Hi Nick,
We met a couple of times on the hill this year and while I'm not a local member of TV, I am one of yours. May I say how refreshing it is to read your piece below.
I was Chairman of my local club (North Devon) for eight years and during that time I tried hard to get the same thing going as you. My career was in a high risk environment most of the time, where active, honest, proactive de briefing was a crucial element to daily routine.
I support your approach whole heartedly and as such here's my story, which I'm very happy for you to put my name to.
I'd been flying for just eight months and was getting to that cocky over confident stage. Sure my wing control was above average for that time in the sport due to the luxury of being able to get out and put in well over one hundred hours a year, but my experience of the vast range of weather conditions we fly in was poor, due to lack of time honoured experience.
I'd learnt to hover and was doing this at about twenty foot above ground. I was in good lift as I was above the slope, but despite holding the same amount of brake as I'd practiced hitherto, without warning my wing stalled, whipping me into the ground.
In my naivety of the perils of gusty conditions I had held too much brake for too long so that when the wind speed went from 14mph to 5mph in a very short space of time, the wing stalled.
I got away with a very sore lower back, but it could have been far worse.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF MY MISTAKES
1/ I took off in the first place, thinking the conditions were ok for me because I saw others flying. I was too inexperienced, or daft, to realise that those already flying could be flying faster wings and far more competent in those conditions.
2/ I simply had not taken into account the potential dangers of gustiness, ie, a large difference between the max and minimum wind speed where the changes are rapid.
3/ As a direct result of my inexperience and the beginners wing I was on, I was not responsive to the feed back from the wing.
4/ I was flying without having sought the guidance of a coach or more experienced pilot.
Good luck with your great initiative Nick. In my opinion, we in this country are no where near as proactive on safety matters as we should be, after all, we can fall from the sky just as catastrophically as any aircraft.
Regards, Richard Osborne.
On 6 Dec 2015, at 14:54, Nick wrote:
Dear Fellow Pilots,
As you were kind enough to vote me in as your Safety Member at the AGM I thought I'd better introduce myself. I'm sure I've met many of you on the hill (Palm/Blue Sigma 8 with dark red helmet) and those that I haven't please do come and say hi. I work in Flight Testing in which we enjoy an open, free culture in which people are invited to say 'I got that wrong' without fear of blame. In a 'just' society we accept that people will try their best but are, ultimately, fallible. I would dearly love to increase the feeling of a 'just' culture in paragliding where people can openly share their learning experiences with others.
There were 8 reportable incidents or accidents in the Club last year but as I'm sure you're aware there will have been a number of others that weren't reported and many, many more that would be considered close calls. It's those that I'd like to focus on this year.
I'm sure you've all learnt from the mistakes, however small, that you've made over the years but it's far better to learn from the mistakes that others have made and shared. I'd like to try and share with you some of those mistakes so please, please, please send me your stories of when you learnt something that others would benefit from or just had a close call. If you've ever been happy to be on the ground or have looked back and shuddered then I'd like to hear from you at safety@tvhgc.co.uk. I'll share your stories and make sure your anonymity is maintained. We may just all learn something and even prevent the next accident or incident.
I'll start.....
I took off with my chest strap undone. Since I got me new pod harness my preflight checks have become a bit more complicated with more string, clips and buckles. Flying at Westbury a few months ago I'd gone through all my normal routine (or so I thought) and launched into good ridge lift. I lean a long way forward in the harness when I launch and it was only as I became airborne and went to get into my pod that I noticed that my weight was more on my shoulder straps than normal, I then noticed that my chest strap was undone. Shaken, I continued to settle into my harness and fly away from the hill before finding and doing up the errant clip. This is a classic cognitive failure but what have I learnt? CHECKS… do you just go through your routine or do you do a head to foot check before committing yourself to aviation?
This is just meant as food for thought, especially as we're all rusty after this horrible period of rain and wind. Please just take a few extra moments when you do manage to get back on the hill and make sure you don't make any silly mistakes.
Happy (and safe) landings,
Nick Smith
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