Truck towing. Second try with new rig.
Wow. Must be REALLY scary if it makes YOU cringe. I remember when Zack Marzec got splattered on the Quest runway because of his pro toad bridle and Rooney Link and you didn't bat an eye.Jim Gaar - 2014/04/08 04:56:38 UTC
That's what made me cringe.
- Yeah, just like on an aircraft carrier or a Cape Canaveral launch pad. It's gotta be the PILOT who pushes the actual button.I would never let the launch decision be anyone's
but the pilots.
- Learn to write a sentence at grade school level or better.
I don't think so. You can sell defective aerotow releases all over the planet...Too much liability.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22540
LMFP release dysfunction
...and nobody seems to give a flying fuck whenever somebody...Jim Gaar - 2011/07/14 15:40:13 UTC
In a litigious society like the U.S. it's all part of the game. If you don't like it, you just take your ball and go home...
This is the reality of the sport we love. "Always the student". Learn how to use it or don't. You just missed out on what every American pilot already knows from birth.
We assume risk every day. Sometimes with a LMFP release. Hope you get your issues ironed out. The classified section is ready if you don't.
http://forum.hanggliding.org/download/file.php?id=11565
...dies on one of them.
- But that only counts when you release somebody off the platform - not...Plus if the release guy F's up he has to live with that forever.
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467Towing Aloft - 1998/01
Pro Tip: Always thank the tug pilot for intentionally releasing you, even if you feel you could have ridden it out. He should be given a vote of confidence that he made a good decision in the interest of your safety.
weak links
Jim Rooney - 2007/08/01 13:47:23 UTC
Whatever's going on back there, I can fix it by giving you the rope.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2266Bill Bryden - 1999/06
Rob Richardson, a dedicated instructor, died in an aerotowing accident at his flight park in Arizona. He was conducting an instructional tandem aerotow flight and was in the process of launching from a ground launch vehicle when the accident occurred.
Rob had started to launch once but a premature towline release terminated this effort after only a few meters into the launch roll-out. It is suspected the cart was rolled backwards a bit and the towline was reattached to begin the launch process again. During the tug's roll-out for the second launch attempt, the tug pilot observed the glider clear the runway dust and then begin a left bank with no immediate correction. At that point he noticed that the launch cart was hanging below the glider and immediately released his end of the 240 ft. towline. The tug never left the ground and tug pilot watched the glider continue a hard bank to the left achieving an altitude of approximately 25 feet. Impact was on the left wing and then the nose of the glider. Rob was killed immediately from severe neck and head trauma.
Nuno Fontes - Hang Gliding Towing Accident.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7462005802_bbc0ac66ac_o.jpgNuno Fontes - 2006/05/27
We were towing on the lee side of some thousand foot mountains. I had flown without problems an hour before.
I got to about a hundred feet and the glider was completely veered to the left due to the strong crosswinds from the right.
What made me hesitate and not release was having the right wing way up and being stalled and very low. I had the feeling I was going to be catapulted backwards if I released and had a clear notion I was going to hit dirt in a tailwind.
The best option seemed to be to resist the lock out and slowly bring the glider down, even if it was crooked, but another problem arose when the observer had the tow line cut when I was down to about fifty feet.
I had no chance. The glider that had been hanging on like a kite dead leafed to the ground. The left leading edge hit first, destroying it along with the nose plates. My body's impact point was the left shoulder and the left side of my head and neck.
I remained unconscious for about twenty minutes with a bloody face from what poured from my nose. The chopper arrived about an hour after the crash. I was already semi-conscious but in a lot of pain and having trouble breathing. I was hauled to Stanford (about half an hour flight time).
The toll: fracture and crushing of the upper humerus, several broken ribs, a lung pierced and collapsed by one of them, and broken C1 vertebra right by the artery. They considered surgery, but the no-surgery risk was lower - they feared a chip would rupture the artery.
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1081
Platform towing /risk mitigation / accident
...off the tow.Sam Kellner - 2012/07/03 02:25:58 UTC
No, you don't get an accident report.
- If the nose release guy pulled the string on the pilot's command he didn't fuck up - regardless of what happened next.Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974
"A bad flyer won't hurt a pin man but a bad pin man can kill a flyer." - Bill Bennett
"The greatest dangers are a rope break or a premature release." - Richard Johnson
Yeah, whenever someone on or involved with the pulling end of the towline kills someone in this sport they undergo SUCH TRAUMA. Just listen to Lauren here:I would not wish that on anyone.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28290
Report about fatal accident at Quest Air Hang Gliding
My heart SO goes out to her.Lauren Tjaden - 2013/02/07 23:56:42 UTC
I am posting the report my husband, Paul Tjaden, just wrote about Zach Marzec's death at Quest. It is a great tragedy to lose someone so young and vital. We are sick about it, and our hearts go out to his friends, family and loved ones.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24534
It's a wrap
I can't imagine the suffering she's experiencing.Lauren Tjaden - 2011/08/01 02:01:06 UTC
For whomever asked about the function of a weak link, it is to release the glider and plane from each other when the tow forces become greater than desirable -- whether that is due to a lockout or a malfunction of equipment or whatever. This can save a glider, a tow pilot, or more often, a hang glider pilot who does not get off of tow when he or she gets too far out of whack.
I rarely break weak links -- in fact, I believe the last one was some two years ago, and I have never broken one on a tandem (probably because I am light and also because I change them whenever they show any signs of wear). They are a good thing to have, though!!
- So you're saying that once the glider comes off the truck it's "pilot" has no means of aborting the tow in an emergency?
-- Yeah. Big surprise.
-- Tough shit. The "pilot" knew that and elected to take the risk and not pursue technology to make the launch safe.
- Lemme tell ya sumpin', douchebag...
-- The guy who pops the nose release on a truck tow on the pilot's command isn't any more responsible for what happens to the glider afterwards than the wire crew on a ramp launch which clears upon the pilot's command.
-- Furthermore popping the nose release doesn't commit the glider to launching. If the guy doesn't wanna commit aviation all he's gotta do is hold the bar back. He can MORE safely abort than he can in a lot of windy ramp situations and light air running slope launches.
Asshole.
![]http://ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident3.jpg](%5Dhttp%3A//ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident3.jpg){kind=link}
