Some good news

On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 7:55:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:

Sean, My (most, all?) Security chute does not have a chest trap. There are only two straps that come from the seat and loop through on one side and snap to the opposite side.

That's an Aerobatic chute harness - designed to keep the hardware away from the lab belt during negative Gs. I have the same setup on my Long Softie (and had it on the Security I had before)- I like it better than the normal chest + leg straps as it gets the hardware up and out of the way.

Most chutes use the classic chest strap and separate leg straps.

Kirk

On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:
The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.

As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

We're certainly glad to have Chris back safely on earth. The "Hallelujah!"s were brief and quickly followed by words that might be laundered into "We've gotten by on sheer, dumb luck". There are many well-smitten and furrowed brows in New England today. You see, it wasn't just about Chris.

Only five glider flights departed Gorham the day that Chris bailed out. Only *one* of those flights was according to the basic plan of "take off at Gorham, go soaring, don't get scared, land at Gorham". One managed a nice "take off at Gorham, go soaring, get trapped on top, go land elsewhere" flight that turned out fine, but we hope the pilot is a little bit sheepish for getting up on top in such crummy conditions in the first place. Three gliders were damaged. One abandoned in flight, one damaged in flight, one damaged in an off airport landing. That's some bad odds. We're very happy that no one was injured.

How did this happen?

All of the glider pilots flying that day were (as far as I know) low to medium experience at Mt Wash. All are a little more experienced now!

The more experienced MW wave guys were mostly off doing other things, because (at least according to the forecast and current ADDS weather I looked at that day) it was a pretty crummy day for wave flying. I was at work thinking "Well, at least I'm not missing much!". Others were doing errands in Gorham or amusing themselves with non-aviation related pursuits. One friend -- who is no stranger to challenging weather and has as much MW wave experience as anyone -- heard the tow plane flying while in downtown Gorham and had the thought "What the heck are they doing that for?".

We brief on the myriad of hazards you can find at Mt Washington when the wind blows. The wet wave and what do do about it figure prominently in those briefs. We point out that even on wet wave days the weather will be reliably VFR and usually clear to scattered over Maine (due to adiabatic heating of the airmass as it descends to lower terrain), and that one can glide a *long* way into Maine and to a number of excellent airports from 18000'.

Much to think about til next year.

best regards,

Evan Ludeman / T8

My harness is stitched together at the waist such that, even if the leg
straps are not connected, the loop that the arms fit through is a closed
loop. Therefore, even with the leg straps not connected, there is a
bottom web that would support me at the armpits. That's the fact of
construction, however I'd consider it very lucky that I would be quick
acting enough to realize that the load was being taken by my armpits
rather than by my thighs and cross my arms tightly enough to retain the
parachute through the opening shock. I imagine it'd get tiring hanging
on while waiting for the ground to come up to meet me as well. And it
would be foolish, if not impossible to let go with one arm and try to
hook up the leg straps.

Would the lucky person who completed this bailout please try to describe
the total event, including getting out of the glider, deploying the
parachute, exactly when you realized something was not right, how you
handled the opening and descent, was any control possible, and how about
the landing. I think this information would be most appreciated by all.

Dan

BTW, so glad that you're alive to tell about it!

On 10/21/2015 9:42 AM, kirk.stant wrote:
On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 7:55:01 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Sean, My (most, all?) Security chute does not have a chest trap. There are only two straps that come from the seat and loop through on one side and snap to the opposite side.
That's an Aerobatic chute harness - designed to keep the hardware away from the lab belt during negative Gs. I have the same setup on my Long Softie (and had it on the Security I had before)- I like it better than the normal chest + leg straps as it gets the hardware up and out of the way.

Most chutes use the classic chest strap and separate leg straps.

Kirk

--
Dan, 5J

I sincerely appreciate all the responses and thoughts on the flight, and I think it is pretty obvious that staying high and flying downwind was the smarter choice. Without the monday morning quarterback thought process, how many pilots would actually chose to go land downwind when they still have a visible window in which to descend through? In my case, the primary window had closed to the extent that i was not comfortable going into partial IMC to try and make it down, which is why I opted for the second window which was still open, further to the south. upon arriving at this second window, i chose not to go through it, as i could not tell the altitude separation from the bottom of the clouds to the face of the mountain (mt. isolation). It was in my efforts to climb back out of this window and go downwind that i went full IMC, flew back into the valley a ways, and bailed out once below peak level.

The situation, like many, was not so cut and dry, as there were still seemingly stable (enough) options in front of me that have traditionally held in similar situations. Obviously, if completely socked in, the downwind option would have been the choice. The more challenging question, in my mind, is without knowing that the wave windows would close as you nearly approached them, do you still consider that choice to be a reckless and obvious?

On the parachute side of the house, the Parachute was a security 350, which is the aerobatic style that crosses at your waist before clipping at chest level.. I am 100% certain that the straps were attached when I entered my cockpit and began my pre-flight checks. As for what point they were removed, it was either while removing my harness to bail out, or while suspended in the tree... i have no recollection.

As T8 pointed out, there are still a great many debates on flying that day and the various events that took place, and a greater number still of opinions from the pilots. I will say that from the moment I stepped foot back at the airfield, i could not have imagined a more supportive, kind, and thoughtful group than I have experienced from the soaring community. Regardless of their opinions of my skills, decisions, or otherwise, when you actually need help, I don't believe there is a better hobby community out there than this one.

On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 1:09:00 PM UTC-4, Tango Eight wrote:
On Monday, October 19, 2015 at 9:34:10 PM UTC-4, Karl Striedieck wrote:
The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K.

On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air in Maine and landed.

The other attempted to spoiler (drag flap) down through the clouds, which were too thick and low at this point, and chose to bail out. The nylon letdown was successful and the pilot unscathed.

As happy an ending as this was, there is more to be thankful about. When the pilot bailed out his parachute leg straps were not buckled, yet he was able to take the opening shock and descent with his arm pits!

Is this good news or what!! Say hallelujah, say Amen brother!!

KS

We're certainly glad to have Chris back safely on earth. The "Hallelujah!"s were brief and quickly followed by words that might be laundered into "We've gotten by on sheer, dumb luck". There are many well-smitten and furrowed brows in New England today. You see, it wasn't just about Chris.

Only five glider flights departed Gorham the day that Chris bailed out. Only *one* of those flights was according to the basic plan of "take off at Gorham, go soaring, don't get scared, land at Gorham". One managed a nice "take off at Gorham, go soaring, get trapped on top, go land elsewhere" flight that turned out fine, but we hope the pilot is a little bit sheepish for getting up on top in such crummy conditions in the first place. Three gliders were damaged. One abandoned in flight, one damaged in flight, one damaged in an off airport landing. That's some bad odds. We're very happy that no one was injured.

How did this happen?

All of the glider pilots flying that day were (as far as I know) low to medium experience at Mt Wash. All are a little more experienced now!

The more experienced MW wave guys were mostly off doing other things, because (at least according to the forecast and current ADDS weather I looked at that day) it was a pretty crummy day for wave flying. I was at work thinking "Well, at least I'm not missing much!". Others were doing errands in Gorham or amusing themselves with non-aviation related pursuits. One friend -- who is no stranger to challenging weather and has as much MW wave experience as anyone -- heard the tow plane flying while in downtown Gorham and had the thought "What the heck are they doing that for?".

We brief on the myriad of hazards you can find at Mt Washington when the wind blows. The wet wave and what do do about it figure prominently in those briefs. We point out that even on wet wave days the weather will be reliably VFR and usually clear to scattered over Maine (due to adiabatic heating of the airmass as it descends to lower terrain), and that one can glide a *long* way into Maine and to a number of excellent airports from 18000'.

Much to think about til next year.

best regards,

Evan Ludeman / T8

I've been having an interesting off line discussion with several guys about the events of the day... and one guy whose wx assessment is pretty much as good as it gets and was at Gorham airport during the launch tells me -- essentially -- that I've let my imagination fill in a few blanks for me. He maintains that the first four launches, including Chris', were completely safe and reasonable under the prevailing wx conditions of the moment.

He also points out that getting too caught up on the launch / no launch decision might well distract us from more important lessons (such as: how best to deal with a sudden change for the worse in flight).

best,
Evan Ludeman

Chris,

Thanks for filing in some of the blanks about the incident. Reading what you've posted gives me the impression that you have an unusual knack for staying focused when things get hectic. You'd be a good wingman/lead in a high adrenaline air combat environment. Maybe you have such a background?

KS

On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 5:55:46 PM UTC-4, Christopher Giacomo wrote:
how many pilots would actually chose to go land downwind when they still have a visible window in which to descend through? In my case, the primary window had closed to the extent that i was not comfortable going into partial IMC to try and make it down, which is why I opted for the second window which was still open,

The key here is the primary window. That's usually the most stable, reliable one. If that sucker is closed to the point that it looks dicey, it's too late.

IMO you have two or maybe three options here. Which is best is going to be an individual call, depending on a truckload of variables. Option 1) stay in the wave and wait it out. To do this you need to be able to navigate the wave without reference to ground. That's a little tricky, trickier the stronger the wind. Don't forget your compass -- it's really easy to get screwed up on directions with GPS when wind speed and airspeed are about the same. Option 2) Head downwind or crosswind to clearer skies and an airport..

I like option 1. Option 2 can be selected any time. Option 1 means I don't have to rush.

A great thing to do if you can make option 1 work is start working your friends for wx info: specifically, what's the area forecast say is going to happen? What's radar show? What's the satellite show? If it's truly hopeless, your friends will figure it out and then you can think about options (restaurants in Portland are said to be pretty good :-0) and get a plan. Otoh, it's probable that what closed the window was a slug of localized precip that will pass and then life may get good again (it takes a lot of moisture to close the primary).

There's a third option available too, although it's a little hard to see why this one would ever be preferred, but I think it's still better than trying to force your way down a hole when it looks nearly hopeless. Option 3) navigate by GPS to a better area (i.e. away from big piles of granite), then let down via benign spiral or gyro instruments somewhere you can be convinced (for instance by AWOS or a PIREP from the ground) that cloud base is well above ground and that your very cold glider isn't going to pick up a truckload of ice from rain showers below or something like that.

Looking forward to seeing you at Mt Washington again!

best regards,

-Evan Ludeman / T8

A side note about Parachutes and their harnesses. My local rigger once told me to get into a strict regimen of always buckling and un-buckling in a specific order. His story was that people have survived a landing in trees, only to hang themselves when unbuckling the leg straps before the chest strap when trying to extricate themselves from the trees. Whether or not that's an apocryphal story or not, it does make sense to build that muscle memory so the steps are automatic when it counts. On my chute (a National 425), I can see obvious problems if I release the leg straps first. There does appear to be some risk of falling through the chest strap and (at minimum) getting a nasty jerk on the chin.

P3

Evan, i think you are spot on in your assessment. The most common advice and suggestion i have got from my most respected pilot friends is that at any point in the flight slowing down, communicating, and building a solid plan while you sit in a stable environment will generally lead to the best outcome. The biggest thing i kick myself about on this flight is that i was not communicating with DY when i was up there, was not asking for help from the ground, but more of giving a running monologue on the radio of what my next circus act would be.

Karl, the only wings i ever earned in the air force were (ironically) my jump wings while at the AF Academy. I'm a stability and control engineer in the AF currently.

I had my first wave flight early October. I
stopped at 18000 as that was as high as
you can be with a cannula. Then poked
around between the Alberta Livingstons
and Porkies between 9000 and 15000 for
a couple more hours.

The post 18000 part of the flight I had set
the flow for 15000, but after landing I was
so wiped out I had to take a couple days
off from flying.

Folks, especially us older guys, living in
low elevations need acclimation to the
10,000' level O2 systems are set up for.

In the meantime, you lose significant IQ
points and your decision making will not
be as good as when in your armchair at
home.