Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 12:December 2014 | Page 14

2008, and has agreed to join the new
incarnation of the committee to share
his expertise. He learned to fly in
Europe, moved to the US in 2000
and eventually became a tandem
instructor and the safety director for
his local club. “Since starting a family
and taking a job that requires a lot of
international travel, I don’t have as
much time to fly as I’d like.” Rolf was
not available to provide input specific
to my questions before this article went
to press.
What skills or training or personality traits or background experiences
do they bring to the table that make
them well qualified for this position?

Mitch says, “I’m an engineer geek
with an interest in what makes us do
the things we do. I have 21 years’ experience in the US Navy nuclear submarine program and lots of statistical/
engineering education and degrees. I’ve
spent much of my life training myself
and others, which involves a lot of
figuring out why we do what we do and
how things work. Most recently I’ve
been training pilots in many aspects
of flying hang gliders—launching,
landing, thermaling, racing, XC. All of
that makes me current in the sport and
interested in deriving lessons learned
from the experiences of others.”
Josh is a relatively new pilot—he
learned to fly paragliders in 2011—and
he admits that his brief career has
not provided him with the experience needed to analyze accidents in
our sports. He perceives his role as
co-chair as a coordinator, and for
that he’s highly qualified. “I work as a
captain in the fire/EMS services,” he
explains, “and that gives me a unique
understanding of accident reporting
in general.” Many of the skills needed
to coordinate accident reporting in his
day job translate well to this committee. He also has a strong background
in education—a BA in education
and a MBA in strategy and manage-

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HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

ment, which, he points out, will prove
valuable aids in accident reporting,
particularly in the organizational
aspects. “Since accident reporting is
all about education,” he points out,
“my background as a teacher will help
to make the transition from information collected in ARC to publishable
reports aimed at educating pilots.”   
Both Mitch and Josh feel strongly
about the value to the community
provided by careful and insightful
analysis and reporting of accidents, so
when USHPA president Rich Hass
approached them, they agreed to take
on the task. Mitch says, “From both my
professional and personal lives I know
the type of effort it takes to run an organization like USHPA, which is done
mostly by volunteers. The people and
experiences in hang gliding have added
great value and joy to my life, and I feel
it is time for me to give back.” One way
to do that, he feels, would be to help
facilitate a process that would allow
pilots to learn from their own past
mistakes and the mistakes of others.
Josh concurs, adding, “When it
was brought to my attention that a
void in accident reporting was present
and needed to be filled, I was happy to
accept the position of co-chair.”
Frank was recruited as a committee member by USHPA’s executive
director Martin Palmaz. “After a long
conversation,” Frank recalls, “Martin
convinced me that I could contribute
to the work of the committee. I think
that my background as a cognitive
psychologist working on human error
and safety can help guide the committee’s work. I’ve also had some personal
experiences during my paragliding and
hang gliding career that were not quite
safe. So, I have been on the dark side
and experienced what it takes to get
there.”
Neil suspects that he was asked to
add his insights to the ARC process
“probably because of a reflective post I
placed on our club website about risk

and flying.” His 35 years of military
leadership—planning exercises and
managing associated risk—are also
relevant. “Plus,” he adds, “I am objective, and I know how to find and put
forward the best ideas regardless of
personal reward. My personal priority
for this committee is to facilitate open
analysis of accidents by the best experts
in our community for all to see and
learn from.”
In the past, there’s been reluctance
on the part of some pilots to file
accident reports, due to various concerns (embarrassment, fear of reprisals of one sort or another, confusion
about confidentiality, etc.) How is
the new Accident Reporting committee, and the new reporting method,
addressing those concerns?

In the past, the Accident Review
committee was a sub-committee of
Safety & Training. Now a separate
committee, the Accident Reporting
committee is interested only in learning from the accidents, not in taking
action or assigning responsibility or
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