Kite Strings

...that can slash through lines in an instant. You should never tow without one - in an emergency, you can use it to cut the tow-line or bridle. The hook knife must be mounted on your harness so that you can reach it quickly and easily.

HANG GLIDING FOR BEGINNER PILOTS
By Peter Cheney
Published by Matt Taber
Official Flight Training Manual of the U. S. Hang Gliding Association

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Todd Hang Gliding at El Dorado with Emergency Procedures.wmv

Harold Wickham - 2010/03/22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA


Tow Vehicle Driver and Instructor: Ron Peck

Discussed at:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16384
Tow Release Malfunction

Ignore the 2008/12/01 series (yellow) time stamps. This flight was undoubtedly made a short time before the posting and discussion.

This video had needed a stills harvest for a long time but I'd never been able to muster the requisite enthusiasm. A short way into the project my appreciation of my instincts was considerably bolstered. But almost invariably when pulling stills one notices things which are virtually invisible watching at real world speed and a lot of lightbulbs tend to come on - 'specially after a lot of time has elapsed and a lot of history has been forged.

This one, for example, is a major smoking gun prequel to the Kelly Harrison / Arys Moorhead crash at Jean Lake - five years plus a week later and just about seventeen miles to the WSW of El Dorado.

The "pilot" - Todd Jones - should get a lot of slack cut as he's a student on his fourth high flight and Vegas is a major hang glider dickhead center.

Sorry 'bout the length but that's what was needed to do the job right and really illustrate the absurdity/insanity of carrying a hook knife as a backup/emergency release - and the criminal cynicism of the motherfuckers teaching and preaching that they have the least value as items of tow equipment.

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http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16384
Tow Release Malfunction

Jim Rooney - 2010/03/26 20:54:43 UTC

Bent pin releases are indeed very very reliable. But 100%? Nope. It's exceptionally rare, but they jam. All mechanical things do.
If they were perfection, everyone would be using them.

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

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/12 18:00:27 UTC

Deltaman loves his mouth release.
BFD

I get tired as hell "refuting" all these mouth release and "strong link" arguments. Dig through the forums if you want that. I've been doing it for years but unfortunately the peddlers are religious in their beliefs so they find justification any way they can to "prove" their stuff. This is known as "Confirmation Bias"... seeking data to support your theory... it's back-asswards. Guess what? The shit doesn't work. If it did, we'd be using it everywhere. But it doesn't stand the test of reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Todd Hang Gliding at El Dorado with Emergency Procedures.wmv

017-11818


Oh really. You connected and preflighted it properly, your driver/instructor Ron Peck double checked it, and you just had a "tow release MALFUNCTION" of the very very reliable bent pin release. Mechanical thing. All mechanical things malfunction every now and then. Nuthin' one can do about it.

Bullshit.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16384
Tow Release Malfunction

hgnv - 2010/03/27 02:06:43 UTC
Las Vegas

If you must know it was a Barrel release... That was the pilots 4th altitude flight (towing) he did exactly what he was trained to do... Control the wing, attempt to untangle, continue to control the wing and CUT the release... Granted the Hood Knife should have a lanyard... Should he have dropped the knife it is our policy to fly a wide circle around the tow rig as the excess line is brought in, obviously leaving plenty of line for maunvering and landing....
at any time the line could be cut at the winch...

IF we *MUST* know? Why the fuck would any actual HUMAN wanna know ANYTHING ELSE?

Let's fast forward to:

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Who the fuck doesn't want us to know why Mission's State-Of-The-Art Equipment didn't work? Besides Mission I mean?

Mission's then most current known victim immediately shows us:





And Mission addresses the problem by making no public comment whatsoever about the incident or its State-Of-The-Art Equipment and upgrades to the Extremely State-Of-The-Art Equipment on which they will kill a Hang One Pilot In Command at the beginning of this past season.

Yeah...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16384
Tow Release Malfunction

hgnv - 2010/03/26 03:35:33 UTC

Student Pilot has Release Malfunction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Completes emergency procedures and recovers nicely...

Tow Release Malfunction. And the textbook response your magnificently instructed Student Pilot executed so quickly and brilliantly.

And the discussion "evolves" into opinions on the best hook knife lanyard material, length, and color. Punctuated by exasperated inquiries about why the Titanic was hauling ass full steam through the iceberg field with no binoculars on the bridge in the first place.

Halfway competent truck tows typically use three-string releases - like...

Bart Weghorst - 2010/03/26 14:36:09 UTC

What release was used? It looked like a 3 string of some sort. Was it a Mason?

...the Mason:



And anybody who's gone up behind a truck more than once or twice knows that:

- The truck's eventually gonna run out of runway and slow to a stop.

- When that happens the glider will continue climbing for a couple seconds as the line loses tension.

- After you've maxed out your climb but before the line goes real slack you pull your three-string lanyard because the release requires a bit o' oppositional tension to work.

- And even after one's successfully disengaged the trigger pin it's often necessary to give the bridle a couple shakes to get the loops open and lose the tow ring due to stiffness and friction issues with the loops. (And the total dickheads in this game have solved this "problem" by going to a two-string which disengages better under zilch tension and whoever heard of anyone wanting a release to be functional at higher than normal "pressure".)

And if you look at the video:

018-11915

019-11925


That's Todd's first effort to blow his very very reliable bent pin release. And the towline at that point is OBVIOUSLY TOTALLY SLACK. And when a very very reliable bent pin release is under zilch tension it WON'T WORK...

27-44400
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...using just an easy reach with ONE hand. Ya gotta use both hands while controlling the glider with your right elbow.

Also won't work if you have too MUCH...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3107
I have a tandem rating!!!

Lauren Tjaden - 2008/03/23 22:20:15 UTC

The barrel release wouldn't work because we had too much pressure on it.

...pressure on it. Or...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3391
More on Zapata and weak link

Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22 04:32:22 UTC

I have never had a lockout situation happen so quickly and dramatically and had no chance to release as I have always thought I could do.

...in any emergency situation.

And if you continue skimming stills and/or watching the video you'll clearly see that Todd NEVER goes into standard two-hands/one-elbow mode. Couldn't jerk it open with one hand or...

038-12328


...diagnose the problem with one hand and two eyes. So then...

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...GAINS the CONTROL he never lost to begin with (because whenever involved in an easy reach procedure there's never any control compromise) and goes into...

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...Razor-Sharp-Cutting-Tool-That-Can-Slash-Through-Lines-In-An-Instant mode and turns a "perfectly good" tow release assembly to scrap with his razor-sharp cutting tool.

Compare/Contrast with the NON moronic lying Chest Crusher scene:

Takes off with an accidental snag of the lower / stage two towline extension snag...

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Oops...

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Diagnoses the problem...

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APPLIES COMMON SENSE / FIXES IT...

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Big fuckin' deal...

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Student Pilot has Release Malfunction

Completes emergency procedures and recovers nicely...

Except, of course, that there was never any Release Malfunction let alone emergency . The release functioned EXACTLY as it was "DESIGNED" to:
- Goldilocks tension - not too much, not to little
- totally fucked in any emergency situation
- maximum fear and dependencies upon your driver and Rooney Link

Jim Rooney - 2010/03/26 20:54:43 UTC

Bent pin releases are indeed very very reliable. But 100%? Nope. It's exceptionally rare, but they jam. All mechanical things do.

'Specially under zero load. That's when you're 100.00 percent GUARANTEED to get a jam with this particular mechanical thing - designed by Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey.

If they were perfection, everyone would be using them.

Well, we have your ass permanently removed from the discussion...

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That's a reasonably good start.

The premise of this Jack Show thread is a DELIBERATE LIE perpetrated by hgnv with the complicity of the Student Pilot and instructor/driver - Todd Jones and Ron Peck. All of them OBVIOUSLY know what the "PROBLEM" was and are bending over backwards to obscure the utter incompetence and stupidity involved in the instruction and operation.

And the reason for the "malfunction" was majorly bugging me from when I first became aware of the incident over six and a half years ago until after I'd done the stills harvest and started this thread. And what REALLY bugs me is that this Houston club major DICKHEAD:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Todd Hang Gliding at El Dorado with Emergency Procedures.wmv

Nate Wreyford

Does not look like a release failure.
The line went slack at end of tow. Never does he just let go of the basetube, grab the tow line, then try the release again...

totally fuckin' NAILED it IMMEDIATELY and that went totally fuckin' right by me 'cause my idiot brain was so totally locked onto the totally manufactured "malfunction" issue.

Moral of Story... When nothing's make any sense step way the fuck back and question your most fundamental assumptions.

Somebody help me find out who this "hgnv" total piece o' shit is. And fuck the rest of that Vegas crowd too.

One of my elves a bit ago got me:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?p=54505
Another New Guy

hgnv - 2008/03/01 18:52:24 UTC

Hello All, I've been Lurking for quite a while... and figured now would be a good time to join... Thanks for all your post and videos.... I done a lot of vicarious flying thanks again...
Harold Wickham
Live in Las Vegas
H-2 just a few years of experience
Currently fly Airborne Sting II xc
Yes I have had the privledge of Flying with Great Radwacker and Learned a great deal from his experience... Also learned a a lot from Rob at High Adventure...
Any way just wanted to say Hello and Good Winds...
---
"Nobody Plans to Fail.... Many just Fail to Plan"

Airborne Sting II xc
H-3 FL, FSL, CL, AT

That's what I'd suspected...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Todd Hang Gliding at El Dorado with Emergency Procedures.wmv
Harold Wickham - 2010/03/22

...but had come up dry on the Google search:
"Harold Wickham" "hgnv"

Nuthin' on the second/check effort I just made neither.

Will edit some previous posts with hgnv quotes accordingly.

Camera, card, edit, captions...

017-11818


...almost certainly his rather than Todd's.

This is deliberate misrepresentation concerning a critical issue and, as I'd said, is a really good préjà vu to Kelly Harrison / Arys Moorhead. Also a truck tow release that wouldn't with a slack line. (Also wouldn't with normal and high "pressure" lines.)

"Wasting Police Time" is the chargeable offense they're always citing on the BBC mystery, crime, cop shows.

This motherfucker could've died in an ACTUAL emergency at real kill zone altitude. Tries to blow the release slack line / minus requisite oppositional tension, reverts to trained....

053-13618


..."emergency response", driver asleep...

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...at the fuckin' switch, slams in on tow with an easily reachable release that WOULD have been pullable during a short Goldilocks window.

This is not a stretch by any stretch of the imagination - 'specially in the Bille Floyd, Ron Peck, Shane Smith, Bob Buxton, Greg Porter, Mark Knight, Kelly Harrison neck of the woods. (Not all that far removed from Pat Denevan and his crack Tres Pinos operators and state-of-the-art equipment neither.)

Not forgivable.

P.S. And let's note that while Nate instantly identifies the problem in the video comments he doesn't fuckin' bother to get on The Jack Show discussion and clear things up. Either can't be bothered or doesn't wanna earn ill will from the coverup conspirators. Like I said... Houston club major DICKHEAD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rcTB0PqQM
Todds Lockout.wmv

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Tim Dyer - 2012/02/22
Las Vegas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rcTB0PqQM
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rcTB0PqQM[/video]

This is another totally awesome smoking gun video with the same star. Kudos to Steve:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post6219.html#p6219

for unearthing it and totally nailing the gist - un-fucking-believable shoddiness from start to finish. Sequel to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJGUJO5BjnA
Todd Hang Gliding at El Dorado with Emergency Procedures.wmv

another prequel to 2015/03/27 Kelly Harrison / Arys Moorhead. And this one is at Jean Lake.

- Pod open on the cart just in case the focal point of his safe towing system increases the safety of the towing operation and the only landing option is a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place. Open the entire flight in drag chute mode. Three attempts, all failed, to zip up - during climb, precipitating the "lockout", right after his second and successful easy reach to his very very reliable Industry Standard placebo release.

- Suspension... Backup loop for when the primary fails and the keel doesn't, twisted with the carabiner broadside to the airflow

- Parachute bridle slop protruding off the harness main and into more airflow - and not helping any with the probability of a clean deployment.

- Stupid foam pipe insulation on the upper control tubes for making things easier on the shoulders of the Hang Zeroes and Ones carrying their gliders back up the training hill to perfect their flare timing.

- Eight inch pneumatic Finsterwalders sliding back and forth in - as Steve originally noted, in abacus mode on the thing by which the "pilot"'s supposed to be controlling his fucking aircraft.

- Why are we launching off a dolly versus a platform for a truck payout winch tow? (Better than foot launching at Jean Lake though - right Bille?)

- Aforementioned easily reachable very very reliable Industry Standard placebo release that can't even be blown in less than two efforts under zilch tension in smooth air in a totally fake emergency at eighteen hundred feet.

001-00000
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- --0 - minutes
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Looking at Sheep Mountain and launching into substantial southwest breeze. Note streamer in last three frames.

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Ooh!

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Where'd his port Finsterwalder go?

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Flying southwest into low winter late afternoon sun with substantial high overcast. The air's smooth - as one can confirm watching the glider's boring descent back to launch.

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There it is...

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Good.

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Maybe it'll stay put now.

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Now let's try to zip up the harness...

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Like we should've done when we first proned out on the cart.

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No luck. Try again later.

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Oscillating. To say "Pilot Induced" is redundant 'cause hang gliders with potato sacks clipped in don't oscillate. They go straight for a bit and then roll off one way or the other. He's nervous/scared and overcontrolling.

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OK, lookin' good... Let's give getting the harness zipped up another shot...

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LOCKOUT!!!!!? Who'da thunk you wouldn't be able to maintain full control of a towed hang glider with one's left hand while attempting to zip up one's pod with the other?

This is why you should NEVER fly with a Tad-O-Link...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3391
More on Zapata and weak link

Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22 04:32:22 UTC

The lockout Lauren mentioned was precipitated by my attempt to pull on more VG while on tow. I have done this before but this time the line wouldn't cleat properly and while I was fighting it, I got clobbered and rolled hard right in a split second. There was a very large noise and jerk as the relatively heavy weak link at the tug broke giving me the rope. I recovered quickly from the wing over and flew back to the field to drop the line and then re-launched after changing to a normal weak link. I have never had a lockout situation happen so quickly and dramatically and had no chance to release as I have always thought I could do. Had the tugs link not broken, things could have gotten very ugly very fast. I still don't like weak links breaking when they shouldn't, but the one I was using was way too strong.

Might not break when it's supposed to. ('Specially if you're a fuckin' dickhead.)

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Yeah, that's a LOCKOUT!!!!! alright. Probably a good time to think about adding the spare hand back to the control bar.

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Eighteen hundred feet on a payout winch in smooth air over a wide open lakebed. May only have a couple minutes to get things sorted out. Try not to lose your cool.

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Are we making our easy reach now?

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Find it yet?

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Nope...

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Reach wasn't quite easy enough. Well, you're heading back to center now. Maybe you'll be able to get it locking out the other way. (And here I was thinking that a lockout was going over one way and not being able to come back. But I'm just a stupid muppet so you probably should be ignoring me and listening to Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and/or Kelly Harrison.)

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Damn!

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Now the STARBOARD Finsterwalder has disappeared! Who could've seen THAT coming?

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Ooh look!

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There's the wheel again!

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OK, the easily reachable release is coming back into range. Don't fuck things up again this time. (Got that hook knife on a safety lanyard yet?)

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GOT IT! Glider's pretty much level and lined up straight behind and downwind of the truck, towline tension is zero... Now's a really good time to end this deadly LOCKOUT!!!!!.

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And...

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...get that other Finsterwalder back where it belongs. Well done with those emergency procedures, Todd! Again. Now let's have another shot at getting that pod zipped up.

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Aw fuck it...

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Maybe next flight.

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Future Kelly Harrison / Arys Moorhead impact point just a bit into the vegetation and a bit to the left of the port control tube:

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Bar stays at about trim the whole fuckin' boring sled run, one interrupted slow 360 plus starting at 3:30, no experimentation with speed range and roll response, mostly just pointing into the headwind and crabbing back and forth. What a waste of altitude and airtime. And when I think back to what some of us had to do to get and did with altitude and airtime on the dunes at Jockey's Ridge to become pilots...

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Iconic Jean Lake low tide puddle.

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Glider shadow between starboard side and tail wires.

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Hands up on the control tubes at shoulder or ear height where you can control the glider really well for the critical landing phase.

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Too easy. Maybe a hand back down on the basetube for a while to make things a little more sporting.

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Streamer...

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Totally awesome, Todd. Never have I seen such a display of aerial grace and beauty from anything south of a Swallow-tailed Kite. I can only hope that this is the beginning of a long and indescribably rewarding aviation career. And never stop learning everything you can from that really great bunch of Desert Skywalker guys. 'Specially the ones with the carbon replacements where their lower legs used to be. And:



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From the start zipped up, clean as a whistle, loaded for bear. Even right after a foot launch with the release system temporarily snagged:

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Versus:

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Somebody tell me why THIS:

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couldn't be Todd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rcTB0PqQM
Todds Lockout.wmv

Tim Dyer

I don't believe this pilot is still flying.

No shit. I don't believe THIS:



pilot is still flying either. Similar reasons. Either do shit right or don't do it.

P.S. Speaking of which... Get your apostrophe key fixed.

http://ozreport.com/20.181
Bringing knives to a gun flight

Davis Straub - 2016/09/08 12:47:42 UTC

Double sided

David Thompson

When towing in any form it is advantageous to any pilot to be able to get to a knife. Many years ago due to something that happened, following that experience I found a nice scuba diving shop and invested in 5 knives all double sided more than or just as razor sharp.

Three are sewn to my tow harness, the largest, a 6 inch, is in a one button release sheath sewn right between my shoulder straps at my chest rib cage and dearest near my heart. The other two out of the five are Velcro attached which I have strapped to either my upper shoulder strap or my left or right arm depending on where I place them.

When you need a sharp knife one must be able to get to it no matter what.

Years later I had something happen while aero towing in North Carolina when I only used a single barrel release. The opposite end of the release line attached to my two shoulder straps tangled at the point of the tow line snagging and would not come undone. I was being towed by one shoulder strap basically. In the amount of time you can count, one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, I reached for used my emergency sharpest escape plan.

During the three one thousand count I had unsuccessful yanked the dam rope and it still wouldn't budge, so I used the thumb quick release of the large sharp sheath double sided diving knife which is on a two foot bungee cord so it can not be separated from the sheath I had sewn to my harness between my shoulder straps nearest my heart

I pulled the knife out to cut away quickly.

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/harnessknife.jpg

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/harnessknife2.jpg

Davis Straub - 2016/09/08 12:47:42 UTC

Double sided

So are THESE:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8313526097/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8306152861/

shithead. Also weak link protected no matter what, incapable of generating a wrap at the tow ring, operable under high load. And the bottom one can be blown minus the easy reach.

David Thompson

When towing in any form it is advantageous to any pilot to be able to get to a knife.

There might be a Grizzly right next to the old Frisbee in the middle of the LZ or a Great White Shark following the boat towing operation.

Many years ago due to something that happened...

I so do hate it whenever something happens.

...following that experience...

The experience of something happening. Hardly anybody makes it through life without having experiences of things happening.

I found a nice scuba diving shop and invested in 5 knives all double sided more than or just as razor sharp.

DAMN! Wish *I'D* thought of doing something like that!

Three are sewn to my tow harness, the largest, a 6 inch, is in a one button release sheath sewn right between my shoulder straps at my chest rib cage and dearest near my heart. The other two out of the five are Velcro attached which I have strapped to either my upper shoulder strap or my left or right arm depending on where I place them.

When you need a sharp knife one must be able to get to it no matter what.

Wow! Just like a flashlight! Or a banana! Or a rubber duck! Who'da thunk!

Years later I had something happen...

Well you certainly seem to have had more than your fair share of things happening in the course of your life.

...while aero towing in North Carolina...

Bibles and inbreeding.

...when I only used a single barrel release.

Because if you had used barrel releases on BOTH shoulders they'd have been twice as hard to pull. Just ask the AT instructors at Quest Air and the Florida RIdge (intentional).

The opposite end of the release line...

It's called a BRIDLE. (Or, in hang gliding, BRIDAL).

...attached to my two shoulder straps...

Wow! The opposite end of your release line was attached to your two shoulder straps. Neat trick. Something Russell Brown taught you?

...tangled at the point of the tow line snagging and would not come undone.

I really hate it when the opposite end of the release line attached to my two shoulder straps tangles at the point of the tow line snagging and not coming undone. Are you sure your release line was long and thin enough?

I was being towed by one shoulder strap basically.

And the Davis Link you had on the other end of your release line didn't break when it was supposed to basically?

In the amount of time you can count, one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, I reached for used my emergency sharpest escape plan.

Good. At thirty miles per hour you've only eaten up 132 feet. And everybody knows that nothing bad can ever happen to one in the space of 132 feet - especially while one is reaching for his emergency sharpest escape plan. So during that three second counting period you were able to reach for your emergency sharpest escape plan. Then what.

During the three one thousand count I had unsuccessful yanked the dam rope...

Reaching for your emergency sharpest escape plan; counting one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand; AND unsuccessfully yanking the dam rope (to open the flood gates?). Maybe even chewing gum at the same time. Is this something you learned and practiced on your own or did you develop this skill over the course of a short clinic with Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt?

...and it still wouldn't budge...

No shit.

...so....

...my standard aerotow weak link broke before I could get into too much trouble.

...I used the thumb quick release of the large sharp sheath double sided diving knife which is on a two foot bungee cord...

What color?

...so it can not be separated from the sheath I had sewn to my harness between my shoulder straps nearest my heart

Cool! So if you drop it you can reel it back in and continue with your emergency sharpest escape plan.

I pulled the knife out to cut away quickly.

While flying the glider through the emergency with the other hand.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10
Welcome to, and policies of, the Oz Report discussion group

Davis Straub - 2003/03/04 02:07:45 UTC

I encourage quality posts, posts that actually help the reader and would be of interest to the readers. I discourage drivel, nonsense and lazy, just hanging around, here-I-am-with-nothing-really-much-to say posts. There are other sites that encourage such behavior, this is not one of them.

The Oz Report forum is not a campfire. It is not a place to hang out with your bud and have a beer while slurring your words. It is a serious forum for pilots who wish to write cogently and engage the intellect of others.

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Discuss “Bringing knives to a gun flight" at the Oz Report forum link

No thanks, motherfucker. I prefer to discuss this at Tad's Hole In The Ground - where anybody who wants to can see it. But it looks like your Dedicated Sycophants were all totally cool with the approach.

Look how far we've evolved, people of varying ages, after over 35 years of modern hang glider towing. Put a simple bent pin barrel release on one of your shoulders, run a long thin bridle out through the tow ring and back to the other shoulder, and festoon every patch of available harness real estate with razor-sharp diving knives.

Guess THIS:

http://ozreport.com/1465306295
A barrel and mouth release combo

Davis Straub - 2016/06/07 14:31:35 UTC

Pull back the barrel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh3-uZptNw0


http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25527
Mouth AT Releases

was deemed to be of no practical value by any of the few people who are actually working on things.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35264
Hook Knives Save Lives!!!!

NMERider - 2017/04/14 20:02:49 UTC

I just read a post on a local SoCal forum in which a pilot had a bad incident below launch on a mountainside and did not have a hook knife on him. The pilot who ran down to his aid also did not have a hook knife. As far as I could tell, neither pilot had any type of knife or cutting tool and the downed pilot was in some pretty real distress and needed to be cut away from his harness and glider before the rescue personnel arrived on scene.

What's worse than this is the large numbers of local pilots who have indicated to me that they don't have a hook knife in their harness or on their person whenever they fly. This is serious business and not merely some irritating protocol we should all be following. The life saved by a hook knife may not be your own. If you keep a hook knife in your harness and witness a crash, please take it with you when you run to the scene of the accident. I have it on good authority that many pilots are flying without one.

Not THIS:

http://ozreport.com/20.181
Bringing knives to a gun flight

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/harnessknife.jpg

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/harnessknife2.jpg

asshole. (Close enough.)

Thank you for your cooperation.

Maybe good for after a crash or splashdown. Fuck 'em for towing at either end of the string. If you think you might need one in one of those environments you shouldn't be flying or running one of those operations.