Kite Strings

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo9Alnq5aa4
Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018, VLOG

Matt Pruett (Entelin) - 2018/04/16

Sorry for the wobbly video it's just what I have, I'll get it fixed for future videos.

http://airtribune.com/2018-green-swamp-sport-klassic/results
Results | 2018 Green Swamp Sport Klassic

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35978
GSSK 2018 vlog

Matt Pruett (entelin) - 2018/04/18 05:39:27 UTC
Minneapolis

Made a narrated video of my experiences at Green Swamp this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo9Alnq5aa4


btw anyone have a good way to get a U2 145 outer sprog to not rotate?

Matt Pruett - 96908 - H3 - 2015/11/29 - Scott Schneider - AT FL AWCL CL FSL - 2017/09/30

Totally awesome smoking gun video from the global epicenter of hang glider aerotowing standards, technology, expertise, innovation, opinions. (Also high quality video which very nicely illustrates one of the world's top hang gliding regions/environments.) Thanks zillions Brian...

http://www.kitestrings.org/post10950.html#p10950

...for getting me clued in. Ties in very nicely with the latest known Quest clusterfuck...

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...discussed in the most recent fifty (consecutive) posts in the "Releases" topic. Planning on pulling them out of there and using them to lead here after a bit. (So please bear that in mind regarding any near future responses, posts in that topic.)

I'm intending this first effort primarily as a reference/archive and will break it into five posts. Then I/we can discuss details, implications in successive ones.

Issues:
- releases
- weak links
- bridles
- pro toad qualifications
- launch carts
- cart monkeys
- tug drivers
- approaches
- stunt landings
- control tubes
- instructors and other fiends

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- 001 - chronological order
- -00 - minutes
- -03 - seconds
- -26 - frame (60 fps)

Every sequence included in the video is represented by at least one still.

Latitude/Longitude coordinates provided as references to:
- distinctive landscape features to help in tracking the glider's progress through XC tasks
- turnpoints
- landing locations

URLs above displayed images, as always, link to full resolution (1920x1080 for this series) stills.

Video Day 1
- Undoubtedly a pre-comp practice day (2018/03/15-14) launch.

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00:06 - This year we had 53 pilots, twice as many pilots as last year.

00:10 - We lost three days outright to winds and storms, giving us four tasks, all of which were pretty marginal.

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00:17 - Last year it's fair to say that I was overly picky on the days that I flew. And this competition did give me a better sense of what's possible on suboptimal days. So it was a good experience despite the weather.

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00:28 - I bought a Tenax 4 harness and this trip was the first time I was able to fly with it.

00:33 - I also made a sprog camera mount which works well other than the fact that the sprog itself rotates. So sorry for the nausea inducing footage. I am looking for a solution to that.

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Fortunately, when one is doing stills sequences, the major relevant problem points can rather easily be skipped over.

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00:44 - I got to Quest two days early, both practice days - a 29 kilometer out and return task was set to Grass Roots, an airport to the north.

28°38'29.24" N 081°53'06.24" W

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00:52 - The first practice day was pretty marginal and I landed just short of Grass Roots.

Probably Thursday, 2018/03/15. See below.

00:57 - The second practice day was probably the best soaring day of the trip. A thermal shook me off tow at 800 feet. But I got up anyway and joined a gaggle of around ten sailplanes, climbing inside their larger circle. I don't have any pictures of that, unfortunately, but it was fun seeing them up close. I easily made it to Grass Roots and back in about the time that it took me to make it less than halfway the day before. Then flew around Quest for a couple more hours before landing.

Sounds like...

http://ozreport.com/22.057
High pressure, much better later in the day

Davis Straub - 2018/03/19 12:02:52 UTC

On Friday the sky was full of sailplanes struggling to complete the last day of the Senior Nationals. They were very near Quest Air so we joined them in various thermals. They were obviously having a tough go of it as they were gaggling up and staying in the gaggles for much longer than you would expect.

...Friday, 2018/03/16.

28°31'58.87" N 081°50'37.76" W

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01:24 - Task 1 was 40 kilometers crosswind to the south, then downwind east to Wallaby Ranch.

Video Day 2
- Task 1 - 2018/03/18 - Quest - 28°15'30.46" N 081°49'28.38" W - Wallaby

28°25'17.61" N 081°49'49.17" W

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28°16'45.48" N 081°49'12.25" W

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28°15'02.66" N 081°45'50.97" W

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28°15'02.66" N 081°45'50.97" W

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28°15'11.02" N 081°43'16.82" W

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28°15'07.64" N 081°42'26.94" W

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Wallaby

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Note the two gliders parked noses-to-the-trees / tails-to-the-wind at the distant periphery of the field. Matt (and Larry) will final back into the field (and substantial smooth headwind) at this location.

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04:10 - The landing is coming up here shortly, and it's one of the worst I've ever done. There was a mild headwind and the field was really buoyant - good conditions for landing.

04:19 - Even after failing to transition my left hand all I really needed to do was run it out a bit instead of trying to flare.

04:25 - I landed well both practice days but I had pretty bad landings through the rest of the competition. And it wouldn't be until I reviewed the video later that I would figure out why that was happening - which I'll get back to at the end of the video.

Final to the west (back around into the wind).

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Aforementioned parked gliders (and empty launch cart if you look closely enough).

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Note high glider between camera and cloud.

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04:39 - That's Larry (Bunner) off to my right, and I fly right over Greg (Dinauer) who landed just moments before.

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28°15'12.50" N 081°41'07.05" W

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018, VLOG

Video Day 3
- Task 2 - 2018/03/22 - Quest - 28°15'30.46" N 081°49'28.38" W - Wallaby

05:02 - The forecast for Task 2 was for weak lift, no clouds, and stronger wind than the day before. And the same task was called for.

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06:31 - It wasn't a great day. Most people didn't leave Quest and nobody made it to goal. I got one third of the way there, landing just after an hour, all the lift I encountered was weak, and the best thermal I had was just 120 feet per minute.

28°25'17.61" N 081°49'49.17" W

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28°24'54.41" N 081°49'30.79" W

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07:21 - Here's the landing... Again, notice I fail to transition my left hand, but at least this time I run it out.

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The quality on some of the stills in the rest of this sequence totally sucks 'cause the camera's swinging all over the place pretty much nonstop.

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28°24'37.93" N 081°49'28.84" W

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018, VLOG

Video Day 4
- Task 3 - 2018/03/23 - Quest - Winter Haven Municipal Airport

07:51 - Task 3's forecast was for north winds, no clouds, and weak lift. The task was set straight downwind 53 kilometers to Winter Haven Airport.

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08:04 - I had a bit of an exciting tow here... Leaving the airfield the tow speed was too high and I had to bring my knees to the bar to fly fast enough. It slowed down shortly after and was fine for the rest of the tow.

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Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018, VLOG

Video Day 4 - continued
- Task 3 - 2018/03/23 - Quest - Winter Haven Municipal Airport - continued

08:50 - This flight I stuck mostly with Davis. It was broken, very weak, and a LOT of work. The glides tended to be fairly buoyant however.

28°20'07.96" N 081°49'38.63" W

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08:57 - Our team was together at first. We jumped from our first gaggle to the next successfully, but then noticed that the gaggle in front of us was starting to sink.

28°20'50.94" N 081°50'56.84" W

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09:06 - Davis went on glide somewhat more easterly and I chased after. John and Richard didn't follow, and I didn't see them again for the rest of the flight.

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28°15'27.77" N 081°46'22.01" W

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28°11'45.38" N 081°46'31.05" W

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09:48 - I was the first one in, with only Tim Delany making it as well, 47 minutes later.

28°10'55.50" N 081°44'37.96" W

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11:17 - The airport itself was goal, and we were able land there if we wished. But next door there was a large unplanted field next to the road, which was the obvious landing choice.

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11:51 - Again here, for some reason I don't transition the left hand, and I go into a full sprint to make it work out.

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28°04'42.49" N 081°45'02.09" W

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Jump to top:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post10955.html#p10955

Jump to next post:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo9Alnq5aa4
Green Swamp Sport Klassic 2018, VLOG

Video Day 5
- Task 4 - 2018/03/24 - Quest - Coleman - Leeward Air Ranch

12:25 - Task 4's forecast was for SSE winds, no clouds, and better lift than the other days. The task was set to leeward, 58 kilometers to the north, a place that we went to last year twice. And I had made it to goal both of times. So I was starting to feel hopeful about my chances of finishing in first or second place, which certainly would've been cool.

12:46 - This day DID have better lift but it was also characterized by strong sink and c--mishing glides.

28°35'56.00" N 081°51'12.97" W

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13:08 - I went on glide to the nearest gagle, which Larry (Bunner) and Zac (Majors) were in, along with many other pilots.

28°35'56.00" N 081°51'12.97" W

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28°39'52.30" N 081°54'04.88" W

14:17 - Before long I'm over a farm at just 800 feet. It gets warm and smooth, and I cling on to the faintest dregs of lift. It takes me six minutes to gain just 400 feet. And then to my great relief it thickens up to into a 300 foot per minute thermal which I take back to four thousand feet.

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28°39'52.30" N 081°54'04.88" W

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28°50'33.77" N 081°58'18.77" W

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14:37 - At the top of lift, I find the gaggle that I left, now forty minutes earlier. At least I have company. Again though, they just aren't going on glide. I spot a couple gliders in the distance and leave for them, which works, but everything has been taking SO long I start to worry about running out of sunpower.

28°52'28.25" N 081°58'39.41" W

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15:11 - This forces me to fly more upwind in an attempt to tag it, however it's 6 PM now and that just doesn't happen. I land in a field with Crystal Wolfe.

28°54'18.98" N 082°02'01.83" W

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16:21 - This time I was very intent on transitioning my left hand. And we can clearly see now why I had not been before. While trying to transition the hand I just fall forwards.

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28°54'23.16" N 082°02'21.22" W

16:37 - When I first got the harness I removed two of the footpads in an effort to increase comfort. On the two training days I found that this was that this was decidedly not comfortable, as it was putting a lot of strain on my spine. It also would prefer to rock up instead of wanting to be in the flying position. So I put the foot pads back in, and also moved the front limiter back one notch. This solved both issues and, by and large, I was pretty comfortable through the competition. However, it greatly impacted my ability to get upright, leading to all of these bad landings. So I've moved the limiter back to its original spot.

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17:11 - Technically, I never flew with it at its default settings that it came with. The foot pads moved my CG forward some as well, so it could be that it was correct all along.

Jump to top:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post10956.html#p10956

Quest state of the art aerotow launching on 2018/03/15-16 pre Green Swamp Sport Klassic comp practice days...

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Cart monkey checks sky for traffic...

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...but not streamers in vicinity of launch for indications of thermal activity 'cause there are no streamers in vicinity of launch to check for indications of thermal activity.

Signals Evgeniya...

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...that everything on the back end is in max possible safety configuration and...

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...have a great flight. Next...

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Fast forward a week or so to 2018/03/23...

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http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55583
Getting caught in the cart by your wheel

Davis Straub - 2018/03/28 11:54:07 UTC

The tow rope is pulling the pilot to the right. The prevailing wind had actually been a little bit from the left, but thermals can come through the field.

Oh! THERMALS can come through the field! Who'd thunk. No fuckin' way one could ever be able to predict the freak meteorological conditions conducive to the possibility of having thermals come through the field.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRrpHNa68iY/UQ6Pv9gRZyI/AAAAAAAAjTg/Hc22bx5122Q/s2048/20943781_BG1.jpg


So all the sudden in the immediate wake of this new insight regarding the situation and possible outcomes...

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Now the cart monkeys are all wiring all the gliders up to max running and reasonable airspeeds to send them safely on their ways.

http://ozreport.com/9.009
2005 Worlds

Davis Straub - 2005/01/11

Rohan Holtkamp did an analysis of the accident, in particular the bridle and weaklink, which never broke. The weaklink was caught on the release mechanism, a standard spinnaker release found on bridle systems used at Lookout Mountain, Moyes, Wallaby Ranch, and Quest Air. The release clamp has an arm that is thicker at the release point and this held onto the weaklink which consisted of multiple loops of thick line.

This type of release mechanism has been banned (at least for a short while) from the Worlds at Hay.

At least for a short while there at what's left of the 2018 Quest Air Green Swamp Sport Klassic - part of Task 3 and all of Task 4 days yet to go. (And so far we only have these two sequences from Matt's on video to properly check out what's going on there in the relevant time span.

P.S. Regarding the incident photo above, the last available in the series...

I'd been saying that at that instant the glider was rebounding from a mega power whack based on my false assumption that the now obviously broken keel couldn't have been broken prior to a whack. And then what with Brian getting me to understand that the keel was obviously broken in the very first...

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...available frame I need to say that what we're seeing is what it looks like - the glider still rotating down an instant prior to nose impact. Nose cone still looks fresh as a daisy and we're not seeing any dust pattern we'd otherwise expect to.

Looks like a vulnerable situation to be shook off tow by a thermal. Struggling to keep the glider flying fast enough without thermal interference.

- Aw...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks

Jim Rooney - 2013/03/05 19:42:58 UTC

My god my head hurts.

Wow...
So you know what happened then?
OMG... thank you for your expert accident analysis. You better fly down to FL and let them know. I'm sure they'll be very thankful to have such a crack expert mind on the case analyzing an accident that you know nothing about. Far better data than the people that were actually there. In short... get fucked.

Again, tell me how all this nonsense is about "safety"?

So, a stronger weaklink allows you to achieve higher AOAs... but you see high AOAs coupled with a loss of power as *the* problem? So you want something that will allow you to achieve even higher AOAs?
Are you NUTS?

I'm tired of arguing with crazy.
As I said many times... there are those that listen with the intent of responding... you unfortunately are one.

You've done a great job of convincing me never to tow you.
Thank you for that.
Mission accomplished.

You went and scooped me on my absolute favorite...

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...of the 225 stills I've harvested (so far) for this project. In fact it was/is the first of the frames I was/am using in the post I had under construction while you were composing and submitting yours. Also this whole sequence, from 08:00 to 08:48, was my primary inspiration, head and shoulders, for "launching" this effort.

We have NOTHING ELSE like this. This:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Ek9_lFeSII/UZ4KuB0MUSI/AAAAAAAAGyU/eWfhGo4QeqY/s1024/GOPR5278.JPG

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xh_NfnOcUns/UZ4Lm0HvXnI/AAAAAAAAGyk/0PlgrHfc__M/s1024/GOPR5279.JPG

Ben Dunn, Joel Froehlich, Luling, just about three plus months after Zack Marzec - is the best we've got. More spectacular results - thanks to a nicely placed and timed dust devil - but the motherfucker withheld the video from us and most of the stills he permitted us to see were pretty crappy.

- Yeah - WITHOUT THERMAL INTERFERENCE.

In this entire narrative there are ZERO references to turbulence, roughness of any kind or the slightest significance, launches or landings, below the stuff that shook him off tow at 800 feet - and ended up doing both him and his driver a big favor.

Another 800 foot reference:

14:17 - Before long I'm over a farm at just 800 feet. It gets warm and smooth, and I cling on to the faintest dregs of lift. It takes me six minutes to gain just 400 feet. And then to my great relief it thickens up to into a 300 foot per minute thermal which I take back to four thousand feet.

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A rather glassy sounding lowish save.

Nothing about any air issues on this one. Possible that he's experiencing some bumpiness but my bet is that it's just the PIO stuff one can expect to happen when one's behind a fast tug with no trim (upper) connection, the bar fully stuffed, one's knees balled up as close to one's chest as the control bar allows.

- And check out the shadows:

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-- The (sharp) ones for this tow show that while the glider is right rolled rather substantially it's also yawed significantly to the left of the tug's path. (And a glory around the U2's shadow.)

-- There's a pair of blurred "horizontally" aligned shadows tracking right/east across the field about a third of the way up from the bottom edge of the frame. Undoubtedly a tow in progress way up.

-- A distinct eastbound Dragonfly shadow at the bottom of the frame to the right of the U2 probably coming back down to pick up another passenger.

The major theme of this video/project is being on the ragged edge of control or a bit beyond in the instances in which shit most critically matters - launches and landings - entirely BY CHOICE.

Now back to work on the post I was preparing before being so rudely interrupted.

P.S...

<BS> - 2018/04/18 16:16:58 UTC

Anything that happens between a glider and whatever's pulling it is now a "LINE BREAK".

Unless it's a creative descriptor in lieu of any component names and the term break being used together.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&p=403287#p403287
GSSK 2018 VLOG

...A thermal shook me off tow at 800 feet, but I got up anyway...

Quite reminiscent of:

Doug Hildreth - 1991/03

1990/03/29 - Brad Anderson - 24 - Novice - Flight Designs Javelin - platform tow - McMinnville, Oregon - head injury, ruptured thoracic aorta

"Strong novice" pilot with a lot of flying and some truck tow experience and instructors present launched and rose to forty to fifty feet. Pushed out hard enough to release and continued to push out after release. Whip stalled. Hit at a relatively low speed but head first. Died instantly.

Prequel to 1990/07/05 Eric Aasletten Birrenator fatality at the Jerry Forburger Hobbs funfest.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34685
Wanted "Winch Tow Release"

Matt Pruett - 2016/09/07 13:29:44 UTC

I currently fly with a linknife. My linknife is attached to the end of the weakest flexi dog leash available. The force on the dog leash is insufficient to actuate the release, and I have removed the parts inside the leash for the locking mechanism so that it is always free regardless of if you hit the button or not. The leash is tied to the inside pocket on my harness. The end result is that the release line always stays straight and in position regardless of my motions.

I do have an RMR as well, I'm not pro towing yet, so I haven't tried it, but I do plan to.

I currently fly with a linknife.

Only total fucking morons fly with Linknives. The Linknife doesn't solve any actual problems in hang or para glider towing.

Yeah, it handles any normal and up tension fine - as long is it isn't jammed by wheat stubble - and the more the tension the better it works. And on the other end the less tension the crappier it works.

But we straight pin guys know how to design releases that work fine from zero tension to anything that can be delivered through a max legal range weak link without having to cut and replace a component every flight. All Peter has is a little guillotine that goes up on the plane. And in REAL aviation guillotines are reserved for tits-up emergency situations that tend to never occur in real life.

We straight pin guys also know that virtually all towing related crashes either occur in the ballpark of normal tow tensions or are because of inadequate, reduced, cut tensions. And the Sacred Linknife does absolute shit to address or compensate for pilot and/or driver incompetence, thermal induced turbulence, Infallible Weak Links and other total shit equipment (pro toad bridles come to immediate mind).

The REAL issues and engineering challenges are virtually all related to actuation systems. And the total douchebags who are drawn to the Linknife because of its infinite load capacity quality are NEVER the kinds of individuals capable of recognizing and addressing the absolute least of critical actuation system issues.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22660
What can be learned from this "scooter" towing accident?

Jim Rooney - 2011/02/06 18:35:13 UTC

I'm also sure it has it's problems just like any other system. The minute someone starts telling me about their "perfect"system, I start walking away.

Or...

08-19
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...start getting medevaced away.

Whenever someone starts telling ME about his perfect system I'm all fuckin' ears 'cause there've been some very clever innovations in this game - many of them in the not too distant past (and NONE of them from the Western mainstream) - and I'm always champing at the bit to see what I can learn and/or help out with.

But, on the other hand, whenever I hear somebody start talking about his brilliant new implementation of the Linknife my eyes immediately glaze over 'cause I've at that moment identified the guy as a moron and know that his actuation "system" will be some idiot easily reachable string to pull or some deadly Birrenator contraption which "takes the pilot out of the equation" (permanently). And this formula has NEVER failed me and NEVER will. Same deal with some total fucking asshole who can teach me how to perfectly time and execute a landing flare to stop on the old Frisbee in the middle of the LZ.

My linknife is attached to the end of the weakest flexi dog leash available. The force on the dog leash is insufficient to actuate the release, and I have removed the parts inside the leash for the locking mechanism so that it is always free regardless of if you hit the button or not. The leash is tied to the inside pocket on my harness. The end result is that the release line always stays straight and in position regardless of my motions.

- In position to WHAT? Lemme guess... Be available for the easy reach you're gonna make with one hand while you continue to mitigate the lockout with the other?

- Sounds complicated. The more components you have the more likely it is that something will fail. KISS. Try removing two or three of them. Hard to imagine you won't see immediate vast improvements in performance and reliability.

- And here I was thinking that...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47096
Aerotow primary releases?

Matt Pruett - 2016/03/23 06:27:30 UTC

I spent quite a bit of time reading Tad Erickson's posts (probably spent a full day at it honestly), prior to making this thread. The only thing I have to say about all of that is this: ideas are cheap, talk is cheap. If someone thinks they can improve on the status quo, make a product with good documentation and sell it, get it into peoples hands, if it's a notable improvement then it will be adopted and/or influence other designs.

I don't have the expertise to build a towing system, nor do I have the flight experience to be a test pilot. Which is why I only listed products, made for the purpose, that actually exist in this thread.

...you had neither the expertise to build a towing system nor the flight experience to be a test pilot. And anyway...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/16 05:05:41 UTC

My general rule is "no funky shit". I don't like people reinventing the wheel and I don't like test pilots.

...Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney doesn't like test pilots. (Funny he didn't set you straight on this business at the time. It would be every bit of 22 days before the second and last time he'd get choppered off Coronet Peak doing the tried and true stuff.)

I do have an RMR as well, I'm not pro towing yet, so I haven't tried it, but I do plan to.

Well...

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You're obviously a highly qualified pro toad aero guy now. The way you stuff the bar as far back as you can reach, ball your knees up to your chest, fight for speed and position as if your life depended on it (which it would have if you'd been in this situation in the earlier seconds of launch) is absolute poetry to watch. You obviously aced that short pro toad clinic of Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt's and took things to the edge of the envelope beyond that.

But the Kaluzhin Release...

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...you're obviously not using.

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If you look closely at all of those stills - preferably using the full resolution links - it's pretty fucking apparent that you're using the same pro toad bent pin barrel crap that everybody else is. Twin barrels, you're pulling the right one and allowing your stupidly long bridle to trail...

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...off of your left shoulder for the entire duration of every recorded flight.

And funny that we don't see one single execution of a release in the course of this eighteen minute aerotow comp video of yours. Whattsamattah?

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Worried about how stupid it would make you look after...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34646
Are you satisfied with flex wing handling qualities?

Matt Pruett - 2016/08/22 01:50:38 UTC

I got one also, I have not tried it yet, but I plan to this fall. I have a strong suspicion that a mouth release could save lives. Trading glider control to actuate a release is really an unfortunate choice that other methods to some degree force you to make.

...all the noise you've made about the importance of being able to maintain max possible glider control while aborting a dangerous tow situation? (Don't worry. I've got ya fully covered over here.)

But what the hell, Davis won't allow you to fly in his comps unless you use an appropriate bridle anyway. And the definition of an appropriate bridle is the cheap useless bent pin crap he and his Questie buddies sell pass off and sell as safety equipment.

Or...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55583
Getting caught in the cart by your wheel

The Pilot - 2018/03/28 11:54:07 UTC

The glider continued to turn left and I considered my release but felt that with the glider banked as it was, removing my hand from the base tube would accelerate the turn, possibly spinning the glider. With everything happening so fast, I wasn't aware until later that my wheel had hooked under the launch cart while the glider was turning left.

My injuries upon initial medical examination indicate a fractured left elbow and fractured left wrist.

6
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...did you notice anything better being employed by any of the other participants in this total douchebag convention of yours?

(Funny we never heard about any risk mitigation strategies being employed for this one. Must've already maxed out everything along these lines a couple years back.)

Another rude interruption:) I noticed before, (in the still above) but didn't mention, what looks like the glider being caught just before delivering a major impact to the upper arm. Although the injuries could have occured before, it also seems reasonable this impact could have added to or been mainly responsible for them.