https://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58996

R. Miller writes:

Accident- 19th February Manilla NSW hang gliding state titles 2019

History- logged about 520 hours in a hang glider over 19 years. I Spent a lot of
my childhood tandem flying with my dad and hanging around the hill.

Parachute -Free Flight Enterprises PDA 20 gore pull down apex 238 SQ FT (Just
over 10 years old).

Glider- Moyes RX 3.5 (sprogs set normal or not lowered)

Harness- Moyes Matrix Parachute attachment point between shoulder blades.

Helmet- Full face Charlie Insider (no visor)

Instrument- Naviter Oudie 3

Conditions -10 to 15kph westerly, good smooth thermals above 5,000ft ASL, cloud base around
11,000ft.

Day 1 and 2, I made goal and was very happy with that. Next, I wanted to
increase my average speed each day. 3rd day of the comp 83km triangle. Start- Mt
Bora- Goal at Godfrey’s. Before the last turn point, I climbed out to 9,500 feet
ASL, (8000 AGL) last climb I needed to make goal. On final glide with an
expected arrival height of 3,400 AGL. With all this height I had only a few
things on my mind, that was go as fast as possible, keeping the glider straight.

2 other gliders were just in front and above me. Like a racehorse heading for
the finish line, focused on going as fast as possible with the VG at maximum.

On final glide my airspeed was between 80kph and 120kph for about 5 min till my
accident 106kph airspeed. The conditions at the time did not feel that rough.
I had no wire slaps and was managing to keep the glider straight without too
much trouble.

After just overtaking the 2 other gliders, 4000ft AGL without any warning! I
went from a high-speed glide to Hanging under the base bar looking through
smashed sunglasses covered in blood. (I was knocked out for 3 to 5 seconds) When
the base bar hit me in the face it broke my Maui Jim sunglasses on the bridge of
my nose and shattered the left glass lenses with the glass still in place. I had
some small cuts on the bridge of my nose and I was bleeding enough to make it
hard to see through the blood and broken glasses, so I quickly ripped out my
glasses and threw them away, so I could see clearly. With no glider or base bar
insight and wondering what is going on as I came around, I tried to reach the A
frame, but the glider was completing a loop without me. I landed on the trailing
edge of the sail, with one hand on the keel and one holding the trailing edge of
the sail. The glider was flying upside down relatively smoothly. I had a little
time to think about my options, not that there were many to choose from. The
glider looked to be ok, I thought for a moment, I could flip it back over and
continue to fly? I moved around a little to feel how the glider responded and it
didn’t feel stable enough to do anything else but throw my parachute. Making the
decision to throw my chute was a hard one, I was still in disbelief that this
was happening to me.

I looked for the parachute handle and checked the clear space at the back of the
glider, I pulled out the parachute and threw it out past the keel. The parachute
deployed perfectly but did not open, I pulled hard on the bridal, after 3 or 4
pulls it opened and violently flipped my glider upright and swung me back under
the glider. I was now in an upright position. The glider was in a nose down
angle about 35 degrees with the parachute line running from my harness around
the trailing edge. It took about a minute from being flipped upside down to
throwing my parachute.

I climbed into the A-frame and again thought about my options. I made a radio
call to my team “I have thrown my reserve, I have thrown my reserve coming done
under my parachute”. Our team driver, called back immediately. “we see you we
are on our way, we will be there in a few minutes “and a second call came from
one of my team mates “remember to bend your knees” knowing that my team was
minutes away was great to hear!

I thought for a few seconds if I cut away the parachute, I would be able to land
better than I would with a parachute. I looked at the main parachute line and my
harness hang strap and then to my hook knife. Looking very carefully where I
needed to cut the parachute away. (the hook knife was attached to my left
upright with Velcro) After a few seconds I realized the safest option is to come
down under the parachute. I had no second parachute and no time to cut away and
throw a second one if needed to.

Prepare for impact. Standing in the A-frame, legs spread a little, hands on the
uprights with a sink rate was between 1100fpm and 2000fpm and drifting along
around 35kph. The ground was coming up fast. I pushed the base bar out with my
feet to feel how much I could flare the glider, but because the parachute bridal
was running around the trailing edge of the glider, this restricted the option
to flare. I bent my knees and hit the ground with my feet on the back edge of
the carbon bar. The right side hit the ground first, breaking my right foot. (if
the bar was level or If I landed flat footed on the ground I may not have broken
my foot and badly bruised the other) I think I was knocked out for a second
because I don’t remember my glider dragging on its top surface but there are
small scratches across the top surface. The next thing I remember is thinking
this is not over yet. The parachute started to drag me across the field with the
bridal around my neck. I reached for my hook knife and tried to cut the
parachute away, the hook knife went about a third into the line. I pulled back
the knife and had a second go into the same cut and the knife came out of my
hand but stayed hooked on the line. The gust of wind slowed enough for me to
start to pull in the parachute, then the next gust came and started to drag me
again. Trying my hardest to cut away finally the gust stopped, and I managed to
pull the chute in and deflate it. (I carry 2 spare hook knifes but could not
reach them at the time)

A few seconds after climbing out of my harness my team arrived, I looked up
above me and one of the pilots wound down to land with me, Oh what a feeling of
support!

I was feeling elated! So happy to be alive and thinking, is my right foot
broken? Can I fix this parachute bridal? Will I be able to fly tomorrow? I
quickly realized my foot was broken or badly damaged and it was definitely going
to stop me flying the rest of the comp. Although happy to be alive, I was very
disappointed that this was the end of the comp for me. My other injuries
include, left foot has some bruising and graze from the base bar, a few other
scratches and bruises around my arms and legs from being dragged around and a
good black eye with some cuts to my face. I was taken to Manilla hospital and
then onto Tamworth hospital for X-rays and a CT scan of both of my feet. It was
then confirmed that my right foot was broken in a few places.

What have I taken away from this? Don’t get so focused on one thing, racing at
top speed to goal in this case. I am normally very safety conscious and think
about all aspects of safety in everything I do. At this time, I never really
thought how much I was pushing the safety envelope of my equipment and the
conditions of the day. Would have this happened if I was ¾ VG instead of full
and going a little slower? I don’t know but I wish that’s what I was doing.

Additional Notes- If I had managed to pull on the keel, I may have been able to
flare the glider and not broken my foot. All of the emergency procedures I had
in my mind seemed to be automatic without any panic. If I had thought more
beforehand about how to flare a glider with a parachute deployed, I may have not
broken my foot. Would a full face helmet with a visor be a better option? Maybe
I would not have been knocked out and managed to hold onto the bar? It has taken
me about a month to really understand all the details of my accident and how
could this be avoided or improved. Someone asked me “were you shitting yourself?
“No, I was just going through motions of what I had to do(thanks to all the
training) I think there has been more fear of what happened for the 2 to 3 weeks
after the event.

The town of Manilla, all the drivers and pilots feel like an extended family all
supporting each other. We are ordinary people from all walks of life
experiencing one of the most amazing things this life has to offer. This creates
a bond between us all that will last forever, and I am one of the lucky ones to
experience the freedom of flight.

Have fun be safe, fly high and fast. Just not too fast.