Originally Posted by
ShotOne
That’s an understatement! Surprised by the forgiving comments here. It’s only by extreme good luck (and strong grip) he’s not facing a manslaughter charge. Not a hang glider expert but couldn’t he have landed more quickly ?
It's certainly true that he might have faced a manslaughter charge, and I'm not suggesting mistakes of that magnitude should be consequence free. At the same time, it's a mistake that is common enough that I remember discussing what to do about it when I was learning to hang glide. Sometimes solo pilots have saved themselves by climbing into the A-frame. I remember a cautionary tale of someone in the Alps (where you typically launch off ramps) who was jeered at by some passers by yelling 'you're going to dieeeee' who forgot to clip in, and of course died. My plan B was that my parachute was attached in such a way that I could have deployed it and I would have still been attached. My plan A was, of course, not to forget to clip in and thankfully I was always successful.
As to what the pilot did next... It's very hard to interpret the video which I think is quite wide angle but I think his actions - other than forgetting to ensure his passenger was clipped in - were reasonable. It's generally not possible to abort a take-off in a hang glider. Personally I would not have tried to land downhill; neither would I have tried to land uphill. It's something that can be done with high performance gliders, but involves a violent flare to avoid serious injury which would have thrown the passenger off, and which generally results in breaking something even at the best of times. I think I would have landed where he landed. My dilemma would have been whether it would have been better to race to the bottom to minimise the hang'-on-for-dear-life time, or whether this might have dislodged the passenger due to increased wind and turbulence. My impression was that he kept it smooth and I liked the way he put his hand over the passenger's to help him stay on.
I repeat the question of 1 or 2 carabiners is academic in this case. It didn't fail; he forgot to attach it. That said, the rule used to be 2 aluminium or 1 steel. I don't think climbing carabiners are stressed as heavily as hang gliding ones, which are subject to cyclic loads which can fatigue aluminium but should not fatigue a correctly sized steel one. The other carabiner dilemma is whether to go for screw-in ones or quick release. One of the vulnerable points in hang gliding is if you're on the ground on a windy day - you really want to unclip as quickly as possible as gliders can be flipped over and blown about in the wind.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle16749684/
Checklists are fine, but I can also see that they may be hard to follow when you're also looking after an anxious passenger. In a hang-glider, the passenger is more 'involved' than in other types of flying so it's harder to maintain a 'sterile cockpit' for your pre-flight checks. I had one dual flight with my instructor and I confess I didn't enjoy it as much as I ought. It's quite an awkward way to fly.
So on reflection, perhaps I'm not suggesting 'forgiveness' - after all, which of us apart from the passenger has anything to forgive? However, a little humility might be in order. This is the sort of mistake that can be made distressingly easily - particularly by the sort of people who think it's so stupid they couldn't imagine making it themselves.