Safety Column in the Newsletter

John Wolfe · Post by **John Wolfe** » Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:16 pm

Our Secretary/Treasurer mentioned that it would good if the Safety Director would write something for each issue of the newsletter. Rather than subject our readers to my pontifications on the topic I want to enlist your help.

Please send me accounts of sub-optimal situations, and if possible, please include lessons learned from the experience. These can be recent events or ones from the distant past. Examples might include blown launches, inadequate pre-flight checks, dicey landings, missed approaches, or mid-air collisions. We’ll share these in the newsletter with a goal of helping everyone learn from each experience.

Also, if there is a safety-related topic of interest to you, please write about it and send it to me. Perhaps you’re an expert on the airflow around one of our sites, or maybe you know something about one of our launches that is not immediately evident. Please take a minute to capture your wisdom to be shared with others.

While our membership is small, it is somewhat dynamic. With a sufficient response, we can compile the site-specific gems into an easily accessible form for future members and visiting pilots.

Please e-mail your contributions to me at j_r_wolfe@msn.com.
Thanks very much for your help.

morey · Post by **morey** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:06 pm

The power in wind goes up with the square of the velocity.
that means that 15mph isn't 50% stronger than 10mph. It's 225% of 10mph.

A 20mph wind has 4x the power of a 10mph wind.

Fred · Post by **Fred** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:57 pm

Thanks John for approaching the Safety Officer's job as one of accident prevention rather than accident reporting. I think lessons learned articles are a great idea (like encouraging self-nominations for Turkey of the Month). I'd also like to suggest that folks read (or reread) what I think is the best lessons learned / safety article ever written for the foot launched community. It's Mike Meier's "Why Can't We Get A Handle On This Safety Thing." Here's the link to it on the Wills Wing site: http://www.willswing.com/articles/Artic ... leOnSafety#. While he talks about decision making in the context of hang gliding, what he says is just as applicable to paragliding. Also, Mark Stucky's recently completed series of articles in the national magazine is well worth a second read. I would additionally suggest that if we find ourselves receiving a safety-related Turkey nomination from our fellow pilots, or if we find ourselves self-nominating for the same safety-related issue more than once, it's time for some serious introspection and probably a behavior change.

lewsmith · Post by **lewsmith** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:39 pm

Here is a thought:
The decisions we make are critical to safety. Next time you are on top waiting for conditions to improve, try to find out what influences your fellow pilot's decisions. Would gardening at Box change one's choice of which launch to use? Is it better to launch in gusty winds rather than risk running into prickly pear or Spanish bayonet in a light wind launch? Is the hike down (especially at night) - riskier than a high wind takeoff? Would trail work - or just arriving earlier - or carrying a flashlight - make a difference? Should we keep a parafoil kite or helium balloons at launch?
It is a bit surprising to realize how some of our launch decisions are made. Perhaps there are simple things that we could do to improve our safety. Lew

morey · Post by **morey** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:56 pm

Lew-
you must like Malcom Gladwell (tipping point, and others) and Steven Levitt (Freakonomics)

Apparently, statistically drunks fare worse when they walk home rather than drive. Nevertheless, I'd still recommend not driving drunk. You raise some fascinating scenarios and choices, and the danger of, let's say, hiking down Box at night is real, but until we gather sufficient statistics to the contrary, I think I'm going to stick with flying as the most dangerous part of the day.