A paraglider pilot was seriously injured when his canopy collapsed over the E launch during the annual XC meet. This pilot was not entered in the meet and was fairly new to the sport. It is reported that he was flying an old glider and had only been in the sport a little over a year with less than 8 hours of flying time.

This pilot launched for the first time at the E without talking much to local pilots about conditions. He was also the first pilot off the hill and the crash subsequently delayed the start of the meet. According to the people who arrived at the scene first he had fallen aproximately 30 to 40 feet into rocks after his canopy collapsed.

The victim suffered head and neck injuries and two broken femurs. The paramedics were called in and after about two hours he was stablised and brought up the hill in a gurney and taken to a trauma center on a medivac chopper.

The victim was quite a bit larger than most pilots and it took quite a great effort for the firemen to get him up the face of the launch. I would estimate that there were a total of at least 16 emergency people involved in his recovery not including the Medivac people. All in all he is very lucky to be alive.

The most agreed upon conclusion on why this accident happend was that the pilot was unfamiliar with the site and it's conditions. The winds were stronger than normal and out of the north which make for a very rough and bumpy ride right after launch. This is because of a rotor that sets up from the spine to the north of launch when these conditions exsist. If the pilot had spent a little more time talking to the locals he may have found out that this is not an intermediate site and should not be flown by anyone with less than an expert rating even when conditions are ideal.

If you are involved in any way in the sport of hang gliding or para gliding, I suggest you study and print out the following article. It may come in handy some time.

Most of us have been in a situation where a pilot has biffed in and "OH SHIT" has passed our lips as we went running to their aid. But what to do when we come upon the scene of an accident and our pilot is FUBAR? Most of us have cell phones, a great tool for our ability to access help. But what do we do once we’ve called 911? After Kenny’s accident, I made a few trips around town and some phone calls to the local dispatch centers that would querry any 911 calls. Knowledge is power, so I’ve decided we need to become more powerful in our ability to summon help, provide care, and communicate, “on scene data”, to responding departments. I’m going to be putting down a lot of information in this article, so bear with me.

First, some knowledge on who’s coming and from where. It’s important to know that Cariso CDF is NOT our primary response team. They are the forest service and the reason they respond is to protect the forest. They are not responsible for any medical aids. However, like all departments they have a good samaratin act, (or something similar), so when they show on the scene, they will provide assistance. Their engine carrys a minimum of three and a maximum of five people. As far as their ability to preform medical aid, there is NO REQUIREMENT to have any training. Some are EMTs and the permanents are First Responders, so there should be someone with a BLS, (Basic Life Support) certificate. Never assume anything, just because someone has a uniform on, doesn’t mean they are trained in medical aid.

The rescue team that is responsible for medical aid in our immediate area is Station 11, (Lakeland Village CDF). That’s the new Station on Grand right below the E. Still, it’s important to know that Station 11 has only EMT 1s, (BLS personnel), as it’s highest level of care providers. Our area’s ALS (Advanced Life Support) personnel comes from four corners. The ALS are the “Paramedics”. If it doesn’t say Paramedic on a patch, they’re not.

I’m giving you this information so you have an understanding on what your needs are and who’s coming. Realize that not everyone can give the care needed. Analyze what is needed medicaly and make a judgement call. If it’s non-life threatning, you don’t need the calvary, just a few foot soilders. If you don’t know, call 911 and let them sort it out.

Now for some numbers you’ll want to know 1) 911 Seems simple but here’s some insight on how it works. Your call to 911 is handled by the CHP Who establishes the location of the emergency and then forwards the call, in our case, to the CDF command center in Perris, who inturn contacts the necessary response team for the Emergency.

2) 1 (800) 472-5697 This is the “Fire Emergency” number. DO NOT ABUSE THIS NUMBER! If you don’t understand those five words, talk to me in person. Use the 911 number to initiate the reponse. This number is for SOMEONE WITH MEDICAL TRAINING. If you call this number and piss these people off, you will have ruined months of work to better our ability to help ourselves. This gies us a line of communication to the support team that is responding to the emergency. Kathy, Marilyn, JR, Scott, and the rest of you who understand, this is the number we call to relay patient information to the responding medics.

Let’s look at what medical information is important to record in the field and what we want relayed to the responding team. Our patients Gender, Age Type of Injury, and his/her chief complaint, (or our best guess at what’s wrong with our unconscious buddy). Sample: Riverside Emergency my name is Eric Smith. I am on scene at the Hang Gliding accident up on the Kilian Trail. I am a BLS with patient information that should be relayed to the responding rescue team, are you clear to copy?......................I have a male adult, approximately 40 years old. He’s conscious and states he did not lose consciousness during the entire time. His chief complaint is pain in his left leg and it appears to be broken. Stand by for further. Now lets look at the bigger picture. What are we looking for, and what do we need to do.

ABCs Airway, Breathing, Circulation. If our patient isn’t breathing, they’ve got about 4-6 minutes, max. Better figure something out If our patient is bleeding heavily, stop it. Use your T shirt and hold it on the wound. If you don’t know what a pressure point is, ask someone who does. If our patient doesn’t have a pulse and you don’t know CPR, bummer!

PRIMARY SURVEY Pulse: Weak-Strong, Fast-Slow. LOC: (Level of Consciousness) Alert-Verbal-Pain-Unconscious, Name-Place- Time-Event. Medical History: Allergies-Diabetes-Drugs-Cardiac-COPD, Medications-Loss of Consc. Pregnant-None. Breathing: Normal-Labored. Movement: Wiggle Fingers-Wiggle Toes, Hand Squeeze-Foot Push. Reaction to Pain: Appropriate-Inappropriate. Skin: Temp.-Moist-Color. Spinal: Possible considerations, Yes/No.

DIAGNOSTICS Pulse: Rate(x a min), Regular-Irregular. Respirations: Rate(x a min), Normal-Shallow-Labored. Eyes: (Left/Right), Contacts-Injury, Sluggish-Fixed-Dialated-Pinpoint-Normal Acuity-Tracking-Equal. Blood Pressure: Most of us don’t carry Sphygmos, some of us probably should. Note: Diagnostics should be done every 5-10 min. These times and their data should be recorded and given to the response team via the phone and should be handed over to them when they arrive.

SECONDARY SURVEY Odors Skull Ears Eyes Nose Mouth Face Neck Chest Abdomen Pelvis Genetalia Back/Spine Upper Extremities Lower Extremeties

Note: any injuries should be noted for their area of the body, type and severity

A lot of shit huh. Now what about us normal people, what can we do? Look down the list. How many of these things can you do? ABCs Airway, Bleeding, Circulation. Just make sure they’re breathing and not bleeding to much. You can check for a pulse. Level of consciousness is pretty simple. Did the person lose consciousness, are they in pain? Ask the four questions (Name,Place,Time,Event). How many did they know? LOCx?(how many they knew). If they are conscious, what’s their chief complaint. Ask them if they have a medical history. Look for medical bracelets or necklaces. Are they breathing normally? Are there any obvious deformities? Write it all down and give it to the rescue team when they show. The patient could pass out before the rescue team arrives, and you’ll have a wealth of knowledge for them.

Here’s the last number and it’s a radio frequency 151.400 This is the tactical freq. of Riveride’s Emergency Response. DO NOT TALK ON THIS FREQ. You will probably be invited to some new bars in town, the steel kind. However, we can monitor the response so if they are going to the wrong place, you can call the Fire Emergency number and let them know. Maybe something else you hear that’s not right. Just use the phones as our communication.

The last thing I will comment on is your personal training for emergencies. Have you ever taken A First Aid class? How about a CPR class? The more you know, the quicker help is on the way. I hope everyone sees this as an open forum and will add any information that might help, or correct me on any mistakes I might have made. My goal is to effect a faster, better prepared response for our type of emergencies.

The information I have collected came from personal and phone interviews with the following agencies and departments: Riverside CDF Command Center Riverside CDF Sta. 11, Sta. 58, and Sta. 59 California DPR Dispatch Center CHP Dispatch Center Riverside Sheriffs Communication Center Clevland National Forrest Dispatch Center Cariso CDF

Author's Note:

Over the past 28 years as a Lifeguard, I am currently or have been certified, (and in most cases been an instructor), in the following areas; EMT, First Aid, First Responder, CPR, O2 Therapy, and a Swift Water Tech. I am currently the instructor for the Cliff Rescue Team, (high angle and short distance transfer), for the Ca. Dept. of Parks and Recreation Orange Coast District South Sector. Sufice to say, I deal with people hurt in awkward places for a living. Those of you who have known me for a long time, know I used to work Blacks Beach and picked of Pilots who crashed into the cliffs at Torrey back in the 70s. Doesn’t mean I know all and ask again for help if I have forgoten anything, or maybe you can simplify all this mumbo-jumbo. This is a first attempt. Maybe with some more cooks, we can come up with something better.

Eric T Lifeguard

Hey what’s up bros, yeah that is a very good idea to post what Eric posted about safety. I am a recent EHGA member, have been flying there since last summer, and would be stoked of more pilots knew what should be done in an emergency. A very thorough, valuable report was made by Eric to which I will add, by the open invitation, just a couple things that immediately stood out to me that help.

I am an Emergency Room Trauma Tech. at UCSD MED CTR., am an EMT-B, staff SkI Patroller at Mt. High Resort, am currently CPR certified and am finishing an AS degree in Respiratory Therapy(RN level of health care).

The nature of most aviation emergencies are going to probably be trauma. Trauma seems like a great place to concentrate on. Trauma with high mechanism of injury (hang gliding) requires in-line, spinal immobilization prior to any other patient manipulation or examination/treatment. So, ideally, injured pilots shouldn’t be moved around until full c-spine stabilization can be provided. If you don’t have equipment you can hold someone’s head straight with your hands while others check ABC’s, assess for injuries etc. Exceptions to the above include situations where imminent danger to rescuer or pt. are present, such as hanging precariously from a cliff, burning car etc., in which case forget c-spine and get them out of there quick if safe for you to do so; safety of you the rescuer is priority one. C-spine then ABC’s.

In suspected head/neck injuries a modified jaw-thrust manuver should be used to open the pt’s airway. After airway comes breathing, and then circulation (check pulse, control bleeding); CPR if indicated. Bleeding control is important, but first stabilize c-spine (the brain stem is in this area, which controls breathing etc.) then ABC’S; if you can’t breath you will die sooner than you will by bleeding. Care should be used to not inflict further injury to a trauma victim. A pt is ‘log rolled’ as one unit, not head then torso then legs. Knowledge of what to expect from a trauma patient such as altered level of consciousness, vomiting, seizures etc. can really help someone who is thrashed. Frequently head injured patients will vomit then aspirate the vomitis resulting in possible suffocation, unless ‘log-rolled’ turned onto their side immediately. Persons with altered level of consciousness frequently have a decreased gag reflex and should not be given any liquids orally to prevent aspiration of these. Prolonged seizures are dangerous and require for patients to be ventilated if necessary.

Anyways. Maybe some of the people who are around a lot can be encouraged, paid or bribed to take an EMT(one semester) or First Aid(few weeks or less) course. I have lots of literature, books, practice tests etc. on Emergency Medical Technician and other healthcare stuff, and can tutor anyone interested. Thank you. --

Aloha,

Marcus and Jennifer Venturini, Jr.

San Diego, California