Kite Strings

Yeah, when you let go of the bar with one hand to reach for your camera as it's slipping out of a pocket your pitch becomes far too great far too fast. Nothing like when you let go of the bar with one hand to reach for your Industry Standard pro toad release and your glider continues tracking staight and level like it's on rails.

Solidly over eight months now and from the mainstream still not a whisper about both the conspicuously anonymous douchebag on the Dragonfly and the two hundred pound test line bacon saver Davis has been so happy with for the past five years holding him on tow until a fatal impact was the only possible outcome.

Ya know ya generally have three things going wrong and/or being done wrong simultaneously to wind up dead at the end of a flight? But here a Hang Four airline pilot ends up dead in zilch conditions solely due to a loose camera grab because there was nothing wrong with:
- using an:
-- underpowered Dragonfly
-- ultra short trees obstructed runway due to a ninety cross
- equipping with an easily reachable placebo release
- flying pro toad
- maintaining for decades a culture which views and employs a weak link as a pitch and lockout protector

I feel next to NOTHING in the way of sympathy regarding this guy's death. He DID NOTHING in the course of his hang gliding career to address the pervading evil of the culture and if it had been some other asshole at that stinking comp instead of him he'd currently also be letting these upper level assholes get away with this bullshit.

Tad Eareckson wrote:Yeah, when you let go of the bar with one hand to reach for your camera as it's slipping out of a pocket your pitch becomes far too great far too fast. Nothing like when you let go of the bar with one hand to reach for your Industry Standard pro toad release and your glider continues tracking staight and level like it's on rails.

And when you have a tow line failure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lohIHeyx-qU


But a weak link success...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYe3YmdIQTM


No big deal.

http://www.ushpa.org/legacy/safety/Fatality%20Report%202016%20Jan-Sep.pdf

2016/05/21 - Jeffery Bohl

Jeffery Bohl (56), an Advanced (H4) pilot and USHPA member since 2012, suffered fatal injuries during a flight in Groveland, FL. The pilot executed an aerotow launch in 8-10 MPH winds crossing slightly from the right of the runway. After correcting a right yaw and bank of the glider as it came off of the launch cart, the pilot's glider went into an increasingly left banked, nose up attitude without any observed pilot corrections. At approximately a 45 nose up attitude and at 50 feet AGL, the pilot's weak link broke and the glider pitched an additional 30 or more degrees nose up. From this attitude at approximately 80 feet AGL, the glider yawed/slipped left and impacted the ground at a near vertical attitude resulting in fatal injuries.

Jeffery Bohl (56), an Advanced (H4) pilot and USHPA member since 2012...

- Not worth mentioning that he worked as a United Airlines pilot for his day job?

- Really? From the fatality report it sounds like he was totally clueless. What experience and Special Skills did he have and who signed him off on his ratings?

...suffered fatal injuries during a flight...

Suffered fatal injuries DURING a flight. What are the odds? Bet he crashed after suffering those fatal injuries. Gives the public the impression that he suffered the fatal injuries when he crashed and unfairly portrays the sport as being a lot more dangerous than it actually is.

...in Groveland, FL.

Really? Does anyone know where Groveland is? What was he doing down there? Doesn't sound like a place with any mountains from which to fly.

The pilot executed an aerotow launch...

Oh! He was AEROTOWING! NOW I'm starting to get the picture! Ya know most hang gliders have not been designed to be motorized, tethered, or towed. And towing's really dangerous 'cause there's such an enormous degree of complexity involved that nobody really understands the physics of hang gliders under tow so we have to seek out the best opinions from the most keenly intellectual tug pilots and process them to the best of our muppet abilities.

So anyway, what glider was he flying and how was he hooked up to the towline?

...in 8-10 MPH winds crossing slightly from the right of the runway.

The regular runway or an improvised "runway" running the width of the ACTUAL runway?

After correcting a right yaw and bank of the glider...

- Of the glider? Not of the minivan?

- How many hands was he using to correct the right yaw and bank of the glider and where were they placed while he was effecting the correction?

...as it came off of the launch cart...

How come he didn't foot launch? Wouldn't that have been a lot safer?

...the pilot's glider...

Not to be confused with the accountant's glider.

...went into an increasingly left banked, nose up attitude without any observed pilot corrections.

- He WAS observed with the bar stuffed and his body torqued as far and hard as physically possible under the right wing but since the tug had just made a hard turn to the right and the glider was locked out - meaning it was physically impossible for the pilot to do anything more effective than retard the progression of the lockout - we can HONESTLY ( ) say that no pilot CORRECTIONS were made. Like when a rock climber falls off a cliff we can report that he did absolutely nothing to adequately slow his descent.

- How 'bout his tow bridle? Wasn't the upper attachment doing anything to counter the nose up attitude? No, wait. Under the rules of Davis's Risk Mitigation Plan for the Quest Air Open two point bridles were determined to be inappropriate / too risky - like the Tad-O-Link he was using used to be.

At approximately a 45 nose up attitude...

Yeah? What's the normal nose up attitude for an aerotow?

...and at 50 feet AGL, the pilot's weak link broke...

- ...and instantly increased the safety of the towing operation - at the cost of a bit of inconvenience. Instant hands free release, nail that flare timing, back to the head of the launch line.

- What WAS the "PILOT'S" weak link? And what was it supposed to do for him? In sailplaning it's the GLIDER'S weak link and it's supposed to...

Tost Flugzeuggerätebau

Weak links protect your aircraft against overloading.

...protect it from overloading.

...and the glider pitched an additional 30 or more degrees nose up.

- 'Cause the pilot shoved the bar out an extra two feet so's he could get enough altitude to set up a safe approach to the old Frisbee next to the launch line.

- Bullshit.

From this attitude at approximately 80 feet AGL, the glider yawed/slipped left and impacted the ground at a near vertical attitude resulting in fatal injuries.

Fatally injured TWICE - once during the flight and again at its conclusion. Just wasn't his day. So was the Groveland Hang Gliding Association able to get the task off for the last day of its little fly-in after that?

Just like Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Voight tells us. Motherfucker just decided to quit flying the glider. Suffers fatal injuries a couple times. Big surprise. This sport ain't for everybody, ya know.

The more time these pigfuckers have to "investigate" these "accidents" and prepare reports the more pure unadulterated sewage you're gonna get. You gotta read this one real carefully to know that there was a tug of some kind on the other end of the string and there was absolutely nothing that it did or didn't do relative to the glider's flight that was worthy of any mention whatsoever.

If you look at the pattern of the fatality reports published over the history of the sport it becomes obvious that the aforementioned pigfuckers have been constantly pushing the shit content percentage envelope. They see what they can get away with and adjust accordingly next time. If you wanna get the best information possible on any given incident don't look at what Davis/u$hPa publish several months down the road. Look at the stuff that others post before the dust settles that Davis/u$hPa immediately delete.

http://www.kitestrings.org/post9418.html#p9418

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16439
Some day we will learn

Steve Morris - 2010/03/31 23:58:54 UTC

In 2009 there were several serious hang gliding accidents involving pilots on the HG forum (or who had close friends on the forum that reported that these accidents had occurred). In each case there was an immediate outcry from forum members not to discuss these accidents, usually referring to the feelings of the pilots' families as a reason to not do so. In each case it was claimed that the facts would eventually come out and a detailed report would be presented and waiting for this to happen would result in a better informed pilot population and reduce the amount of possibly harmful speculation.

In each of these cases I have never seen a final detailed accident report presented in this forum. So far as I can tell, the accident reporting system that has been assumed to exist here doesn't exist at all, the only reports I've seen are those published in the USHPA magazine. They are so stripped down, devoid of contextual information and important facts that in many cases I have not been able to match the magazine accident report with those mentioned in this forum.

The end result has been that effective accident reporting is no longer taking place in the USHPA magazine or in this forum. Am I the only one who feels this way?

And that was the better part of seven years ago.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35165
Superstitions in hang gliding?

Baitrunner - 2017/03/08 11:58:30 UTC
Pittsburgh

So.... being a newbie to the HG community, I was wondering if there are any superstitions among pilots in the HG community ?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/26 02:44:10 UTC

The "purpose" of a weaklink is to increase the safety of the towing operation. PERIOD.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=35165
Superstitions in hang gliding?

Brian Scharp - 2017/03/08 16:18:39 UTC

Gil Dodgen wrote:I am not a tow pilot, and although Donnell's system made sense to me I was forced to discontinue the series. The essence of his system was a double bridle that connected to the glider and to the pilot. This system would thus pull the pilot back on line in the event that the glider was inadvertently turned off course from behind the vehicle. This would produce a self-correcting system avoiding the infamous "lockout" the factor which seemed to make towing so dangerous.

Well, it appears that Mr. Hewitt's system not only works but, as I've been told by pilots who have made literally thousands of land tows with it, it works beyond all the most optimistic expectations. One pilot told me, "It is virtually impossible to lock out even if one tries."

If you fail to maintain the correct tow position (centered, with the wheels of the tug on the horizon), the weak link will break before you can get into too much trouble.

In an excessive out-of position situation, the weak link will snap before the control authority of the glider would be lost.

Hang Gliding - 1983/05
Wallaby Ranch - 1998/02-2017/03/08
Quest Air Hang Gliding - ~1992-2013/02/02

2017/03/08 17:07:33 UTC - 3 thumbs up - NMERider

Gil Dodgen wrote:I am not a tow pilot, and although Donnell's system made sense to me I was forced to discontinue the series. The essence of his system was a double bridle that connected to the glider and to the pilot. This system would thus pull the pilot back on line in the event that the glider was inadvertently turned off course from behind the vehicle. This would produce a self-correcting system avoiding the infamous "lockout" the factor which seemed to make towing so dangerous.

How about some pics or a diagram of this system. Is this the standard bridle that goes from the pilot to the keel?

How 'bout a description? We HAD the perfect video for you:
---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dvr9P_w5VQ
Hang gliding - Dan explains the double-threaded tow bridle system
jwm239 - 2011/05/02
Dan describes the double-threaded tow bridle system while pilot Keith looks on at Susquehanna Flight Park on Sunday May 1, 2011.
-
42°42'51.42" N 74°53'00.29" W
---
but I just found it to be dead. I have a copy archived though - 21.5 MB - and can make it available to anyone who wants it.

Description:
- tow ring (at end of towline)
- long bridle line tied to tow ring
- bridle runs:
-- aft to ring at pilot's waist
-- fore back to tow ring
-- back aft and up to keel mounted release mechanism - a bit in front of hang point

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=27396
Scooter tow faillure... or Never Land On Your Face

Mike Badley - 2013/04/02 05:20:24 UTC

I like this rig for foot launch - it's called a Hewitt Style and it also uses Peter Birren (Chicago) Link-Knife which actually severs the weak link every time. The weak link material is that industrial kite string (can't remember which size) which you make into a big loop that is doubled over through the eye of the tow rope and then fit through the shackle on the bridle. Works great.

So it's a pulley system. The pilot attachment point feels two thirds, the glider anchor point one third of the towline tension. Roughly proportional to the relative masses of the two components (pilot weighs twice as much as the glider). It was known as a Skyting, Hewett, 2:1, Center of Mass Bridle.

Hewett was (is) totally fucking clueless with respect to how the tow force vectors actually worked. His bogus hypothesis was (is) that you're effectively connecting to the glider system's center of mass and this would make the glider autocorrecting in roll. (The more out of line you are the better - 'cause the autocorrecting force keeps getting stronger.)

Previously the bridle was the same upper/lower two point split that we have in sane aerotowing today but the lower connection was effectively to the basetube instead of the pilot. This configuration was dangerously roll unstable (lockout prone).

Moving the lower connection to the pilot (or connecting only to the pilot) was obviously the right strategy but it didn't make the glider autocorrecting in roll. It just made it way less roll unstable - but not so much that we've ever been hurting much for lockout fatalities.

One element of the tons o' shit that Hewett never managed to understand was that the tension routed to the pilot doesn't just stop at the pilot. It's routed up through the suspension to or close to the same point at which the upper bridle end is anchored.

One fortunate product of the 2:1 bridle was that with a horizontal towline pull - which is (hopefully) constant in aerotowing but only when the glider's close to zero feet of altitude in surface - the pilot's position relative to the basetube remains about what it should be in a properly trimmed free flight configuration. But:

- You can accomplish the same thing:

-- with a one point connection on the harness suspension about a third of the way up from the pilot a lot more elegantly (which is what the Brooks Bridle (developed in the UK around the same time as and totally independently from the Hewett junk) did)

-- as we always have with two point aerotow bridles by trimming the upper anchor point fore on the keel from the hang point as necessary (farther fore for draggier gliders)

- Launching with a pilot-only connection for surface:

05-00307
http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8546/29698757355_3f8fb789f7_o.png


is no big fuckin' deal. ('Specially since a surface driver tends to have way more abilitity to adjust tension in response to problematic situations than a tug driver does.)

- As the surface tow angle increases:

09-02120
http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8787/29663193126_f4fed3e4d2_o.png


an upper/glider attachment devolves to problematic through uselessness.

- And in platform launching:

14-01405
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8760/18376683312_0194935885_o.png


the tow angle is steepish and constant and even in hang gliding there's never been anyone stupid enough to do anything other than pilot only.

Sad commentary on the sport that it's never had the collective intelligence to understand the aerodynamics of hang glider control and towing well enough to have ever gotten much of anything right. And now here we are well into the Twenty-First Century having Boychick getting away with telling everyone that a hang glider can be roll controlled no hands by running under the high wing.
---
2017/03/11 16:35:00 UTC

Had intended to mention the issue of keel anchor (trim) point in two point aerotowing with respect to trimming the pilot in proper position relative to the glider / control bar. So amended.

Sad commentary on the sport...

Totally pathetic commentary on the sport I say!

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


Nice to see you here again, Miguel.

http://www.kitestrings.org/topic53.html
1982/07-11

Donnell Hewett wrote:(7) WEAK LINK- In my opinion a weak link is absolutely essential for air-to-air towing. It is impossible for either the tow pilot or the glider pilot to concentrate upon flying their respective aircraft and also serve as effectively as a safety man. The glider pilot could come closest to doing both jobs, but that leaves no one to "bail him out" in an emergency situation. In fact, the glider pilot could find it impossible to release himself if the towline tension ever becomes excessive. This is because the skyting latches become harder to release as towline tension increases. Only an infalible weak link can guarantee that such a potentially fatal situation never occurs. As mentioned in SKYTING NO.1, I recommend a loop of nylon twine of the proper size. (We use No. 18 braided nylon twing.) The weak link should be placed between the towline and the leader, and a 3 ft drag chute should be placed on the towline end to prevent the stretched towline from shooting toward the ultralight and possibly fouling the propeller. The drag chute should have little effect upon the ultralight (assuming the ultralight has enough power to tow the hang glider in the first place.)

Infalible?

But TAD's aerotow release system is Rube Goldberg.

And written from the perspective of someone who'd never aerotowed.

Practical aerotowing didn't exist until Gérard Thevenot developed the Cosmos trike - which wasn't debuted in the US until early 1984. (And that thing flew too goddam fast. (And they started out towing one point so REALLY too fast.))

I'm wondering if Donnell ever even once flew aero. Given the total crap he wrote - and Trisa endorsed - about...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/6744
Weaklinks

Donnell Hewett - 2008/11/05 21:22:29 UTC

However, aerotowing also tends to violate Skyting Criteria twelve (a suitable environment) by frequently towing over terrain that is completely unsuitable for landing. In this case, a weak link break is considerably more than a minor inconvenience. It potentially places the pilot in an extremely dangerous and possibly fatal situation.

...aerotows frequently taking gliders out of range of safe landing options I'd say that it's a total no brainer that he didn't. Also that it's a total no brainer that he'd never seen any aerotowing, given it any actual thought; considered any sailplane aerotow operations, training, procedures.

...frequently towing over terrain that is completely unsuitable for landing...

Also FREQUENTLY towing OUT OF RANGE of any safe landing option. Pulled the crap out of his statement in order to use it to prop up his lunatic bankrupt set of criteria for the safe towing of hang gliders.

Moderate lightbulb moment...

I mostly dealt with this vile statement:

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

Dr. Lionel D. Hewitt, professor of physics and developer of the 2-to-1 center-of-mass Skyting bridle for surface towing, is well respected for his knowledge of towing, bridles, and weak links [ref 4]. His position on weak link strength for aerotowing of hang gliders seems to be consistent with ours. He has acknowledged that we especially need to avoid inadvertent weak link breaks while aerotowing, because much of aerotowing takes place over unlandable terrain. That, along with recognizing that towing pressures vary considerably while on aerotow, has led him to suggest the use of a weak link that breaks in the neighborhood of 1.5G of towline pressure [ref 16]. This is near to what actually results when a USHPA-recommended nominal 1G weak link is placed at the top end of a V-bridle used for aerotowing.

from those two vile motherfuckers a million years ago back at:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post2263.html#p2263

Lemme boost that with the observation that these two vile motherfuckers who've:
- both served as u$hPa Towing Committee Chairs
- run a major AT operation since the beginning of time
- presented themselves as ultimate authorities on AT
endorse that crap that Donnell spewed and reinforce it with the statement that MUCH of aerotowing takes place over unlandable terrain - knowing full bloody well that Grizzlies are greater threats to aerotowers than blowing Standard AeroTow Weak Links over unlandable terrain. They needed a bogus excuse to up the recommended rating to be compliant with FAA AT regs (that they didn't let us know about for close to eight years) 'cause they weren't gonna ever acknowledge that Rooney Link inconveniences could be extremely lethal - and had been. "Nah, we're just upping the recommended rating from 0.8 to 1.5 to cut down on the fatalities of gliders unable to make it back to the airport and having to crash in forests and drown in lakes and rivers. But 130 pound Greenspot is still a really great pitch and lockout protector as long as it's tied properly to break consistently."

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3600
Weak link question

Jim Rooney - 2008/11/22 22:31:35 UTC

BTW, this weaklink as a lifeline comment... any tow pilot that takes you over something you can't get out from should be shot. It is one of the cardinal rules of towing. Again, "I wana believe" rationalization.

Thank you so very much, Jimmy Boy. Betchya never anticipated THAT statement being used to gut the credibility of any of your fellow cult members.

Tad loves to speak of himself as a scientifically minded person. Yet he ignores a data pool that is at minimum three orders of magnitude higher than his. It is thus that I ignore him.

08-19
http://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5277/30076449505_1f6ed2f804_o.png


We've seen from Brian's quote above from Hewett's 1982/07 article that there was NEVER any intended limitation of Skyting "Theory" to surface and, as I illustrated in my previous post in this thread, the Skyting Bridle quickly becomes worse than useless as one climbs above a tow angle of zero degrees. So...

Dr. Lionel D. Hewitt, professor of physics and developer of the 2-to-1 center-of-mass Skyting bridle for surface towing...

Bullshit. It was "designed" for zero degree = AERO towing - which didn't exist at the time. Trisa didn't get that from any source. He pulled it outta his ass. 'Cause otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain how Donnell could be so well respected for his knowledge of bridles when one of his bridles has never been used for aero - particularly at Cloud 9.