Paraglider pilot missing in eastern Nevada

Speculation on missing people is a bad idea. I've been involved with 3 long term searches, all 3 went way, way off the rails. Huge dedicated search teams, found all 3 eventually. In all 3 of these accidents, search teams went over the missing person and somehow missed them on the first go.
In this accident could it be be, that, he somehow dropped his Tracker, flew on and then later, many miles away, had a major problem? Is he in the local area the tracker last pinged? In a crevasse? Just out of sight?
I used my InReach today and looked at the strap, it seems quite sturdy. Again, speculation which is often wrong. It's So hard on the friends and family not knowing. A bad situation that won't seem to end.
Remember how long it took for someone, way off any trail and not even looking, to stumble upon Steve Fossett?
Years.
Nevada is huge, and extremely rural and remote, he could be anywhere.
He might not ever be found.
This is a good lesson for us Glider Pilots to make sure our trackers stay attached to our body's in a bail out incident. If you bailed out in the wind or wave at 17K and lost your tracker you could drift quite a way.
Everyone I fly with has a Tracker and Flarm, were evolving and getting better.
Fly safe in 2020
Nick
T

On Sunday, September 13, 2020 at 7:23:29 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Speculation on missing people is a bad idea. I've been involved with 3 long term searches, all 3 went way, way off the rails. Huge dedicated search teams, found all 3 eventually. In all 3 of these accidents, search teams went over the missing person and somehow missed them on the first go.
In this accident could it be be, that, he somehow dropped his Tracker, flew on and then later, many miles away, had a major problem? Is he in the local area the tracker last pinged? In a crevasse? Just out of sight?
I used my InReach today and looked at the strap, it seems quite sturdy. Again, speculation which is often wrong. It's So hard on the friends and family not knowing. A bad situation that won't seem to end.
Remember how long it took for someone, way off any trail and not even looking, to stumble upon Steve Fossett?
Years.
Nevada is huge, and extremely rural and remote, he could be anywhere.
He might not ever be found.
This is a good lesson for us Glider Pilots to make sure our trackers stay attached to our body's in a bail out incident. If you bailed out in the wind or wave at 17K and lost your tracker you could drift quite a way.
Everyone I fly with has a Tracker and Flarm, were evolving and getting better.
Fly safe in 2020
Nick
T

The speculation that Johnston somehow "dropped" his InReach and flew on is fourth-order wishful thinking. Even if he did, he couldn't have gotten far because the day was dying and his buddies landed ahead of him at Eureka, his direction of travel. Nonetheless, he would still have had his ham radio, which he did not respond to - did he drop that as well?

S&R can't say "He was irresponsible, so we aren't going to look for him." They WILL expend a massive search operation regardless. Johnston actually took reasonable precautions short of having a spotter aircraft follow him. In retrospect, that would have been far cheaper than the unsuccessful search that was undertaken. The simplest option is to not attempt the flight at all, but that was not in his nature. Unfortunately, this type of accident just attracts copycats rather than deterring them.

Tom

On Monday, September 14, 2020 at 6:27:46 AM UTC+2, 2G wrote:
On Sunday, September 13, 2020 at 7:23:29 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Speculation on missing people is a bad idea. I've been involved with 3 long term searches, all 3 went way, way off the rails. Huge dedicated search teams, found all 3 eventually. In all 3 of these accidents, search teams went over the missing person and somehow missed them on the first go.
In this accident could it be be, that, he somehow dropped his Tracker, flew on and then later, many miles away, had a major problem? Is he in the local area the tracker last pinged? In a crevasse? Just out of sight?
I used my InReach today and looked at the strap, it seems quite sturdy. Again, speculation which is often wrong. It's So hard on the friends and family not knowing. A bad situation that won't seem to end.
Remember how long it took for someone, way off any trail and not even looking, to stumble upon Steve Fossett?
Years.
Nevada is huge, and extremely rural and remote, he could be anywhere.
He might not ever be found.
This is a good lesson for us Glider Pilots to make sure our trackers stay attached to our body's in a bail out incident. If you bailed out in the wind or wave at 17K and lost your tracker you could drift quite a way.
Everyone I fly with has a Tracker and Flarm, were evolving and getting better.
Fly safe in 2020
Nick
T
The speculation that Johnston somehow "dropped" his InReach and flew on is fourth-order wishful thinking. Even if he did, he couldn't have gotten far because the day was dying and his buddies landed ahead of him at Eureka, his direction of travel. Nonetheless, he would still have had his ham radio, which he did not respond to - did he drop that as well?

S&R can't say "He was irresponsible, so we aren't going to look for him." They WILL expend a massive search operation regardless. Johnston actually took reasonable precautions short of having a spotter aircraft follow him. In retrospect, that would have been far cheaper than the unsuccessful search that was undertaken. The simplest option is to not attempt the flight at all, but that was not in his nature. Unfortunately, this type of accident just attracts copycats rather than deterring them.

Tom

They've found his glider
https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...6km-downtrack/

On Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 10:51:24 AM UTC-4, NWS Admin wrote:
On Monday, September 14, 2020 at 6:27:46 AM UTC+2, 2G wrote:
On Sunday, September 13, 2020 at 7:23:29 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Speculation on missing people is a bad idea. I've been involved with 3 long term searches, all 3 went way, way off the rails. Huge dedicated search teams, found all 3 eventually. In all 3 of these accidents, search teams went over the missing person and somehow missed them on the first go.
In this accident could it be be, that, he somehow dropped his Tracker, flew on and then later, many miles away, had a major problem? Is he in the local area the tracker last pinged? In a crevasse? Just out of sight?
I used my InReach today and looked at the strap, it seems quite sturdy. Again, speculation which is often wrong. It's So hard on the friends and family not knowing. A bad situation that won't seem to end.
Remember how long it took for someone, way off any trail and not even looking, to stumble upon Steve Fossett?
Years.
Nevada is huge, and extremely rural and remote, he could be anywhere.
He might not ever be found.
This is a good lesson for us Glider Pilots to make sure our trackers stay attached to our body's in a bail out incident. If you bailed out in the wind or wave at 17K and lost your tracker you could drift quite a way.
Everyone I fly with has a Tracker and Flarm, were evolving and getting better.
Fly safe in 2020
Nick
T
The speculation that Johnston somehow "dropped" his InReach and flew on is fourth-order wishful thinking. Even if he did, he couldn't have gotten far because the day was dying and his buddies landed ahead of him at Eureka, his direction of travel. Nonetheless, he would still have had his ham radio, which he did not respond to - did he drop that as well?

S&R can't say "He was irresponsible, so we aren't going to look for him.." They WILL expend a massive search operation regardless. Johnston actually took reasonable precautions short of having a spotter aircraft follow him.. In retrospect, that would have been far cheaper than the unsuccessful search that was undertaken. The simplest option is to not attempt the flight at all, but that was not in his nature. Unfortunately, this type of accident just attracts copycats rather than deterring them.

Tom
They've found his glider
https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...6km-downtrack/
Good, but not good, where is the harness, still attached to the pilot?sucked up and released canopy, then reserve possibly failed. I bet the harness is still attached to the pilot, sad to say.

On Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 2:27:45 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 10:51:24 AM UTC-4, NWS Admin wrote:
On Monday, September 14, 2020 at 6:27:46 AM UTC+2, 2G wrote:
On Sunday, September 13, 2020 at 7:23:29 PM UTC-7, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Speculation on missing people is a bad idea. I've been involved with 3 long term searches, all 3 went way, way off the rails. Huge dedicated search teams, found all 3 eventually. In all 3 of these accidents, search teams went over the missing person and somehow missed them on the first go.
In this accident could it be be, that, he somehow dropped his Tracker, flew on and then later, many miles away, had a major problem? Is he in the local area the tracker last pinged? In a crevasse? Just out of sight?
I used my InReach today and looked at the strap, it seems quite sturdy. Again, speculation which is often wrong. It's So hard on the friends and family not knowing. A bad situation that won't seem to end.
Remember how long it took for someone, way off any trail and not even looking, to stumble upon Steve Fossett?
Years.
Nevada is huge, and extremely rural and remote, he could be anywhere.
He might not ever be found.
This is a good lesson for us Glider Pilots to make sure our trackers stay attached to our body's in a bail out incident. If you bailed out in the wind or wave at 17K and lost your tracker you could drift quite a way.
Everyone I fly with has a Tracker and Flarm, were evolving and getting better.
Fly safe in 2020
Nick
T
The speculation that Johnston somehow "dropped" his InReach and flew on is fourth-order wishful thinking. Even if he did, he couldn't have gotten far because the day was dying and his buddies landed ahead of him at Eureka, his direction of travel. Nonetheless, he would still have had his ham radio, which he did not respond to - did he drop that as well?

S&R can't say "He was irresponsible, so we aren't going to look for him." They WILL expend a massive search operation regardless. Johnston actually took reasonable precautions short of having a spotter aircraft follow him. In retrospect, that would have been far cheaper than the unsuccessful search that was undertaken. The simplest option is to not attempt the flight at all, but that was not in his nature. Unfortunately, this type of accident just attracts copycats rather than deterring them.

Tom
They've found his glider
https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...6km-downtrack/
Good, but not good, where is the harness, still attached to the pilot?sucked up and released canopy, then reserve possibly failed. I bet the harness is still attached to the pilot, sad to say.

It seems to indicate that Johnston abandoned his wing and activated his reserve. There were cu-nims in that area could have sucked him up. If so, he could have been carried quite a ways downwind before coming out. Still doesn't explain why his InReach stopped transmitting.

Tom

They've found his glider
https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...6km-downtrack/

Well, that's some progress.

For a satellite search, I wonder if they can compare shots from multiple days before with one after and see what usually changes and what else changed on the day after?

Sorry to say they found his body. Not much info at this time:

It is with great relief and deep sorrow that we share that James has been found, departed peacefully at rest under a tree. At this time these are the only details we have about the particular circumstances that led James to his untimely departure while flying in Nevada.

https://rb.gy/pn6s8d

Boggs

On Friday, September 18, 2020 at 6:04:59 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
Sorry to say they found his body. Not much info at this time:

It is with great relief and deep sorrow that we share that James has been found, departed peacefully at rest under a tree. At this time these are the only details we have about the particular circumstances that led James to his untimely departure while flying in Nevada.

https://rb.gy/pn6s8d

Boggs
Sorry to hear, but sorta glad for closure for family & friends..

Please don't post cryptic links that hide FAKEBOOK.
Here is the information in a respected website: https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...-under-a-tree/

https://rb.gy/pn6s8d

Boggs

On Saturday, September 19, 2020 at 9:32:21 AM UTC-5, Soartech wrote:
Please don't post cryptic links that hide FAKEBOOK.
Here is the information in a respected website: https://xcmag.com/news/kiwi-johnston...-under-a-tree/

https://rb.gy/pn6s8d

Boggs

What gives with the fragile tempers on RAS? You make it sound like the poster conspired to infect the entire digital universe. While I never will understand the attraction for Facebook (Could there be a worse platform to navigate?), many of us had been closely following the missing paraglider pilot and the tremendous efforts to locate him. You did no wrong by offering up an alternative URL (albeit w/less complete info), but your transparent campaign to slam Facebook was an opportunity you could easily have passed up. Is this how you engage guests in your living room?