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[Closed] Hang gliding for dummies [spoiler : tie yourself to the hang glider]
As someone who is a bit afraid of heights, I'd hate this to happen to me.
Out of ignorance (done some gliding and light aircraft flying but not this) I'm not sure why he chose to fly over the forest as well, he could have dropped him down immediately to the right of those chalets. It might have hurt or killed him but he wouldn't have risked the person he was responsible for losing their grip and falling a few hundred feet to their deaths.
It looked like the passenger's weight on the bar was interfering with the control of the hang glider.
I reckon the pilot did ok.
The pilot did OK - after forgetting to ensure his passenger was clipped in.
Very lucky to get away with it. Failing to clip in has killed many pilots, even experienced ones, over the years.
I reckon the pilot did ok
Apart from not doing a proper pre-flight check
Terrifying. When his grip starts slipping on the pilot's leg I feared the worst...!
Easy to comment after the event, but why didn't the (clipped in) pilot grab the passenger's harness and clip it to the bar? At the least he'd have been safer if his grip went.
I reckon the pilot did ok.
I presume the passenger injured his wrist by repeatedly punching the pilot in the face in recognition of just what a good job the pilot had done.
Easy to comment after the event, but why didn’t the (clipped in) pilot grab the passenger’s harness and clip it to the bar? At the least he’d have been safer if his grip went.
Because the the bar is also the controls, so you don’t want flailing weight there. And it’s not built to take a load in that direction
and he’s flying as best he can after his enormous mistake
I'd be dead if that was me!
When you watch it a 2nd time you realise quite how far the guy hung on for. I wonder what happened to the pilot. To make the decision (I suspect forced by lack of control) to not land sooner even if it involved a significant crash could have looked even worse on film if the bloke had dropped off and been terminally broken.
Holy frick!
Best of luck, Mr Gursky?
That scares the hell out of me!
Rayban, where did you fly? I used to be at HusBos and Leicester Aeroclub, but not for a few years (and not to a high standard either!)
natrix
Apart from not doing a proper pre-flight check
Indeed, that's a given.
Needs more Awolnation.
no way i could have held on for that long.
I remember a thread on here by Ben Cooper / Kinetics about a customer of his who decided to take up hand gliding by buying a hang glider and jumping off a cliff, no research, no training - he'd only bought the hang glider - no harnesses.
Because the the bar is also the controls, so you don’t want flailing weight there. And it’s not built to take a load in that direction
But you've already got a flailing weight there - the erstwhile passenger. I just thought while he was reaching down to try and grab the passenger, he could have at least grabbed the clip which would have added a little more security.
As I say, easy to ask when you're not involved - I suspect probably the single most terrifying experience for both of them, I'd have thought!
I imagine the pilot will be getting some "retraining".
They'd have been recovering my body from the trees.
could the pilot have clipped the passenger to himself?
plus the passenger needs to learn how to tuck and roll.
That guy would be really good at that fairground game where you have to hang from a bar for a minute.
Amazing what an incentive a couple of hundred foot drop is!