A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

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A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

Postby Chris G » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:09 am

I've more or less stopped posting Pine reports because they're all pretty much the same. Nice crew, get up high in light smooth air, boat around for a few hours in ridiculously pretty scenery, and go home happy. We had a bit of an adventure last night so I'll post the details as a learning experience for everyone.

Arrived at launch around 4:25, solid cycles coming through and decreasing by the minute so we knew it would glass-off nicely again. Neal Michaelis was first off, being the senior pilot. I would go last to make sure everyone got away clean. He had a decent glide to the spine, and decided to push past it to the West relatively low. Neal is a big boy and has flown Pine before but I reminded him that it rarely works West and low. After a few minutes we saw him returning low below the former Bonsai tree, now Faoro's Point, and eventually disappearing below it. Some seconds later we got a radio call: "I've crashed". There was a moment of "wtf, seriously?" He sounded good but a little surprised on the radio. Apparently he had taken a low 100% deflation on 1/2 bar which re-inflated, with a bit of a turn that swung him into the hillside. Rescue plans swung into action and he pushed the OK button on his SPOT which sent a txt to his wife, whom I was able to get coordinates from by walking up above launch. The map showed him very close to the trail so George and Stan started down Chorro Grande, while Ottis and Chris K elected to go do recon from the air and get a better line on Neal. Ottis ended up the closest and flew right over Neal and elected to land on a trail 1/4 mile SE. Once down Neal's condition seemed to be declining so Ottis left his glider and started up the trail. Despite being VERY close neither George nor Ottis could find him and Neal was no longer so stoked about having to walk out. Ottis made the decision to get S&R to send the chopper. I called S&R but their office hours were 9-5. 911 was next but because of my location it went to LA dispatch. LA transferred me to VT dispatch, which transferred me to the VT Sheriff Dept, which transferred to Oxnard Fire. At that point the call dropped so I had to go through the process 3 more times before I was finally able to give Oxn Fire coordinates and frequencies. Less than 30 minutes later the chopper plucked Neal out of the bushes. Neal refused transport to a hospital after the medic checked him out so they dropped him with Chris K at the Sandpile and headed out. Meanwhile I headed down the road and ran into 3 Sheriffs and an ambulance out of Lockwood valley who had gotten the alert. One of the Sheriffs we had met earlier last year and had a nice conversation with at the Sandpile so we were all on familiar terms. They followed me to the Sandpile where Neal was looking a little limpy but otherwise casual and in no hurry to go anywhere. We piled him into Robin's car with a few others and sent him down the road to the Ojai hospital to get checked out. The ambulance staff had checked him out as well and gave him the thumbs up.

Ottis was supposedly hiking out but reported coming to a dead end at the East end of the trail. It became clear that he was on the old Gypsum mine road that crosses Chorro Grande. We directed him back West where we would intersect the trail and be able to continue out. A short while later we get a cryptic message indicating that he cannot continue on the Gypsum road. It becomes clear that he's trapped behind an active and new pot farm and doesn't want to risk getting shot. Seemed reasonable though we knew having to call the chopper again was not going to be fun. He was good and stuck and there was no other way out other than through and Ottis is former Sheriff's dept and current Fire crew, so figured he'd adequately assessed the situation. He made the call again for a chopper. However, we were now at the Sandpile with 0 chance of cell reception. This is where we separate the DeLorme InReach locators from the SPOTs. With the DeLorme we were able to get a TXT out to OJ who called S&R and was able to confirm that they were on the way. About an hour later, no chopper but 2 Sheriffs, back from Lockwood valley showed up. One was REALLY upset to be back at Pine until we explained that Ottis was trapped behind an active farm. He was much more understanding after that and explained that those farms are well tended and often by guys armed with deer rifles. However, knowing that the active grow was so close to Ottis, the chopper pilots had to decide whether they wanted to drop in so close and risk taking fire. Apparently there was some debate at HQ as to how to proceed. Ottis had walked about a mile East on the trail which they felt somewhat better about and at 11PM the helicopter departed. By 11:45 Ottis was back on the ground at the Sandpile. Turns out he knew both the pilots so they caught up briefly before we finally got out of Pine.

Neal finally got himself to the ER, after a casual dinner, and discovered he had a collapsed lung, but hasn't reported any other injuries.

What started as a relatively easy extraction for an injured pilot turned into a bit of an ordeal. Ottis made the hero sacrifice by trying to land near Neal, and if anyone was going to go in for him Ottis would be my first choice. However, he had no way of knowing at the time that he'd be trapped behind enemy lines and end up needing extraction himself.

Lessons from the day in chronological order:
•Speed-bar at low altitude in thermic conditions might make for a big deflation that's unrecoverable before the terrain gets ya.
•SPOTS were the default locator of choice back in the day but the InReach is WAY better. If we had not had cell reception at the top of Pine we'd have had no way to get Neal's coordinates and no way to get a txt out to OJ for the second chopper. DeLorme even does a $50 trade-in for pilots, through Fly Above All, if they surrender their old SPOTS. Hit me up, I have DeLorme's in stock.
•In an emergency, unless the pilot is ON the trail, the chopper can often get to them faster than you can. It's easy to become another victim in the wilderness.
•If you didn't walk in, you may not be able to walk out. There are lots of dead-end deer trails.
•CARRY AN EMERGENCY KIT. Extra water, flashlight, multitool, GPS that doesn't need cell reception, InReach, small first-aid kit, etc.
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Re: A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

Postby NMERider » Sat Jul 04, 2015 9:11 pm

Holy smokes! What a day that must have been and what great info too! Essential reading for X/C pilots everywhere. Here's some more....

I've been flying with a NOAA registered; ACR Aqualink SARSAT beacon ever since Danny Black from Sylmar went down in BF NorCal several years ago and nobody had a clue. The cold weather during the night he spent unconscious under his glider saved his life or at least irreversible brain damage. In addition to the SARSAT beacon I now fly with a Spot locator and a tracking subscription thanks to Tavis G. My ACR Aqualink beacon won't activate itself if I pound in and can't manually activate it. I've also learned the hard way from not one but two failed helicopter assists that having a glass signal mirror with a retro-reflective aiming center may be the $7 insurance that saves my butt and anyone else reading this. Helicopters can and will fail to find you even with your coordinates.

In 2008, we saved Scotty Farnsworth's life from a ravine behind the San Manuel Casino near Highland because he remained conscious and had a working 2-meter radio. Scotty was able to relay information to Jerome Daust who was aloft. Jerome relayed to me and I was on a borrowed cell phone from atop Marshall Peak to San Bernadino dispatch. SBFD was on the phone with chopper dispatcher who was on radio with the spotter chopper. Ultimately, the spotter flew right over Scotty who was trapped beneath his glider due to his injuries. The spotter never noticed his glider as it was collapsed down in a ravine. Scotty hollered over radio that the chopper flew past. Jerome relayed that to me. I relayed it to SBFD. They relayed it to the chopper dispatcher who got the spotter to 180 and this time they had him.

It only took 20 minutes from the time he crashed to the time he was picked up but without everyone on radio he may have not made it through the night. Just about everything on his left side was broken. So 2-meter is essential. Just ask Southside.

The DeLorme is great because it can send texts and acknowledge successful transmission etc., but if you're crippled then it's useless unless you paid for the tracking subscription. It was my PG-flying X/C buddies who’ve been after me to get connected. Tavis’ Spot 2 had 6 months left on the tracking subscription and I’m really liking it.

So whatever tracking device you own, it's only partially useful without that subscription service. This conversation has been going on in the sailplane community and the consensus is the same. Get the tracking subscription and use it. Also get a glass signal mirror with a retro-reflective aiming center. It may be the one device that saves someone's life. No battery required either.
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Please Carry A Signal Mirror!

Postby NMERider » Mon Jul 13, 2015 12:01 pm

On Friday near 5PM I landed 3 miles behind the Seven Oaks Dam by the SCE hydro-electric plant on the dry Santa Ana River bed located downstream from Big Bear.
Land, Hike, Heli.jpg


It's probably a 5-mile hike out to Greenspot Rd. Since there was nobody else back there and the cat populations has been growing, I opted to trigger both of my satellite beacons as soon as I got out of my harness. During the following 40 minutes I never heard the sound of a helicopter and was concerned that being in a canyon may affect the satellite reception. I was between the USFS Heap's Peak helipad and two San Bernardino Co. Sheriff's helipads. I left my hang glider on the road by the hydro-electric plant with my calling card visible in the vinyl window then proceeded to hike out. I took the wrong trail behind the dam and hit a dead end. While I was there, a helicopter made the first ingress over two hours after I'd first activated both beacons.
04 Chopper finally sees me.jpg


The Spot has a 10-minute tracking subscription but no one I was with that day had any knowledge of where to find it on the web. Note to self: Put the url on a big sign and leave it inside my car on the front seat or inside the windshield. I continued to backtrack from the dead end toward the fork in the road when the helicopter made it's egress from my glider along the dry river. I waved as it flew right over my head and kept on going but not until I reached into my hip pocket for my signal mirror. I use the retro-reflective aiming device to place the image of the sun right on the cockpit as it continued away. Then it stopped just past the dam and yawed around then dropped its nose and dove at me. Once I was certain this was no fluke I put the mirror away.

I only had around 5 or 10 minutes before the sun went behind the mountains so the timing was good. I was picked up and dropped off at the Yucaipa helipad. The Pilot was a combat vet who flew Blackhawks. He assured me that the combat was cake compared to flying in the canyons and ravine of the mountains. He had to slip in under the same high-tension wires I avoid while landing and spotted my bag on the road. The pilot and his crewman never saw me standing on the road waving as they flew out toward me. Once I hit the chopper with the reflected sun off of my glass signal mirror then he spotted me. He pulled out his well-worn mirror and assured me that it's one of the best pieces of life-saving gear anyone can carry.

No, I did not stage this event just to prove a point although I do reiterate the old adage, 'Beware what you wish for.' During debriefing he asked me to call off the NOAA SAR call but there is no such phone number listed. I looked up NOAA SAR on my cell phone and called the contact number and left a message with my ACR Aqualink PLB NOAA ID number. I did get a voice message from both Scott AFB for the NOAA SARSAT beacon and another call came in from the Spot company. The NOAA beacon which uses a more complete and sophisticated satellite network picked up my signal at 16:55hrs just a few minutes after activation. The Spot beacon was picked up at 17:11 hrs more like 14 minutes after activation of the red button.

The ACR Aqualink PLB is a superior beacon for getting rescued but worthless if the pilot cannot activate it. The same can be said about the Spot or even DeLorme in regard to the emergency feature but not so in terms of having people on your side who are aware of your tracker url and your flight plans.
The ACR Aqualink has a fairly powerful LED strobe built in and so may aid in location in the dark. It's intended for boating but I bought this model after a Sylmar pilot crashed and was lost overnight at the Lakeview Festival of Free Flight in 2011.

But let's talk about the glass signal mirror with the retro-reflective aiming device. That signal mirror can get you rescued by anyone who sees your flash--especially if you are able to signal and SOS with it. I own a few of these that are made in Japan and packaged and sold by Coghlan's http://www.coghlans.com/products/2-inch ... irror-9902

I strongly urge getting the glass versus the acrylic model if at all possible. Glass is much flatter and more scratch resistant. Research I did online before making a decision convinced me to buy a quality glass signal mirror with the aiming device.

One other piece of gear I recommend is the Storm Whistle http://www.stormwhistles.com/ I blew it every 15 minutes or so during my hike out. It's painfully loud and echoes very well. It will also work if full of water as the chamber is designed so that the water will blow out of it.
I weighed everything this morning when I took the photo of my four pieces of gear. It totaled 15.5 oz.
PLBs, Mirror, Whistle.jpg

That's much less than I had imagined. The overall bulk isn't too bad either. I plan to continue to do all flights where I may go beyond line of sight. For me that pretty much every flight as there are ravines galore just about everywhere I fly even if it's just a fishbowl flight to relax.

At a minimum, that glass signal mirror is one item that should be carried no matter what. I hope that other pilots start flying with a signal mirror and learn how to use the retro-reflective aiming device. Sometimes the window of opportunity to acquire the target and get their attention may be brief. I have had two other events involving helicopters when I needed to be located or otherwise assisted. In both cases, the choppers flew right over me and never saw me. Luckily I had cell reception and told the dispatcher to tell the chopper to turn around. Even then it took several iterations before I was spotted. In one case I needed to set off a smoke grenade.

Is a pattern beginning to emerge here? But wait--there's more. This morning I spoke with the Air Force Lieutenant at SARSAT Rescue and he fully concurred with what I have been saying. The pilots and crew do not see us even though they have our last coordinates of record. There is talk among the SAR community about advocating the use of glass signal mirrors. I just want to drive the point home. It's $10 to $15 that can save a life. No batteries or subscription required.
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Re: A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

Postby John Wolfe » Tue Jul 14, 2015 1:10 pm

Good points.
Although I've never used it, I've carried a signal mirror with an aiming device for the past several years. I also carry a 4' telescoping antenna and an extra battery for my radio, and I keep a list of 2M repeater frequencies on my phone.
If you've not already done so, please register your SPOT with Dave Wheeler's XC Find page at http://xcfind.paraglide.us/. This will make it easy for anyone to track you. Several of us have also put a link to our SPOT shared page in the signature of our forum entries (on our home forum sites in AZ) to make it easy for anyone looking for us to find the link.
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Re: Iridium

Postby sd » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:35 pm

I posted some notes about my limited evaluation of the emergency communicators under the "General Discussion" the morning of July 3rd. (7/15/2015 update / moved post to new "Safety and Survival" Forum) I must have upset our collective Karma because this discussion started as a result of events that unfolded later that afternoon. I'm not much of a gadget guy and have yet to fly with my newly commissioned inReach (and only started flying with a GPS last September),so I'm not the expert, but it appears most readers haven't read my posting in the General Forum so I'm making note of it here because it seems relevant to this thread.
http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3204

Question for NMERider; Did they give your glider a ride out also, or did you have to drive back in to get it?
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Re: A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

Postby NMERider » Wed Jul 15, 2015 8:41 am

John Wolfe wrote:...carry a 4' telescoping antenna
...an extra battery for my radio
...a list of 2M repeater frequencies
...link to our SPOT shared page in the signature

More good points!

sd wrote:...it appears most readers haven't read my posting in the General Forum....
http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3204...

I think this topic merits it's own forum topic, e.g. Safety and Survival or at least a Sticky so it always stays on top. All this affordable New Technology + inexpensive and reliable Old Technology and it's just not being put to work as well as it could be.

sd wrote:Question for NMERider; Did they give your glider a ride out also, or did you have to drive back in to get it?
I drove in early the following morning with my friend Randy's friend Burke and Randy's 4X Jeep and had my glider back on my car by 9AM. We used a recently re-graded fire road leaving from the Mill Creek Ranger's station and were able to get within 1/3 mile of my glider where there's a locked Forest Service gate. Where I landed is the worst place to try and land a helicopter although the intended spot I overshot by like 300' was a perfect pad. Had I stayed put I imagine we could have tied the glider to a skid. I fly with with heavy-duty straps thanks to Fast Eddy.

The following day, many acres near the Mill Creek Ranger Station burned due to a motorcycle crash. That would have curtailed my glider fetch a day earlier. So, I was fortunate timing-wise. BTW - Mill Creek is a funny place. I fractured my right ankle there 3 years ago and the following week a tour bus flipped across from where I landed killing 8 and a year later Christopher Dorner hijacked a pickup truck at nearly the same spot on his way to dying in a shootout.
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Re: A Long Day at Pine-July 3rd

Postby bb_secretary » Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:39 pm

NMERider wrote:I think this topic merits it's own forum topic, e.g. Safety and Survival... All this affordable New Technology + inexpensive and reliable Old Technology and it's just not being put to work as well as it could be.

At the Request of Jonathan Dietch, we have added a new Forum titled Safety and Survival to discuss issues like Safety, Landing Out, Survival, Rescue etc. at http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewforum.php?f=16
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