The main stream media got it right for the most part: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11121

Helen Ross came to the Dalby Big Air meet and I saw her first last Saturday. She apparently has not been around hang gliding for a while. She was on the Australian women's national team at the Women's Worlds in 1993 (Kari, Judy Leden, Toni Noud, Kathleen Rigg, Rosie, Eva Menyhart, Sarah Bowman, Claire Vassort, among many others, flew in that meet).

On Saturday, she had a couple of practice aerotows in windy conditions and they and her landings were pretty dodgy. After local pilots here had long discussions with her, she decided not to enter the Dalby Big Air competition, but to hang out with the students who were here with Leroy to get some aerotow and cross country instruction.

She had been practicing aerotowing on her Moyes Litespeed (the other "students" had Sonics and similar king posted gliders) and I saw her launch and land on Monday late afternoon in light wind conditions. She had a good landing but had trouble keeping the glider down on tow with 1/3 rd VG. I casually mentioned to someone next to the launch line that she should try half VG, but I didn't talk to her and she was too far away to hear me.

This morning she was doing more aerotows apparently with a lot more VG than she had the evening before, at least when I saw her then. It was later discovered that her VG was almost all the way on Tuesday morning.

According to witnesses on her second aerotow, the MSM is saying at 7:45 AM, but I wasn't there, she came off the cart crooked and locked out right away, likely not getting even ten feet high. She crashed to the side piling in with the leading edge first and was knocked unconscious (don't know what helmet she was wearing).

The hospital is right here at the airport and ambulances and police came immediately (there was a request for a helicopter, but it didn't come). She was taken to the local hospital and then helicoptered to the hospital in Brisbane.

I had heard that she was still unconscious but that her fingers were moving. The MSM media articles say severe spinal and head injuries. But, the latest word is no spinal damage. Might have ruptured an artery in her neck.

Blaino who was the tug pilot, mentions that he was told by witnesses it looked like she pushed out while on the cart and came out stalled.

Our best wishes to her family and her two children. I hope that there are some lessons about proper aerotow technique that can come out of this accident, but I can't tell yet from the fragments that I'm heard. Perhaps a eye witness to the events and someone who was following her progress will write up something for us to think about.