Hang Glider Whack Incident - Don't Do This:

Hang Glider Whack Incident - Don't Do This:
NOTE - Pilot got his hands too high on the down tubes too early, such that he was unable to maintain good approach speed as he descended through the gradient.
I don't usually upload accident videos but I felt that this one might encorage other Hang Glider Pilots to be extra careful on landing even on a pleasant flyng day. This whack happened after a two hour very enjoyable flight. This type of landing can cause major injury so easily. Luckily our friend and pilot was not injured.
Jukin Media Verified (Original)
* For licensing / permission to use: Contact - licensing(at)jukinmediadotcom

[@aminshayan9884]

I'm a beginner but it seems the angle of attack was way too high at 0.31. There's a lot of other stuff going on, but in short - it's a stalled landing.

[@skyhighjp]

The upload of a precious MV, thank you. In this case there is the choice of the body landing, too.

[@dhillmjex1]

oops. well if you are experienced enough to invest in topless odds are you've done that before. I have, more than once. I expect I will blow it again one day. thanks for posting it. It's always more funny when someone else does it. am I right guys?

[@stephenremillard]

Yep. I've whacked only once so far (h2) and it was at 8000 msl and I was on too few hours of sleep to be flying. Luckily no injuries.

[@flytamers7957]

"NOTE - Pilot got his hands too high on the down tubes too early" I can't agree, he was just too low in the end of glidepath before pushing tubes. So, his legs met ground too early.

[@daveovit8564]

Hi Bob, The camera mounted on the pole attached to the downtube, is the camera attached to remote or is the camera recording the entire time. Liked this video because it showed a good landing and this bad one. The other Spot landing video was great. Dave

[@mikebarbee2217]

Push out just a little, then UP when you flare. If you just push out...the nose won't come up high enough to stop the glider

[@aerobatty1]

Looked like his arms were still pretty much bent, leaving him quite a bit more to push back. Would have slowed him down a little, anyway.

[@scottsorensen239]

is the whack when his head hits the glider, or when he kicks his own butt? I mean I really think this should be filed under double whack or whack squared.

[@Amrraa]

Speed is our friend on lending... and normal wheels!!!

[@webrambler88]

I whacked yesterday because I tried to land on the wheels in tall grass! Painful neck and shoulders because unlike in this video I had more speed. Now I wonder if whacking will cause hidden damage? I saw nothing wrong with my tubes but who knows?

[@cdnskydog]

Check the nose plate bolts and any bolts and tangs that may have been stretched. Yes the tall grass can really get You. Sorry 😮

[@orestasvanagas9572]

i see major design flaw . center of mass is in front of center of lift so it causes stability and no flare

[@hpronto]

Thanks for sharing!

[@foxhunter5535]

Thanks for this video and the tips for safe landing.. keep safe

[@timmay301]

aww shit. but if you just pushed out a bit more, you would have just been able to slide in i think, no? you are a great pilot, i can tell that from the first landing hahaha

[@rc3443]

light bar pressure, light bar pressure

[@Samuel_Curly_DuBois]

Looks like he was just on the bubble of stalling and right when he touched down he was moving too slow to be able to push his nose up any further. Well, better there than 50 feet up. Lucky.

[@justtowatch111]

Having watched it several times I don't think he even tried to flare. It looked like he though he could just run it to a stop and tripped because he couldn't run fast enough?

[@justtowatch111]

John Lloyd Haha, my first comment showed how new I am to the sport!. Now I look at it and I see that he was too slow and when he tried to level off into ground affect he pushed the nose up fractionally and stalled the glider, then the nose came down.

[@SVSky]

Yep no energy left to flare.

[@viagro1980]

a bit more speed on final next time.. :)

[@familiastover58]

His approach speed did not cause the accident. He completely forgot to flare and that will cause the nose to hit the ground every time. His approach speed was close to stall but he didn't stall and kept the wings level. A well timed flare would have resulted in the a nice landing.

[@cdnskydog]

The aerial camera runs steady for two hours and forty minutes. Bob

[@cdnskydog]

I added this one with HD and some changes. Bob

[@roman3249]

So what was the error?

[@MrFalcon195]

I wonder why the wheels stop turning!

[@wuffos]

Cool chrome hubcaps on those tiny, near-worthless wheels.☺

[@phillippierce5974]

I guess he forgot to wear his roller skates.

[@mikemarcott4888]

When you go seated real close to the ground your glider 4 possibility of a stall and then you cannot pick speed back up and yes don't forget the flare

[@greenplanetearth6186]

No flare

[@Amrraa]

that's why you need normal big plastic wheels . they are not so cool looking but they are work way batter .

[@gt4748]

I want to hang glide... In crashes like this, where the bar hits the ground and pivots the glider, there seems to always be a great danger of getting a serious injury from the tip of the glider pivoting into the back of the head/neck/upper back... Is there any way to avoid this? Seems like a design flaw.

[@entelin]

+Galen T I highly recommend hanggliding, it's the closest thing there is to flying like birds do. I pretty regularly share a thermal with eagles, pretty incredible experience. As to your question, yes, a botched landing can cause you to be thrown into the keel. Severe turbulence could cause you to knock your head on the control frame, etc. These are reasons why we wear helmets. As for design flaws... The reality is that all aircraft have things you can hit, and out of necessity there's really not much to a hangglider. A falcon 4 170 weighs just 49 lbs and has a stall speed of like 16mph. Some good wheels on your control bar increase the safety margin as well. So if you are doing things even remotely right, you'll be just fine landing, even if you mess up like in the video above. What tends to kill people the most are preventable preflight things, like running off a mountain without being hooked into the glider, setting things up improperly, aerobatics, and flying too close to and colliding with mountains/ridges.

[@gt4748]

Entelin Thank you for your response. Right now, it's money that's keeping me from it... The falcon 4 is the one I want. We'll see.

[@إبراهيمإمحمد-ه9ث]

+Galen T مرحبا ممكن أن اشتري هذا الشراع

[@leogagliardigmail]

Are you flying right now? remember that in HG fabrics are thick and you can buy used hang gliders, with years, flying very good and very cheap. I'm flying a WW sport2, but in a trip someone gave me an old Synairgie jean, maybe from the 80's, with some home made cables, home crimped...it fly like a dream, the guy was selling it by 300euros. I know people flying single surfaces (star, atlas, alpha) even with fixed cross bars, and they are very happy with the handle, even those having other newer wings. So, don't see the cost of flying like a 5K$ hill to climb. Just take a course, beggin with used and basic equipment (except the parachute) and once you re in you can trade your first equipment to upgrade to something you chose with a better analysis

[@MrFalcon195]

And, it was one of these days I guess... You just tell yourself 'OK I've got this one!' but it turns out that you didn't! This sucks!

[@joggautube123]

what sort of injuries do people sustain?

[@jamesbarros950]

a compound fracture of the ego.

[@vladimirsokolov60]

Video illustration of 2 pilots landing: "Tubes" and "Ace". I think every pilot must know correct way of landing (flare): www.wind-drifter.com/LandingFlare.pdf Shortly speaking, for final flare: "Ace": push uprights up "Tubes": push uprights forward At above link you can find physical explanation why it must be so. Result you can see at this video. Very helpful video. Thank you.

[@Muikku4_]

is hang glider safest way of flying?

[@justtowatch111]

MuikkuOnVarmaanMuikku - Probably not but it's one of the most fun!

[@mikemarcott4888]

You should have already been seated and have a nice high final, lots a little fancy Maneuvers close to the ground laugh out loud

[@soar8hours]

Sheeet!

[@cdnskydog]

After 52 years, I have resorted to skids from Atos. Four years now and they work better than wheels as they glide over small.holes in the ground. Skydogsports.com