Hat Creek and the Bionic Badass

It's been a thoughtful few days since our annual Hat Creek adventure as I recover from my fractured humerus in my left arm. 10 screws and a metal plate and I have now joined the elite and exclusive "club of broken arms the name of which I forget". I was not exactly angling to join any time soon.

Positives:

*Wonderful support from friends and the hang gliding community
*Shorter recovery period as I didn't break any joints
*Wicked, cool scar
*Bionic woman
*Random people tell me how awesome it is that I broke my arm hang gliding and not something lame like slipping on a curb
*Get to slow down
*Cute PT named Max
*Prescription to drink a lot of hot chocolate, and consume other milk products e.g. ice cream!

Negatives:
*Need not dwell on.

So, what the bleep happened? I had been enjoying a glorious glassoff flight, completely magical with the launch and traffic not worrisome, as I patiently waited for a few pilots to go land in the main LZ so I could observe their approaches. After about an hour, I was deciding between the two LZs, thinking the small LZ would be a good choice (less traffic), but I hadn't yet landed in the main LZ and I wanted to try that if I could. My height was above launch before I started heading out to the main LZ so I knew I had the glide, but as I was cruising along, I noticed 2 other gliders coming in at roughly the same time. This unnerved me a bit, but I held it together, did a tiny box (just shy of being too low), to get my glider into the wind (the wind sock was showing a slight breeze, but I now know it was relatively insignificant), and came in on approach. Initially, I was pulled in, but for some reason (read - mistake), I didn't keep the pressure on and as I came towards the ground I tried to run it out with out much of a flare, and the wheel caught on a lava rock, and I didn't let go. My nose didn't hit so observers thought it was a belly landing and relatively benign. I assure you it was not. It was bad luck and simply a mistake for not going fast, rounding out, and flaring as hard as I could. Some of us end up learning the hard way.

Another item of note: radios:

Honestly, if Dan had had his radio (he had loaned it to a H2 pilot) and I had mine turned on (was on my person), he would have gotten on and told me to speed up on final. Would I have hurt my arm then? Maybe, maybe not. Lesson learned: it behooves us to have our radios on just in case we need that extra bit of coaching now and again.

I need not go into the sordid details of getting to the hospital and all that, but I do want to send a big THANK YOU to all of those who helped, in particular Dan (sorry I couldn't enjoy the post flight beer you were bringing me), Henrik, Eric, Justine, Gergana, Anthony, Karen, Zach, and I'm sure others who helped. Thank you from the bottom of my heart - you guys are awesome.

Flight Log:

Aircurls - 3 flights, 1 hour, 58 minutes

'bout that safety margin

Subtitle: Don't do as I did.

I learned a cheap lesson this Monday. Really cheap. My lesson is done, but I'm adding my two cents here so you don't do as I did. I am the analyzing type, so post-crashing, there are two things that worried me - shock of the crash itself, but most importantly not understanding why it happened. 

I think I made 2.5 transgressions, each progressively worse. First off, I was really affected by aircurl's unfortunate landing the day before. Perhaps she wasn't going fast enough on final, she knows best, but she broke an arm, as she belly landed. I didn't have a better landing that day, but simply let go, or maybe my base tube did not catch, so I lucked out. The next day I kept thinking about that on launch, and kept picturing the landing sequence, and was quite nervous. That's the 0.5. You could say if I didn't want to land, I shouldn't have launched. I thought about that, and decided to launch to beat the fear, get it out of the way early. You could go either way here I think. It wasn't so wrong to launch, we are often afraid of things. I could have been more communicative though, and sought a bit of encouragement from my fellow pilots on launch. 

So I launched (I think a good launch), and had a good flight. Flew for about an hour, and got above 6000'. After about an hour I started sinking out, while still on the ridge. I made a few passes back and forth, thinking, "I've got LZ1 in my pocket, I can afford to try to get up. If I manage to climb back to launch, I'll attempt the glide to LZ2." I couldn't get back up to launch after 3 passes, even though I stayed close to the hill. I was now perhaps 30-50 ft below launch. Ok, time to land. This is where I made my first full judgement error. Not sure why - mind not clear? Being below launch, I should have just shot for LZ1. Now I could still see LZ2, and I let myself think there's a possibility out there. I decided to try flying towards LZ2, and check my altitude half-way and turn back if it looks impossible. 

Alright, let me emphasize, I think I knew LZ2 was a far stretch, but I attempted just in case. I can now see how that's a bit warped. Can't count on getting up along the way.

Well, that was an error in judgement but it wasn't grave yet. It is ok to fly forward and turn back if you see that you can't make it. But that only works if you continuously check your altitude. I looked back once. When I was half-way. That was mistake number 2, and ultimately the one that put me on the hill. By the time I looked back, LZ1 was far and surrounded by tall trees, and LZ2 was still too far yet. I chose the rocks and sparse trees on the hill, over the tall trees around LZ1. The rest happened fast. I avoided a tall tree, then sped up a bit, as if it was a true final approach, didn't flare because I was scared that the boulders will break my legs, and then in the end I let the glider take it. Hit small lava rocks, a dead tree and two bushes. The only thing on my mind during my crash approach was "let go let go let go let go let go". Best part of the story. I got away with a bruised left leg and no glider damage.

So the takeaway, learned for almost free:

0.5: It's ok if you didn't launch. Even if you flew in 6000 miles from Europe last week, and then you drove 5 hours, oh wait 9,  to get here. 

1: Just take the LZ that you can safely make. Can't count on lift on the way to your landing zone. That's the safety margin.

2: Always continuously check your altitude when gliding far. Not every now and then. Not half-way.

And yeah, let go.

Flying at Hat Creek (or not)