Hyner Memorial Day Weekend

[bowen.tim]

Any reports from pilots that went up to Hyner for the Holiday weekend?

[XCanytime]

Well since you asked here goes: more miss than hit. Both Saturday and Sunday. Gorgeous weather. I got up there around 3P on Saturday. I think Bill Vickery was on launch. Light conditions. He launched and found a thermal on the "point" and that was his ticket up to stair step himself up to 4200' over. The rest of the crew bobbed up and down, with only two more getting up to near Bill but most floundering and bobbing up and down before succumbing to gravity. I launched at 5P and was quickly on the ground. As I was breaking down a pilot came in to land and got turned 180 degrees and cratered in. He suffered a sliced lip that required stitches. Late in the evening a new pilot overshot the LZ to the south and struck a parked pickup before impacting the flora and fauna beyond the truck. He was OK, but don't know about that leading edge though. The wingtip put a dimple in the metal piece between the windshield and the driver window. Hyner is a challenging place to land most of the time. Sunday clouds popped everywhere except over the launch area. I followed Ed Messina as he was slowly climbing above the wall. It stopped and I landed quickly, followed 30 seconds later by Ed. Jim Carroll had the flight as he and his huge Falcon found lift to 2200' over. I packed up and hit the road by 6P. Don't know what happened, if anything, on Monday. Bacil

[jyoder111]

Did the pilot with the sliced lip have a full-face helmet?

Jesse

[andybalkphysics]

I got up on Friday, it was blown out so I just set up my camp and and made some chicken over the fire for dinner. Saturday was pretty nice...I was waiting around on launch with a bunch of other people when I helped launch Shawn McDuff...who hooked something strong out front. As he was starting to climb out I ran to my glider to beat the inevitable rush...but by the time I had taken off he was sinking out and I couldn't find any lift. About a half hour later people began launching and gaining, so I guess I missed my shot. The next day I spent sitting around the river watching people take sledders overhead, until it looked like some were sticking. I rushed up, but by the time I got up there it had died down and hang 2s were taking their evening sledders. I saw a few of them off, when suddenly it picked up again and I decided to give it a go. It was pretty marginal, but by scraping along the wall I was able to stay up for 17 minutes or so. Monday looked nice but I was driving back then so, like Bacil, I don't know how it turned out.

I even saw a few bald eagles over the field, which is rare for that area.

-Andy

[silverwings]

As Bacil mentioned I was the pilot that had a crash and cut lip. Here is the post I wrote on the Hyner Forum: My embarrassing accident - First I would like to thank all the pilots and friends who came to my aid in the LZ after my crash and to those who got my equipment packed up. My screw-up of not releasing the 1/2 vg I had on during my approach contributed to my lack of control when I got hit and turned toward the side as I was starting to setup for my flare. My face/shoulder planted pretty hard and the nose wire sliced my upper lip below my nose exposing a flap of skin. The two nurses that came and helped secure it with some butterfly bandages helped keep things in place and reduce the bleeding. In Renovo at the emergency room the doctor put 5 stitches in. It sure looks gross but I was lucky that I didn't have any teeth or inner mouth damage. I can see on my full face helmet where the wire cut in a little and if not wearing a full face it surely would have been much worse. I see my primary care physician today and will probably have the stitches removed on Thursday. I am expecting a full recovery and hope to be back flying soon after I check-out and repair the damage to my glider (hopefully only a downtube), though I may order some coated front wires.

Again thank you all very much. The flying community is so supportive!
-john & Marney

[Ward Odenwald]

Could have happened to any of us! Heal fast.

Ward

[markc]

Very sorry to hear about your accident John, sure hope that you feel better soon, and that the glider damage is minimal! I've been eyeing my own uncoated front wires for a while now... Maybe time to swap them out, can't imagine any real world performance advantage for the type of flying that I do....