we lost one (Tom Mayer)

[klhowells]

When I arrived at the AJ Airpark on Saturday afternoon, about 1:30, a pilot I didn't know, with an orange T2, asked me for a hang check. I was struck by his no-B.S. attitude of just getting his needs dealt with. As I was holding the glider's nose down he described having had a harness zipper problem on the flight he'd just had and his current goal was to get his hang loop arrangement adjusted for proper hang height for his next flight, as the glider was new to him. It turns out it was Tom Mayer. He was keyed-up but seemed very competent and we had a good brief discussion about hang height issues. He was a nice guy and came across as just another one of the many serious and capable hang glider pilots I've come to know over the years.

Later, I wasn't watching his aero routine for various reasons, but I saw he and his broken glider spinning down toward the ground and I felt a sickening ache as he got to the point where his parachute wouldn't have helped.

I knew Tom from only a few minutes' conversation that day but I feel I've lost a kinsman. For those that knew him well his tragic loss must be devastating. My heartfelt condolences to Tom's family and friends.

Good Flying,
Ken Howells

[BobA]

It is with great sadness I came to learn of this tragic event - for Tom, all of his friends and family, all our fellow flyers, Owen Morse, the Crestline Soaring Society, Santa Barbara Soaring, and all of the other SoCal clubs effected.

Tom was Santa Barbara's most prolific aerobatics hang glider pilot and one of only a few local hang glider pilots in the area that has flown more than 30 years continuously, possibly 35 years. He is the only local hang glider pilot killed by flying accident in my 18 years of flying in Santa Barbara.

We'll miss Tom's energy that was always larger than life whenever he spoke to us about flying or surfing. I enjoyed many a story he told me whether a surf mission to San Nicholas Island, 15 second drop-ins on 20 foot waves at Punta Los Lobos South America, sling-shot-skyward hang glider wire assist launches from Makapu Point Hawaii, followed my hours of loops, spins, and windovers in tropical updaft (where I figure he is now). He always had stories of big adventure, living in the extreme. I became aware of Tom when I first started flying as I'd see him doing flat spins and way over-the-top climb overs flying over Parma Park and East Beach. He'd be flying a Seedwing Sensor glider with the characteristic tail, and I associated him to this beautifully flying aerobatic wing.

Tom is the only pilot I know who performed aerobatics on every flight. No wonder he was so pumped to fly on even the most marginally of soarable days. I recall spins over Parma and loops over East Beach palm trees.

He loved the pictures of the Sierras I had posted in the past, and got him excited to go fly the Owens. I'm glad to have been able to travel to the Sierras and fly cross country with him, and share tales of the exhilaration we both found there. Interestingly, I even landed a few nice comments from Tom after a climb out in front of the local hang gliding launch, soaring a latest generation paraglider with aerodynamic harness - "you carve that paraglider like a real wing !"

See you at Cloudbase Tom !

Sincerely,
Robert Anderson

Santa Barbara Soaring Association President