Paraglider Pilot Missing in Nevada
Name James “Kiwi” Johnston Oroc
Glider: Blue Gray and White Zeno
Reserve: Red [Ozone? Update from Russ Ogden: From our records, Kiwi ordered 2x Angel SQs in 2017, both were made with WHITE cloth.
Last Track Point: 39.151808 -116.224665 14,500 ft at 2:14pm Saturday 22 Aug
Kiwi Freq: 146.440
Nearest Airport: Eureka 05U
Address: Eureka, NV 89316
Code: EUE
Elevation: 5,954′
Travelling with Reavis and Benny during flight (Track)
Add picture of paragliders?
Military / Government resources:
- Anyone with military or government agency connections able to help?
Offsite / Online resources:
- Gofundme - Austin Samuel and Louis Tapper are organizing
- Volunteer Coordinator on Telegram: Amanda Jane McBride @AmandaJane1224
- Contact Amanda if you’re interested in helping update this gdoc and other sources with relevant info from the live discussions
- Telegram groups
- Nevadastan - main group / Reavis
- “Kiwi SAR Imagery” telegram team liaison: Josh Cohn
Communications in Telegram App
Gavin 814AM Mon 24 Aug 2020
Hey all, Kiwi has been missing since Saturday afternoon. Last ping was at 14’500. We need resources out in Nevada. If you can help let me know.
Logan- we need air support for search. Any ideas?
Reavis 8:45AM Mon 24 August 2020
His last trackpoint was at 2:14pm on Saturday at 14500'. The strange thing is that it shows a speed of 2.4mph, probably too slow for thermalling or reserve drift. The leading theory is that he may have been separated from the device and it sent that last point in freefall. If that is what happened, he could have continued flying XC, thrown his reserve, or cascaded to the ground.
Benny and I searched roads along his likely course line yesterday and SAR started scouring the area of the last trackpoint. They didn't find anything last night. We should know their strategy for today in an hour or two.
Search Area
14:04: 54mph ground speed to ENE at 13,980.38 ft.
Last point:
14:14: 2.5mph to S at 14,516.60 ft.
14:04 point implies a 25-30mph WSW wind. Reavis’ track in that area at 14:25 shows about a 10-15mph WSW wind at 15k’
Satellite Imagery from 24 August morning: Ninemile Peak
Possibilities:
- Inreach died or malfunctioned
- Last point ground speed was while pointed into wind/thermal
- Inreach separated from pilot, unable to transmit once on the ground
Takeoff: 11:24
54 miles to last point
Avg speed: 19.1mph
Sunset 19:30pm
Max distance w/ 20mph avg speed: 5.25*20+54=159mi.
Flying Goals Saturday 22 Aug
Our stretch goal for the day was White Horse Pass on 93-alt or Wendover. Everything east of there is restricted airspace except the I-80 corridor: https://goo.gl/maps/uiEaDWuUbdogRkBG9
(distance from launch: 188mi.)
Flight tracks of Reavis and Benny day of incident: Reavis + Benny - Paraglide - Austin Adesso
Approximate route (to stretch goal) that the pilots had planned on the day: https://flyxc.app/?s=20&l=xc&p=wi%7DmFp%7DndUsrv%40_%7Cm%40u_rD%7BfwI
Though it's possible he could have headed up the Diamonds/Rubys - Reavis says unlikely.
Ground Search Tracks from Sunday 23 Aug:
Compiled map with spots of reasonable confidence:
Expenses, Possible Coordinates, donors and assets/resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1d5UOHghYz6HhEZFMvPp92IiduiU5HGVJbMlXzMz9_VY/edit#gid=0
Satellite imagery search group live:
https://t.me/joinchat/AkCaRRoWWEMpzBB9IYMiIg
Satellite images from 8/24 11:25am:
https://drive.google.com/,]drive/folders/18_kHm1aIsLGjciPcE4LsW4g2dJZcRq01
Note the ones labeled NAIP are old comparison images, NOT to be searched
Search these grid tiles using before/after images:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vE5BpajCKt7Dk-5y0GBbQT_frPGOjWNu?usp=sharing
NOTE: These are radar images from Sentinel-1 for the area NE of where Kiwi was last spotted (08/24, 0134 UTC). Not useful to the naked eye, need to be processed by someone who knows how to interpret this data.
PIN MAP of Possible hits on sat images updated from search spreadsheet:
(updating with confidence levels from 1 (low) - 3 (higher))
Here's a version of the same imagery but served up on a web map. The left pane is the current satellite imagery from today (Aug 24). The right is Google Maps for comparison and reference. Hopefully we can get more eyes on it this way. Please share the page. 9 Mile Canyon Imagery
Has this spot been checked? Assuming direction of travel & speed,, would check further NE, but imagery doesn’t extend further. . ~7000ft descent @14fps (on a reserve) → 8min @ 20mph → ~3+ miles drift.
https://xcfind.paraglide.us/map.html?id=162
