wires

General discussion about the sport of hang gliding
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3716
Mishap at Big Sur 2012
Steve Murillo - 2012/12/16 19:55:59 UTC
Manhattan Beach

My apologies for posting this late entry. I did not feel it would be appropriate for me to post this until I was officially the Safety Director for the SHGA.
Oh good - an official Safety Director. I can't begin to tell you how much I admire you guys and appreciate all the solid work you do. Just imagine how...
Zack C - 2012/06/02 02:20:45 UTC

I just cannot fathom how our sport can be so screwed up.
...screwed up our sport would be without it.
For the record, the pilot involved submitted this to me roughly two months ago.
Sorry, Steve. I feel it was massively INappropriate for you to sit on this report for roughly two months. That's roughly two months in which people are less informed and more likely to repeat the some potentially lethal mistake.
Here is a summary of a flight incident which occurred at Wild Cattle launch, Big Sur, CA on September 30th, 2012.
So how come he reports that it happened two days prior?
From the PILOT:
Who, one notes, was quite capable of publicizing the incident himself in a much more timely manner.
Here are the facts and my opinions surrounding my structural failure at Big Sur.
It wasn't a structural failure. It was a failure to properly assemble and preflight the structure.
Please use the information any way you feel will be helpful to the hang gliding community at large.
At a time of your convenience.
I look forward to the results of your studies.
Studies?
I hope you will forward a copy of your accident investigation to the USHPA and to the SHGA for the benefit of other pilots.
Yeah. DO send a copy to USHGA. The dedication that organization has to the safety of its pilots is truly remarkable and...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25321
Stop the Stupids at the USHPA BOD meeting
Mark G. Forbes - 2011/09/29 02:26:23 UTC

We can establish rules which we think will improve pilot safety, but our attorney is right. USHPA is not in the business of keeping pilots "safe" and it can't be. Stepping into that morass is a recipe for extinction of our association.
...never ceases to amaze me.
In my mind, there's no mystery as to why this happened. Simple carelessness was almost certainly the cause, but if anyone concludes otherwise, I'd like to hear the reasoning.
Yeah, I got another take I'll get to in a bit.
The following is generally true for me and is very true for that day.

1. I often choose to accept a lot of distractions (questions from other pilots, assistance to anyone who needs it.)
Me too. Totally irrelevant.
2. I often choose to accept a lot of responsibilities in addition to my own flying responsibilities (guidance, instruction, public relations, etc).
Me too. Totally irrelevant.
3. I don't often fly the same glider twice in a row.
Totally irrelevant.
I fly many different style gliders, including all three models Falcon.
There's a Falcon 4 out now.
Of all Falcon models, this specific failure is only possible on the Falcon 3 model.
Of all Falcon models the preflight procedures in the owner's manuals are the same. And you ALWAYS skip the most important/critical of the lot.
4. I'm getting older and perhaps losing some of my mental acuity.
Bullshit. The mental acuity issues pertinent to this incident date back to fifth grade.
5. I'm a very experienced pilot that is likely guilty of complacency during set up and preflight procedures.
Totally irrelevant.
The date was Sunday, September 28th in the early afternoon at the launch Wild Cattle launch site a few miles north of the Plaskett Creek Campground. Conditions had been blowing down in the morning but it had turned around and a couple of pilots had already launched into smooth, mostly un-soarable conditions.

I set up my glider (a Falcon 3 195) while monitoring my other responsibilities of running the trip and the student training.
You have absolutely no business running trips and training students - and the asshole who signed you off should be stood up in front of a wall.
My harness was a knee hanger style with a 22 Free Flight 22 gore PDA reserve and a half shell helmet. I also put a video camera on the wing for this flight (unusual for me).
So where's the video? Afraid it won't make good advertising for your trip running and student training enterprises?
Although I was not in a particular hurry, and I performed what for me is a normal pre-flight, it is clear that I failed to insert the base tube corner bolt through both the lower downtube bracket and the base tube, completely missing the hole in the base tube. This problem is simple to prevent simply by a quick visual inspection that the base tube is inserted all the way to the edge of the lower downtube bracket, before inserting the bolt. It is also very easy to inspect during the pre-flight, by the same simple observation.
- It's also very easy to miss by simple observation.
- It's IMPOSSIBLE to miss if you do the most critical of all of the preflight checks listed in your owner's manual - but you ALWAYS skip that one.
The launch conditions were very gentle with light winds of around 3 of 4 mph.

After performing a hang check and hook in check, I proceeded to launch the glider, only to find the wings folding upwards a moment before I became airborne.
What's your hook-in check and how much time elapsed between it and launch? Just kidding.
At the next moment, the slope of the hill steepened, the ground dropped away and I found myself several feet in the air with each down tube being pulled laterally out of my grip. At this point the glider has a massive amount of dihedral, substantially increasing the sink rate and glide ratio of the glider, and bringing it back down to the slope of the hill. Within 3 or for seconds...
Why use the numeral for three and the word for four and misspell it?
...from the moment of lift off, I settled back to the ground and was sliding smoothly down the slope, very fortunately without a scratch or a bruise.

It has been suggested by some, and I tend to agree, that the glider may have failed sooner, rather than later, due to the fact that I chose not to perform a smoothly accelerating launch run, but rather a jerky, hopping, launch. Had I chose to perform a more conventional launch run, the glider may have remained structurally intact longer, placing me much higher and much further away from the ground at the moment of the structural failure. I would argue that any significant increase of altitude beyond that attained during this accident, would have seriously increased the danger to the pilot (me), and likely require the successful deployment of the reserve system to avoid death or serious injury.
Talk to Pete Lehmann about that. He failed to install the bolt in one of his HPAT control frame corners and probably survived because his parachute was still in the container and protected his chest after he crashed through the trees. High enough to get killed, too low for deployment.
Conclusion:

I believe that the accident...
The WHAT?
...was caused solely by my failure to perform a proper, effective pre-flight.
No. The INCIDENT was caused by your failure to properly assemble and preflight the glider - which is forgivable - and your gross negligence in NEVER performing a proper, effective preflight on every glider you fly - with isn't.
The reasons for my failure to perform an adequate preflight may be any one or more of the statements numbered 1 through 5 above.
- 1 through 5 are garbage.
- You didn't even mention the one thing that mattered.
- If diminished mental acuity WAS an issue then how good an idea is it for you to continue to run trips and train students?
Please call me if you have any questions.
I don't have any questions but... HOW?
Respectfully, PILOT
Respectfully, PASSENGER
WITNESS1:

Hi Steve, many of the pilots were around the glider when PILOT launched as he was waiting for it to clear a bit so he sat there awhile. When he moved into position someone was asking about how many steps they should take for the launch run. He started hopping on one foot laughing about how many feet it took. I think he made it about three hops, the glider was just getting into the air when the downtube broke away from the base tube.

PILOT tried to grab for it but the wings folded very fast and he went down. I think he fell about eight to ten feet, maybe a bit higher because of the slope.

Others were closer to the edge than I who may have had a better view of what happened after the wings folded.

Hope that helps!
Yes, that helps a great deal. From now on, in addition to being ready to abort if the glider rises above the point at which it would stop if I were hooked in, I'll add hopping my launches to give me a good shot at shaking apart an incompletely assembled control frame. That way I can continue skipping my preflight sidewire load tests in addition to my hook-in checks.
WITNESS2:

I read through PILOT's accident report and I feel like he covered everything.
Try reading through your fuckin' owner's manual sometime when you've got nothing better to do.
One way that I may have contributed to his glider falling apart sooner was that I gave PILOT a piece of advice just before launch and he humored me by doing the opposite of what I suggested. I advised him to launch very smoothly so his camera mount wouldn't shake or hit the ground. Had he done what I said his control bar may have jiggled apart later in the flight.
I like the way this is going!

You made a suggestion which resulted in him taking the opposite action which resulted in the glider falling apart early enough to prevent him from getting mangled or killed.

Try these next time.

- Before he clips in and moves to launch tell him not to put his foot on the middle of a sidewire and push up on the leading edge 75 pounds worth.

- When he's standing at launch position tell him to leave the glider resting on his shoulders and not lift it up as high is it will go.
I was on PILOT's wires before he launched and watched in horror as the wing fell apart. It looked a lot scarier than what PILOT experienced since he only felt to be a few feet from the ground the entire time. To everyone watching from launch it appeared that he was falling vertically nearly a hundred feet to the ground. I'm not sure what else to add. It happened so quickly.
Here's a thought... What are the three points of the glider assembly it's most critical to look at when anybody's on launch.
I hope this helps.
How? It only helps if it prompts people to change their behavior.
FINDINGS:

The cause of structural failure was an incorrect assembly at the downtube/control bar juncture of the Falcon 3 glider. The control bar was only PARTIALLY inserted into the downtube bracket. Therefore, when the pilot pushed in the keeper bolt, it was not inserted into the control bar, and a false assembly was accomplished.
Just like the one that resulted in Chad Elchin's Dragonfly falling apart at eight hundred feet.
To an untrained or less than critical eye, this false assembly can appear to be correct, and this presents a critical danger to the assembly of the Falcon 3 model glider.
Which is one of the reasons that there's a preflight procedure that covers that issue in the owner's manual that none of you assholes ever bothers to read.
During my investigation into this incident, other pilots revealed that they had made the same mistake in the past.
Yeah. I made that same mistake ONCE. After that I got a lot smarter and - if nothing else - ALWAYS made a point of checking those pins during preflight and at any time beyond that when I had the slightest doubt. And that's something ANYONE can check with a couple of tenth of a second glances at launch position.
In one instance a pilot stated that he had missed the bracket on BOTH SIDES of the control bar.
(I wonder if we're related.)
The glider simply came apart in his hands as he was standing on launch.
Mine fell apart carrying to and several yards short of launch.
This incorrect assembly did not happen by accident...
NOTHING in this sport happens by ACCIDENT.
...but rather by omission.
So far, so good.
The PILOT clearly states that he found himself in an environment where his attention was being pulled in many different directions at once, both during assembly and afterwards during his pre-flight.
He didn't do the fuckin' preflight. He NEVER does the fuckin' preflight.
RECOMMENDATIONS:

This incident resulted in several posts on the club Forum, discussing possible remedies to this potentially fatal FALSE ASSEMBLY of the Falcon 3 downtube/control bar juncture.
NONE OF WHICH included reading the fucking manual and following the fucking preflight procedures 'cause you haven't and won't even mention that in this bullshit report of yours.
This investigation is being forwarded to the vendor for further consideration.
What do you mean - "VENDOR"?

- Do you mean the asshole Wills Wing dealer who was negligent in selling the glider to this asshole without making sure that he knew what the fuck he was doing with this toy?

- Or do you mean Wills Wing itself which apparently doesn't give a rat's ass if its asshole dealers do their fucking jobs?
One recommendation on the forum was to wrap a ring of red electrical tape around the control bar marking the correct position of the base tube/downtube juncture, making it easier to spot when the assembly is incorrect. Another was to etch the control bar, marking the correct location.
Did anyone recommend reading the fucking manual and following the fucking procedures? Just kidding.
The more important and obvious recommendation is to perform a thorough pre-flight EACH AND EVERY TIME you fly, no matter how many hours of flying you have under your belt.
The problem is that you don't have a ghost of goddam clue what a thorough - or even a half assed - preflight IS.
If distractions arise that require you to walk away from your gilder during pre-flight, start from the very beginning when you come back.
And always make sure you skip the most effective procedure you have to detect a problem like this.
Are two extra minutes worth your life? Absolutely!
It takes about five seconds to load a sidewire. And one is all you need to detect this issue. (Actually, although I always do both sides, I could never see the point in doing more than one.)
END OF REPORT
Moron.
NMERider - 2012/12/17 02:41:40 UTC

Read the well-documented Wills Wing Falcon:

http://www.willswing.com/pdf/manuals/Falcon%203%20OM%20November%202009.pdf

Page 16:
While pushing up on the leading edge between the nose and the crossbar junction, step on the bottom side wire with about 75 lbs. of force. This is a rough field test of the structural security of the side wire loop, the control bar, the kingpost, and the crossbar, and will likely reveal a major structural defect that could cause an in-flight failure in normal operation.
This would have probably revealed the issue prior to launch.
Ya think, Jonathan?
Doug Martens - 2012/12/17 07:07:38 UTC
Reseda

http://www.willswing.com/features/controlBars.asp
Wills Wing offers a wide range of control bar configurations, each designed to provide the optimum balance of performance, economy and ease of use appropriate for a given glider model and its intended use.

AT Streamlined Downtubes With Folding Basetube (No Longer Used on Production Models)

The Wills Wing AT streamlined downtubes offer enhanced performance over conventional round downtubes in an economical streamlined profile. The folding speedbar basetube option shown speeds set-up and breakdown by eliminating the installation or removal of any nuts or safeties during the process. A more economical, non-folding speedbar is also available.
Yeah Doug, get a folding basetube. That way you can continue to ignore what's in the owner's manual and what Jonathan just said and continue to skip the sidewire load test.
I think a cable runs through it which might make it nearly impossible to pop apart.
Yeah. And if the basetube is impossible to pop apart it's a no brainer that there's nothing wrong with your sidewires so everybody just carry on as before.

Hey Steve...

It was the middle of last month that Jonathan suggested you useless douchebags should read the fuckin' manual and adhere to what it says. Did you wanna even acknowledge what he was saying? Or do you Sylmar assholes operate the same way USHGA does? If there's a solid procedure to address a lethal issue pretend it doesn't exist and pointedly ignore anyone who mentions it lest issues of negligence and liability arise?
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHOIxau1Jc


0:20 - 0:41 - 1:17 - 1:48 - 2:09 - 2:53

Good illustrations of just how important your tail wires are when you're pulled in a bit.
Steve Davy
Posts: 1338
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Re: wires

Post by Steve Davy »

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of installing Dyneema rigging on my gliders.

http://www.samsonrope.com/Pages/Product.aspx?ProductID=814

Note: Below the chart it says "Specifications are for spliced strengths".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDJ3QjvRZT0
Steve Davy
Posts: 1338
Joined: 2011/07/18 10:37:38 UTC

Re: wires

Post by Steve Davy »

Stumbled upon this thread last night:
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?p=247273#247273
VG broke in Flight. Equipment failure

Apparently Wills Wing is shipping gliders with a regular bowline attaching Spectra V.G. line to the cross spar (and no doubt the blocks) without bothering to safety the knot.

I'll be fixing that on my sport 2 by tying a water bowline or a least a Yosemite tie off where needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_bowline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_bowline
Steve Davy
Posts: 1338
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Re: wires

Post by Steve Davy »

I found that the knot used to attach the V.G. line to the pulley becket was a noose with the tail tied off to the standing end.

It'll be interesting to find out the type of knot (or bend) used to form a loop attaching the forward pulley to the cross spar. When I get some free time I'll drag the glider out, unfold the wings and report.

Also, I found that the keel to nose plate spacing is the same as on the Falcon 3, so using a quarter inch double braid line will lock the keyhole tang button.

Noose:
http://survivalworld.com/images/knot-images/simple_noose_2.png
Image
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31020
there was a close call...
Steve Seibel - 2014/03/31 04:29:06 UTC

I'm sure we'll see a formal accident report (like I after I spashed on the ocean-- or not!) -- but in the meantime-- a couple or three weeks ago, a newish pilot flying at a site within a hundred or two miles of me, missed inserting the corner pin through all the appropriate holes in the base bar and down tube. She launched with her hands in a nice grapevine position on the down tubes, only to see the base bar flop loose and dingle-dangle connected to a down tube on one side only. A wheel fell off. She held on tightly to the down tubes and flew the glider down to a nice controlled landing in the LZ (approx. 1200' ft below?) Good job!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJV_t4L92pE


http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=684
why good preflights are a must........
Allen Binder - 2007/05/03 06:23:25 UTC
El Segundo & Sylmar

I like what the Wills Wing manuals for their current hang gliders tell you to do for part of a pre-flight check; The manuals state that you should:
while pushing up on the leading edge between the nose and the crossbar junction, step on the bottom side wire with about 75 lbs. of force. This is a rough field test of the structural security of the side wire loop, the control bar, the kingpost, and the crossbar, and will likely reveal a major structural defect that could cause an in-flight failure in normal operation.
(I believe that the T2 manual states to use 50 lbs of force and leaves out the kingpost in the description of the structures being tested since it doesn't have a kingpost.)

Every time that I do my preflight, I always do that "step on the bottom side wire" test on the right and left side wires. I sure hope that most people do this test when preflighting their glider because it's a quick test and makes a lot of sense to me.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=13864
My new wing
Frank Peel - 2009/10/03 16:35:50 UTC

Do not STOMP on your wires. It's a good way to kink something that isn't already broken. Instead, have someone show you how to do a proper preflight on that model glider.
gluesniffer - 2009/10/04 18:29:28 UTC

If its a ww, do what their manual says.
If it is a pacair, do what their manual says.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=20991
coated vs uncoated wires
Red Howard - 2011/02/22 06:50:21 UTC

I do not recommend "stepping" on a cable (I assume you mean in mid-span) as part of a preflight. If your foot hits the ground with the cable underneath, or sand or rocks are trapped in your shoe treads, you could damage the cable that you are testing.
Fuck you guys. Goddam vegetables.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31020
there was a close call...
Allen Sparks - 2014/03/31 12:01:14 UTC

Image Image Image

Sure glad she was ok. Lucky one, is she.
Is that the best you can do, Allen? You fly Wills Wing gliders - what's it say in the owners' manuals?

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3691/13230707023_2cab7b4c72_o.png
Image

Or have you bothered to read them?
Mike Lake - 2014/03/31 12:32:30 UTC

Incredibly and embarrassingly I'll come clean and admit to this has happened to me. Image
Didn't happen to me - I did it to myself.
I somehow managed to insert a pippin and miss the hole!!!!
Deliberately partially inserted the plug into the basetube with the thought of maybe installing bar mitts after getting a feel for the temperature as I got closer to launch time. Decided to forego the mitts but...
I didn't spot this during my visual pre-flight but it did come to light when I stressed the glider (also part of my pre-flight).
Was too stupid to do that - the most important and critical part of any preflight - back then. Fortunately the control frame fell apart as I was moving to launch position.
What I mean by stressing the glider is I first grab the two front wires and squeeze them together as hard as I can.
I never did that but I WOULD put a foot on the keel halfway between the kingpost and tail wires junction and pull back on the kingpost.
I then grab a front wire and a side wire and with one foot on the base-bar I again pull then up and squeeze them together as hard as I can.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=13864
My new wing
Frank Peel - 2009/10/03 16:35:50 UTC

It's a good way to kink something that isn't already broken.
I'd bet that you could get more stress on the glider with less stress on yourself using the Wills Wing procedure.
It was at this point the base-bar popped out!!!

I can assure you this will never happen again!
This is a mistake that NOBODY ever makes twice. Didn't make this one:

Image

a second time either.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31020
there was a close call...
paicolman - 2014/03/31 15:13:16 UTC

Here is a video that scared the shit out of me, just because a very tiny detail...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvert0aMUE
Haldigrat
Jorge Zingg Jorge - 2012/09/16
Vuelo en Haldigrat en el engelbergertal. No consegui aprovechar la termica...
dead
What scares the shit out of me is people who refuse to do hook-in checks. And that issue is NEVER a very tiny detail.
See it? Take a close look at the shiny little thing dangling on the left side. This is just the cap of the pin, the pin was securely inside the tube and would not have fallen out, but it tells a lot about my preflight on that day!
Look at the basetube pins if you don't look at anything else on the glider.
As always: Check, check, check. And then check it again!!
Bullshit. Checking, checking, checking, and checking again is, at best, a waste of time and, at worst, a deadly distraction. There aren't a lot of things it's possible to fuck up on a glider assembly and even fewer that you can fuck up and will matter. Check the biggies - basetube pins and harness connection - and then start prioritizing and thinking about your ACTUAL threats.
Tasi - 2014/03/31 15:48:28 UTC
Greece

It's surprising that you didn't see it. Image
See anything wrong with this total douchebag's glider?:

19-13501
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3895/14743990195_8b8c2933c2_o.png
Image

What's more serious?

- A basetube pin safety cap that really has no effect on anything INADVERTENTLY left dangling ONCE?

- A spreader DELIBERATELY set such that its function is pretty much neutralized EVERY FLIGHT resulting in reduced control authority and a decertified glider?

The cap and the lax preflight is just a mistake that damn near anyone could be expected to make. The spreader set shows you that you're dealing with an idiot who doesn't understand how his glider works and can't be bothered to read his fuckin' manual or listen to the tiny minority of people in this clueless sport who go to the effort of pointing out the problem.

How 'bout any of THIS bullshit?:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8394/8696380718_787dbc0005_o.png
Image
Image

This kinda crap has KILLED scores of people over the decades and WILL continue to do so for all foreseeable decades. And you're worried about a fuckin' safety cap?

How 'bout?:

http://forum.hanggliding.org/download/file.php?id=805
Image
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51027046487_278e9b26a5_o.jpg
Image
Image

Flying without the safety cap engaged on your basetube pin is a BFD but once you've mastered your flare timing you're good without wheels?
It's good practice to look at stuff on your glider while in the air every now and then...
pins, battens, tips, wires, just to make sure that everything is still alright.
And fuck wheels, two point bridles, releases that you'll be able to blow in emergencies and/or under load, weak links rated to protect your glider from overload.

Just make sure everything conforms to whatever everyone else is doing and don't ever worry whether or not it's actually safe.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31020
there was a close call...
CAL - 2014/03/31 18:44:35 UTC
Ogden

wow ! what a story ! and great video as well, if anything catches up with me, the preflight will...
BULLSHIT. If anything catches up with you, an advanced typical flyer from that neck of the woods it'll typically be the sort of thing that catches up with the vast majority of people who get caught up with.
- Foot landing attempt on a meticulously groomed primary putting green is fifty times more likely than anything else.
- After that... Blown foot launch.
- Next... Unhooked launch. Most likely outcome: scratches and bruises - but ya never know.
- If you aerotow - Rooney Link increasing the safety of the towing operation.

Crashes resulting from assembly/preflight errors are statistically nonexistent.
...this is a good reminder for me to pull my head out and give a thorough preflight, i think i have such a good routine while assembling the glider that i don't do a thorough preflight, my arrogance is going to kill me some day
What's most likely to kill you is the arrogance of the parasitic shits who control this sport... Davis, Rooney, Ryan, Steve Wendt, Trisa...
THANKS FOR THR WAKE UP CALL !
Yeah, another wake-up call. We've been getting wake-up calls at least a couple times a weekend for the last forty years. Name one that's ever made any kind of difference.

And, of course, nowadays a good wake-up call is a signal for USHGA to gear up for obscuring the cause in fatality reports and advisories and deleting the SOPs that were in place for dealing with the issues.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: wires

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31020
there was a close call...
Nic Welbourn - 2014/03/31 22:05:28 UTC
Canberra

There was that video of a pilot...
Ernie Camacho.
...who clipped the ground on launch, bent his DT and the wing held up just fine until he landed...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBYH1LomlLc
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBYH1LomlLc[/video]
FARK! But wow, amazing geometry.
Not really. It's a topless and that's a pretty rigid internal structure. Has to be in order to be certifiable for - I think - three Gs negative.

And let's not forget this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH0Txuf75lI
I know a guy who somehow top landed in remote tiger country (no roads) and bent a DT, he then tied a bit of tree branch, launched and flew home. Woah!
And the bit of tree branch is what made the difference?
Yes, thorough pre-flight's are good Image
Bullshit.

- On the rare occasions when something gets missed that makes for an unpleasant situation it's damn near NEVER anything that would've required any measurable degree of care to identified.

- And then we have these defective carbon spars that fail in flight that no care in preflight would be able to detect.

Whenever somebody goes upright for a landing...

http://www.flyatos.com/bill_landing.jpg
Image

...doesn't he...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27086
Steve Pearson on landings
Steve Pearson - 2012/03/28 23:26:05 UTC

I can't control the glider in strong air with my hands at shoulder or ear height and I'd rather land on my belly with my hands on the basetube than get turned downwind.
...decertify the crap out of his aircraft to an extent that dwarfs one helluva lotta other issues?
Mike Bastan - 2014/03/31 22:51:20 UTC
Steve Seibel - 2014/03/31 04:29:06 UTC

A couple or three weeks ago, a newish pilot...
I know of a pilot who did the same thing on a Falcon. The wings folded up as soon as the glider was loaded, and fortunately the launch was forgiving enough that they were OK.
Does it or does it not say THIS:
While pushing up on the leading edge between the nose and the crossbar junction, step on the bottom side wire with about 75 lbs. of force. This is a rough field test of the structural security of the side wire loop, the control bar, the kingpost, and the crossbar, and will likely reveal a major structural defect that could cause an in-flight failure in normal operation.
in the fuckin' Falcon owner's manual?

How 'bout this?:
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. - 2013/02/07
Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
06. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating (H-1)

-A. General Description
A Beginner pilot has the knowledge and basic skills necessary to fly and practice under direct instructor supervision and within significant operating limitations. The pilot understands the USHPA hang gliding rating systems and recommended operating limitations.
-B. Beginner Rating - Required Witnessed Tasks
01. Set up and preflight of glider and harness, to include familiarity with owner's manual(s).
How come people get and keep pilot and instructor ratings with crap like this going on?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=13864
My new wing
gluesniffer - 2009/10/04 18:29:28 UTC

If its a ww, do what their manual says.
If it is a pacair, do what their manual says.
So where the fuck are you sniffer? Or do you just shoot your idiot goddam mouth off to sabotage good stuff?
Steve Seibel - 2014/04/01 00:11:00 UTC

This was a Falcon also. Yikes...
NO SHIT. Who'da thunk.

Ever flown any Wills Wing...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30451
Considerations when buying a new wing
Steve Seibel - 2013/12/13 22:08:14 UTC

Well-- I've owned Wills Wing, Airborne, Icaro, and more Wills Wing.
...gliders, Steve? Ever read any of the fuckin' manuals? Or, in you're OPINION...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26870
weak links
Steve Seibel - 2012/08/18 16:22:36 UTC

Based on my cumulative experience so far I would opt for a SLIGHTLY weaker weak link (those loads got alarmingly high!).
...would that test put alarmingly high loads on the glider?
I've seen a (older) glider fold up like a butterfly during set-up in strong wind-- the nose wires weren't attached yet and the control frame folded back, taking the wing wires out of the picture. The nose plates bent or snapped as each wing folded a full 90 degrees upward.

Scary stuff... generally speaking, none of the glider's parts are "optional"....
'Specially the ol' backup loop, right Steve?

http://vimeo.com/12636403
KiwandaSunsetMagic100527a
Steve Seibel - 2010/06/17 03:00
dead

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8360/8265304091_b0cb2355e9_o.jpg
Image

The manufacturers wouldn't ship their gliders with them unless...
Mike Meier - 2005/08

Years ago we didn't even put backup hang loops on our gliders (there's no other component on your glider that is backed up, and there are plenty of other components that are more likely to fail, and where the failure would be just as serious), but for some reason the whole backup hang loop thing is a big psychological need for most pilots.
...they had a really good reason, right?
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