hazard to the pilots attempting to launch there. If the cost estimate is deemed to be reasonable and if the land owner or his representative does not object I request that we implement the safety measures immediately thereafter.


Respectfully,

Dan Tomlinson

[Ward Odenwald]

George, thanks for sharing your experience. Bad luck (to say the least) and as you said, it could have been a lot worse. Did the punji make first contact with your leg or did the stick puncture your pant leg before ripping through your shin? Eliminating, or at least reducing, sharp objects from the Daniels launch (or any launch) is key to reducing the chances of this happening again but if you were wearing shorts, could pants have helped minimized the damage? I realize there’s is no simple answer to the shorts vs. pants question but on multiple occasions while dirt biking or surviving less than graceful landings, I’ve benefited from jeans deflecting objects that may have otherwise drawn blood. In other words, I have plenty of torn jeans with little or no bloodstains. If your contact with the stick was without any lateral or side movement, then perhaps nothing short of kevlar would have helped. Several, or many, pilots in the area (including myself) wear leg braces or knee/shin pads to help minimize damage.

I hope your recovery is fast and free of complications.

Ward

[George]

Thanks for the encouraging words.

I take complete responsibility for my injury. I absolutely think that long pants would have reduced my injury. The initial contact was just below my knee which started as a deep puncture (stopped only by the bone) then tore/cut down to my ankle. I think the best thing I could have done to stay safe would have been to abort the launch earlier. While I think that the site can be improved I don't consider the site too dangerous to fly. I just want to make people aware of a hazard that I encountered.

George

[brianvh]

As someone who has done a lot of machete clearing, I've looked at many impalement traps in my wake. I try to cut them short, then step on the points with a boot or at least (if tall) bend them over. For a quick clean up nothing beats a machete sometimes, but it does take some extra care.

[markc]

George, that completely sucks, so sorry to hear that you got hurt. I hope that the healing is quicker than expected, and you are back in the air very soon.

Your experience is something that I've long worried about. Although I make a point of flush-cutting everything that I clear during a work party, all you have to do is look around, and you'll see the stakes all over.

To the extent possible, when pilots are clearing a slot, please consider cutting 'high', if you can't cut low. A taller, more flexible punji stake is better than a sharp pointy stake!

MarkC

PS: Tend to agree with Dan's thoughts about a hired maintenance crew, if we aren't able to get enough people for a major effort, like the one at Edith's.