Kite Strings

Nobody wrote:South wind and he landed in just about the worst possible area he could find.

Andrew Stakhov - 2012/08/11 13:52:35 UTC
Toronto

So I just came back from flying in Austria (awesome place btw). Stark difference I noticed is a large chunk of pilots choose to fly with skids instead of wheels. Conversations I had with pilots they say they actually work better in certain situations as they don't get plugged up like smaller wheels. Even larger heavier Atosses were all flying with skids. I was curious why they consistently chose to land on skids on those expensive machines and they were saying that it's just not worth the risk of a mistimed flare or wing hitting the ground... And those are all carbon frames etc.

I especially like the Atos ones as they got tank threads on the bottom that make them act more like a wheel, and if it gets plugged up it can skid.



Totally sick - anyone know if those will fit a WW carbon basebar?

On a side note I'm pretty bummed that LMFP discontinued their carbon wheels - there were nicely done and looked much better then whoosh wheels.

Gordon Rigg - 2012/08/08 14:37:40 UTC
UK

There was a lot of talk about this comp among the French in Larange. Most of the top French pilots did not attend. Seems a lot of them didn't want to change their base bars or buy expensive wheels to fly this one competition where wheels were compulsory.

Years ago (1996?) in the American Cup at Poitier we did not have to fit wheels if we launched on a dolly.

Skuffyo - 2012/08/11 10:43:14 UTC

Wheels were not required at 'Poitiers' in 2004 (stubble field) either but a young pilot suffered a terrible accident the week prior to the comp. Wheels may have reduced his injuries, who knows. I think the same rules applies in Germany, no wheels, no aerotow.

Davis Straub - 2012/08/11 14:46:33 UTC

Cool.
Ain't nothing wrong with wheels and they fit on those nice carbon fiber base tubes.

Scott C. Wise - 2012/08/10 04:31:17 UTC

From a web site...

http://www.pilotoutlook.com/glider_flying/cross_country_techniques

...explaining sailplane XC basics -

The number one rule of safe cross-country soaring is never allow the glider to be out of glide range of a suitable landing area. The alternate landing area may be an airport or a farmer's field. If thermalling is required just to make it to a suitable landing area, safe cross-country procedures are not being practiced.

How often do HG or PG pilots violate this simple rule during competition flights? Who suffers from the results when things go wrong?

Andrew Stakhov - 2012/08/11 13:52:35 UTC

I was curious why they consistently chose to land on skids on those expensive machines and they were saying that it's just not worth the risk of a mistimed flare or wing hitting the ground.

Jim Rooney - 2011/06/12 13:57:58 UTC

Most common HG injury... spiral fracture of the humerus.

The number one rule of safe cross-country soaring is never allow the glider to be out of glide range of a suitable landing area.

Bacil Dickert - 2011/04/25 13:10:16 UTC
Pasadena, Maryland

One word. Wheels.

I witnessed the same scenario with a pilot named Andy Datesman at Daniels in November 1995. Flying a TRX with carbon fiber downtubes. Came in to land in the field across the road. Botched the approach and tried to porpoise over a fence. Got over the fence but lost too much speed for an effective flare. Held on to the downtubes. Had real cheapo snap-on wheels. The right corner of the control frame dug in as the snap-on wheel shattered when the ground was contacted.

He flew through the control frame and I watched his right shoulder get jerked violently, separating. He was in lotsa pain. He ended up getting a ride to the UVA med center in Charlottesville. Haven't seen him flying since.

Davis Straub - 2005/01/25

No feeling in her hands and feet.

Elena, a Russian female pilot who is free flying here at the Bogong Cup, hurt herself landing on Sunday when she couldn't unzip her harness. Landing in tall grass she nosed over hard and hit her head. When Laura Bazan found her, she reported that she had not feeling in her hands or feet.

Laura convinced her stop working on her glider and took her to the medical clinic in Mount Beauty. They took her to the hospital in Albury and at four in the morning she was sent to Melbourne. She had broken to vertebrae in her neck. They took her right into surgery.

The problem with this kind of accident, is that you feel it i minor for your spine is unstable.

A week later you twist your neck and you are an instant paraplegic.

She, of course, has no health insurance.

Joe Faust - 2012/09/04 23:06:43 UTC

This thread invites the world's definitions and explanations of what is a hang glider...

Graeme Henderson - 2012/09/05 00:12:17 UTC

An aircraft capable of being safely foot-launched and landed, without assistance, in nil wind, using only the power of the pilot's body.

This is the original definition. New, more relaxed standards / classes, have been created by the FAI to allow the sport of hang gliding to administer the operation of aircraft that come close enough to this definition that it would be pointless to create new administrations for them.

Gil Dodgen - 1995/01

All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."

Jim Rooney - 2011/06/12 13:57:58 UTC

Most common HG injury... spiral fracture of the humerus.

The Press - 2006/03/15

In a video, he was seen to hold on to the glider for about fifty meters before hitting power lines.