SCPA & SBSA Discussion Board

I witnessed a reserve deployment Saturday over the holy hills. I have heard the pilot is fine, spent some time packing up in the manzanita, and hiked out. I have also heard the pilot does not have a pc and so is unlikely to post. Can anyone give an update? Seeing that gave me the willies.

I called Paul the next day while he was at the training hill going over his gear, making sure everything was ok. He said he was 600-700 agl and took a 70% asym on the right side. Weight shift and opposite brake was not enough to maintain course and the glider quickly went into a SAT, followed by some other forms of non-flight including a spiral dive. He hucked at roughly 300 agl and was under the reserve for about five seconds before softly landing in the brush.

Just curious: do you know what kind of wing he was flying? And what were the weather conditions that day?

It was a Zoom, I don't know if its the Zoom Race or not.

The conditions were pretty good over by the Round House and the Antenna Farm where most of us spent most of our flights. I don't think any other paragliders went over to the Holy Hills that day, maybe one of the hang pilots that ventured over there could comment. Cloud base was around 3300 and there was some west wind and some turbulence at that level but it seemed to mellow out after I landed according to Jim and Irene. There was a lot of lift around the Monestary and the LZ was poppy early on but had mellowed considerably by the time of the incident. Wind in the LZ was light south 0-5.

I asked Paul the same thing since the bump factor at the Round House was so mellow that day. He said it was punchy over the Holy Hills with bullet thermals. This sentiment was echoed at Parma by a veteran HG pilot that spent over an hour at the HH and the R&R.

Saturday morning was actually great for flying and I landed at the beach after a really fun flight, playing with a lot of puffy, but not so organized little clouds. They were localized in the front of the range. There was some kind of convergence when a few of us (Hansford, Paul, Bo, Jim and myself) launched, at around 11:30. There was some north wind above us, and a lower layer of wind from west or south west. The air was active, but not bad. There were some really strong thermals. There was also an inversion, and we could not get above 2600 feet or so, but there was lift pretty much everywhere. Over the day, it looked like the convergence was drifting east.
It was surprising to hear that Paul (Zoom, not race) had to throw his reserve. But the air was indeed active, and it looks like it was trashy over the HH. I think Paul had a great reflex in throwing his reserve, and I am glad he is fine. I was at the training hill on sunday, talked to him a little bit, and he seems at peace with the whole situation!

I'd like to highlight that it only took a few minutes for all pilots (HG and PGs) to get updated on the pilot's situation, and the fact he was not hurt. This was great communication.

Some HGs also circled above him and told him where to go to find a trail that would get him out as quickly as possible (I believe that was DD, Hammer or Terry). Thank you to them, as he could easily have gotten lost high on the ridge.

I talked to him briefly on Sunday at Parma and asked him if he had enough water. He did, but did mention that if he hadn't found the trail and been able to get out quick enough, it could have been a different story. So, it's a good reminder to make sure that you always fly with water, even if you think all you'll do is a sledder.

Skippy