What a tragic loss, Bobby Bailey was a legend in the hang gliding community. He taught me to arrow tow back in Texas in 1992 him and Bill Moyes set up a nice towing clinic West of Austin we had a real good time camping out and catching large mouth on lake Travis, what a shame what a preventable shame rip my friend rip
The even bigger tragedy is that Bobby died because of the crass negligence of the builder of the Dragonfly he was testing, and who did not put a bolt where needed in the spar. I have a friend that suffered the exact same situation when testing a different ultralight built by someone else. He miraculously survived but now has traumatic brain injury. Two things. First, these ultralight must be built with zipper doors on the fabric to check the inside of the wing and other vital structures. Second, if you are going to fly someone else's plane, have a conversation with them, pay attention to their commitment or lack of it about carefulness, attention and respect dor details and ask them to show other examples of their building, even if just a birdhouse. Carelessness may show in their speech, appearance, personality and handiwork. RIP Bobby Bailey and fly in peace.