It is a pretty good, if emotional and lecturing, analysis of the topic. He hits most of the points I would. I do take exception to one point:
Do not EVER at any time announce to yourself, your crew, or the rocks below that you are "HOOKED IN!" 1) You're not - the gun is always loaded. 2) It causes the personnel in the immediate vicinity to drop their guard. 3) The rocks always take it as a challenge.
I would argue that calling out "Hook check!" when you actually do a hook check in the few seconds prior to launch reinforces to other pilots watching that this is what you do before launch. Less experienced pilots should have an example to follow. More experienced pilots should be reassured that the pilot about to launch is less of a risk than otherwise would be the case. Both of those are good things.
My biggest problem with the "oz method" zealots is that they promote the idea that a pilot can not or should not be trusted to follow a checklist procedure. Their whole argument is based on this. If you went to any commercial or military aviation training institution with that conviction and that attitude chances are they would question your fitness for PIC.
In aviation checklists are everything. Complex checklists are always printed and given a type of aircraft there are always some that MUST be memorized and imprinted permanently in the pilot's engrams or otherwise they are not considered a pilot. In HG, we don't generally have printed checklists to follow (they are after all simple) but the checklist should still be there in the most important place. And the at-launch check list will assume that you are not hooked in until proven at that point.
If the checklist in your brain cannot be seen because launch conditions are too stressful then I would suggest those launch conditions are beyond the pilot's capabilities and they should not launch.
Now having said all that, I use the oz method. However for me it is not to prevent FTHI. It just turns out that's the most convenient way to operate a Z5 harness. If I flew in That Country where the oz method was "required" they would probably not have a problem with me and would assume that I drank their kool-aid. However I have not and will not.
I would argue that calling out "Hook check!" when you actually do a hook check in the few seconds prior to launch reinforces to other pilots watching that this is what you do before launch.
Quote me there or anywhere ever giving the slightest hint of an objection to anything like that. Call out "Hook check!" on or prior to launch all you want. Nobody ever got so much as a scratch by doing or not doing a "hook check" or announcing one. Knock yourself out. Call out "Battens stuffed!" in the setup area too if that floats your boat.
Less experienced pilots should have an example to follow.
All pilots properly trained and/or rated under the USHGA Pilot Proficiency Program from Day One, Flight One are already doing this - and have been ever since this regulation:
With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
went into effect in 1981/05, over 32 years ago. It requires less in the way of brains and skill than anything else one can do in the sport - with the possible exception of a platform launch.
More experienced pilots should be reassured that the pilot about to launch is less of a risk than otherwise would be the case.
Right Alan. You REALLY want the people at launch to worry less about the possibility of a glider going off unhooked. If there's any ONE THING that'll reduce the risk of an unhooked launch it's people being less worried about the risk of an unhooked launch.
Both of those are good things.
Idiot.
My biggest problem with the "oz method" zealots...
ALL Aussie Methodists are zealots.
...is that they promote the idea that a pilot can not or should not be trusted to follow a checklist procedure.
You are ABSOLUTELY totally fuckin' CLUELESS. You obviously didn't understand a goddam word of my article.
Their whole argument is based on this.
That much, at least, they're pretty much right about. Where they - along with you - are totally fuckin' clueless is that this issue has absolutely NOTHING to do with checklists and checklists will, at BEST, do NOTHING to reduce the frequency of unhooked launches.
If you went to any commercial or military aviation training institution with that conviction and that attitude chances are they would question your fitness for PIC.
Fuck commercial and military aviation training institutions. Their graduates are a dime a dozen in this sport and if so much as one percent of them weren't totally useless pieces of shit the unhooked launch is just one of the deadly problems this sport has that would've vanished with bamboo, swing seats, and four to one glide ratios.
In aviation checklists are everything.
In hang gliding - outside of tow launches anyway - they are virtually NOTHING.
Complex checklists are always printed and given a type of aircraft there are always some that MUST be memorized and imprinted permanently in the pilot's engrams or otherwise they are not considered a pilot. In HG, we don't generally have printed checklists to follow (they are after all simple) but the checklist should still be there in the most important place. And the at-launch check list will assume that you are not hooked in until proven at that point.
And then, "at that point", the at-launch checklist, you, and all present will assume that you ARE hooked in. And if you had a fuckin' clue or shit in the way of reading comprehension you'd realize that nobody can EVER afford to reach that point until the glider's off the ground and it's too late to do anything about anything.
If the checklist in your brain cannot be seen because launch conditions are too stressful then I would suggest those launch conditions are beyond the pilot's capabilities and they should not launch.
Wow. I never heard it expressed like that before! I'm sure that when people understand what you're saying that a lot of unhooked launches will be prevented.
Now having said all that, I use the oz method. However for me it is not to prevent FTHI.
Then:
- it's not the goddam Aussie Method - which, by definition, is a strategy intended to prevent unhooked launches.
- why the hell are you discussing it here?
It just turns out that's the most convenient way to operate a Z5 harness.
And DAMN NEAR any harness for DAMN NEAR any glider and DAMN NEAR any pilot in MANY launch environments. And that means that as a strategy for preventing unhooked it TOTALLY SUCKS.
If I flew in That Country where the oz method was "required" they would probably not have a problem with me and would assume that I drank their kool-aid. However I have not and will not.
Any stupid Aussie Methodist or Rooney Linking motherfucker starts telling me how to conduct myself as a pilot he's gonna get his goddam Kool-Aid back in face immediately and very publicly and he's gonna have a big permanent problem with me. And the fewer PILOTS we have doing the same the faster this sport will go down the toilet.
zamuro - 2013/08/31 22:19:30 UTC
The problem is usually not too much stress on launch but the contrary too much familiarity.
The problem is RIGHT HERE:
And the at-launch check list will assume that you are not hooked in until proven at that point.
As long as it's assumed the pilot is not hooked in HE WILL NOT LAUNCH UNHOOKED.
Yesterday I launched unhooked from the Kagel launch. I fared much better than the glider did with only a bruised left hand and wrist. I don't think anything is broken but I might get an x-ray if the swelling and bruising gets worse. The glider, although repairable, is trashed with a broken leading edge and keel along with lots of other smaller damage. I consider it "spare parts" for the new one I ordered a few hours after its demise.
My routine is to hook in before going to launch and then check my hook in by turning around and looking at it or asking a wire person to check for me. In this case I didn't do either one; my head was thinking beyond launch, taking it completely for granted. Bottom line is that no flight should be treated as "routine" and that a hook in check of some sort should be taken seriously each and every time you fly. Complacency is the root cause of this accident and I only hope that others will learn from my expensive lesson.
We're just talking about a span of six seconds total.
Also...
00:18 - foot on the speedbar
01:00 - foot on the speedbar
01:02 - foot on the speedbar
01:19 - foot on the speedbar
01:35 - foot on the speedbar
Probably did more damage to the glider at launch position with a two man crew than he did going into the trees.
Ya know sumpin', Lin...
I'm not even particularly bothered by you getting trapped and crash landing into the trees. THAT mistake you won't make again. And it so pales in comparison to the one you made at 01:51.
I have been flying since 1973 with thousands of flights and about 1200 hours. So I was gone for 25 years? Little has changed during the intervening years other than the equipment and the loss of sites. I'm reading the same old arguments here I read 35 years ago and see nothing new.
Helen McKerral - 2010/09/04 23:05:06 UTC
South Australia
I'm almost afraid to mention this... four words:
"Tad's Lift and Tug."
Helen McKerral - 2010/09/07 00:16:04 UTC
Basically, the idea is that no matter whether you use the Aussie method or not (another emotive topic), or how you do your hang check (step through or hang, look, feel, whatever) the VERY LAST THING you do immediately before every launch is to lift the glider up off your shoulders so the hangstrap goes tight and you FEEL the tug of your legloops around your groin/thighs.
More important, I think, is a change in mindset: that you constantly assume that you are NOT hooked in. That is the default mindset and only after you've done the lift and tug - immediately before every launch - do you decide you're hooked in. Also, because the default assumption is negative rather than positive, you are much less likely to start any run unhooked.
As soon as Steve had the scooter tow ready to go, he looked at me and said, "Okay, Holly. Your turn!" He didn't waste any time. I've never been a big fan of going first, but this time I didn't hesitate. Sure... I had a mild case of the butterflies, but I knew I could do this safely.
No.
I hooked it (both the tow line and harness to the glider), picked my glider up, checked out the wind indicators, felt the breeze and how the glider was reacting, checked to make sure my wings were level, and then called to Steve, "CLEAR!" He started to roll on the throttle, I walked, jogged, ran and voila... I was airborne!
Great Holly!!! And what's USHGA's regulation for every flight...
With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
...for every rating? And tell me just how it was that you and Steve complied with it.
And ya know what's gonna happen to another one of Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt's students in another 26 days?
I don't have many details at this point, but I just got a call from Scott Wilkinson. Bill Priday launched from Whitwell without hooking in. Scott indicated there was about a hundred foot drop off from launch. Bill's status is unknown at this time. Please pray for him!
I hooked in to launch at about 1:30. Just then it started tailing a little bit. I waited a good fifteen minutes for the wind to go calm. As soon as I felt a brief flow coming up the ramp I launched.
The unhooked launch prevention procedures taught in Taberville and Greblo-/McKenzie-ville are way worse than nothing at all.
While there haven't been any unhooked launches from the Chattanooga area sites in eight years come Tuesday:
- Whitwell escarpment
- a Steve Wendt product
- surrounded and crewed by Matt Taber product
- immediately fatal
LA Basin assholes are launching unhooked all the time - but:
- the launches are all slope rather than ramp and thus abortable and survivable
- I don't think anybody's ever been seriously fucked up by an unhooked launch in that area until you get to a Torrey Pines radius
Theory... The scarier looking the launch...
Rob Kells - 2005/12
Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
...the less likely it is that someone will go off unhooked (and benefit the gene pool).
...which are lethal but have civilized approaches and facilitate hook-ins and hang checks in setup and staging areas will have only the rarest of unhooked launches.
High launches with civilized approaches to more benign looking slopes...
...unhooked launches start getting pretty common - undoubtedly a lot more common than we ever hear about 'cause they don't make the eleven o'clock news and people can fairly easily get away without reporting them.
Foot launch towing to altitude - winch, fixed line, aero...
I must admit...this has happened to us three times this year. We've just started scooter towing and it's surprisingly easy to do. We're all dolly-launched aero-tow pilots so hooking in is something we take for granted. I was the scooter operator each time and recognized it right away as soon as the glider started rising up (but the pilot didn't). Luckily we were only planning on doing low-and-slow tows and thus no swift full-tension tow.
...ANYTHING.
It's kinda too bad that doesn't work the other way around. Then we'd have a lot better success at overcoming the efforts the:
- Davis Straubs
- Jim Rooneys
- Paul and Ryan Voights
- Matt Tabers
- Steve Wendts
- Bob Kuczewskis
- Sam Kellners
- other assorted USHGA shits
are making to get keep hook-in checks from being implemented - as they were supposed to have been 32 and a half years ago.
Also wish I had a magic wand to make a few of THESE:
I must admit...this has happened to us three times this year.
My what an interesting take on the situation you have. Id'a thunk something on the order of "Maybe we're not really cut out all that well for this line of work." would've been a much better reaction.
We've just started scooter towing and it's surprisingly easy to do.
1. Then maybe you should recognize that and reevaluate your procedures - if not your vocation.
2. And you need to foot launch students because?
We're all dolly-launched aero-tow pilots so hooking in is something we take for granted.
Maybe you should've stopped taking it for granted after the first or second time. I never took it for granted that I - or anyone for whom I was crewing - was hooked in.
I was the scooter operator each time and recognized it right away as soon as the glider started rising up (but the pilot didn't).
What if you made a practice of having the "pilot" lift the glider before you hit the gas?
Luckily we were only planning on doing low-and-slow tows and thus no swift full-tension tow.
Yeah. Luckily.
Each time it happened, the pilot's priority was always hooking up the tow-line as they step into the control frame. I wonder why that is...? I mean, we always hook in to the glider first when dolly-launching, and then worry about the tow line.
Ya know what I wonder? What the fuck is YOUR priority in the couple of seconds before you hit the gas?
Lesson learned (all without incident).
1. An unhooked launch IS an INCIDENT - an EXTREMELY SERIOUS incident.
2. Any launch that goes off without a hook-in check is an EVEN MORE SERIOUS incident.
3. Tell me how Jon Orders launching tandem with Lenami unhooked once in his career was any more incompetent, negligent, irresponsible than what you did each of three times in your 2009 season. (If I were his attorney I'd be pointing out a lot of this HPAC bullshit at his trial.)
...done, Mark. Should buy you a USHGA Instructor of the Year Award - if Sunny Venesky, Steve Wendt, and Tom Galvin provide any indication.
Greg Porter - 2013/10/02
The wing camera was running as I launched from Mingus on August 2, 2013 without being buckled into my harness.
It was also running while you skipped the hook-in check - which we know you did 'cause:
- people who:
-- launch unhooked or without being secured into leg loops never do them
-- do hook-in checks always include them in their videos
- you:
-- have never done a hook-in check once in your entire hang gliding career
-- you launched minus your leg loops
Rather than sweep this mistake under the rug...
You don't even have a clue what the mistake was.
I wanted to put this video out in hopes that it may keep some other pilot from making the same mistake.
Except for the ones who made the same mistake in the two month period you sat on this incident. Robert Burgis, who launched unhooked from Kagel and totaled his glider nineteen days after your incident comes to mind.
As hard to believe as it may be, my harness was hooked to the glider, but I hadn't buckled myself into it... I was only zipped in at the chest.
And why is this hard to believe? We don't have scores of similar incidents - including a few fatalities - and untold hundreds of pages of discussions on them?
I had even done a hang check and thought I was good to go.
OH! You had EVEN done a hang check and thought you were good to go?
I already see where the anger and grief take us. We need to do hang checks, double hang checks. And who was on Bill's wire crew? How could they let that happen?
When Bob Gillisse got hurt I suggested that our local institution of the hang check is more the problem than the solution. I still believe that. It subverts the pilot's responsibility to perform a hook-in check. I often do not see pilots doing a hook in check.
Rob Kells - 2005/12
Following a recent fatal accident caused by the pilot launching unhooked, there has been a discussion on how to guarantee that you are hooked in. The two main methods are:
1. Always do a hang check before launch, and/or
2. Always hook your harness into the glider before you get into the harness.
Interestingly, NEITHER of these methods GUARANTEES that you will not launch unhooked some day. Let's add a third one:
3. Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run. I always use this test.
A hang check seems to be a very reasonable way to ensure that you are hooked in, your lines are straight, and that you are the proper distance from the base bar. However, it does not ensure that you are in your leg loops. I know most pilots include the leg loops as part of their hang check, but remember the point about distractions.
Go figure.
I cover all that in the video in hopes that it may be helpful.
Thanks. It won't. It'll be the precise opposite.
Hey. So this video's primarily for hang glider pilots.
Hang glider PILOTS don't need to see it. There's nothing in it to be learned.
I made a mistake during a launch...
BULLSHIT. The big mistake you made occurred inside a two second window just before your foot moved.
...and I want to share it with you in hopes that you won't make the same.
Yeah. This totally unprecedented pooch screw of yours will be a real wake-up call to the global hang gliding community.
What I did was I launched with my harness hooked to the glider, but I was not buckled into the harness. I'll show you the launch, I'll show you the terrible landing I had as a result...
The terrible landing you had was primarily a consequence of not having wheels and secondarily a consequence of you being compelled to practice your narrow-dry-riverbed-with-large-rocks-strewn-all-over-the-place technique instead of...
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.
...bellying in with your hands on the basetube.
I was very fortunate that it didn't turn out much worse.
But the hang gliding population isn't very fortunate. 'Cause the ONLY thing that stands a chance of getting one or two people really thinking about these issues and modifying their behavior in a positive manner is a fatality. And you're gonna come out smelling like a rose, become an instant authority on unsecured launches, and make some idiot recommendations which will increase the probability of reruns.
I think what the problem was, was I had a false sense of security.
How could you POSSIBLY have had a false sense of security?
I don't teach lift and tug, as it gives a false sense of security.
You skipped the hook-in check, right?
I felt like if I hooked my harness into the glider without fail before I ever got in the harness that I'd never launch unhooked.
Yep. That's a really wonderful feeling derived from Aussie Methodism - which, like all religions - studiously ignore all data inconsistent with its beliefs and assumptions.
And so that's what I did on this launch as I always did.
So when I started to buckle myself in, that's where my process fell down.
Your process started falling down the first time you foot launched.
I was preoccupied with things that had happened during preflight, and so I didn't think through the steps, and I didn't buckle myself into the harness.
Were you wearing one of USHGA's little red "FOCUSED PILOT" rubber wristbands? If so have you considered wearing two? You've got TWO wrists, ferchrisake.
I even did a hang check and I didn't catch it in the hang check.
No...
Rob Kells - 2005/12
I know most pilots include the leg loops as part of their hang check, but remember the point about distractions.
...shit.
So I'll show you how that happened.
Now when I went to launch I had forgotten to do my leg loops and I had forgotten to do my chest buckle. So, all I did was I attached this zipper, 'cause I was preoccupied, and I zipped it down, and I felt secure - holding me secure.
What's more, I believe that all hooked-in checks prior to the last one before takeoff are a waste of time, not to say dangerous, because they build a sense of security which should not be built more than one instant before commitment to flight.
When I went to launch, all of the sudden my weight - of course the harness is hooked to the glider - my weight fell to my armpits here and when that happened this zipper opened up to there, after launch.
I hooked in to launch at about 1:30. Just then it started tailing a little bit. I waited a good fifteen minutes for the wind to go calm. As soon as I felt a brief flow coming up the ramp I launched.
I did a hang check in this configuration, and so I thought I was OK.
Why didn't you do a simulation of how things were gonna be loaded two seconds after commitment?
Let me show you that hang check.
1. Show me something in the SOPs about a goddam hang check.
2. I notice you're using a stepladder to support the keel and hold the glider level. Were you using a stepladder at Mingus or a "good friend" and "excellent pilot" who watched you do your worse than useless goddam hang check without checking the leg and chest straps? I think we can safely assume the latter (not to be confused with "ladder"). So tell me how your assistant was any more effective than a stepladder at assessing your situation and the safety implications.
So, there was the hang check.
Given the number of people who've done hang checks and plummeted to their deaths shortly thereafter... What's your point?
And I know now that it felt OK to me because I had a zip- my zipper was done here which supported my chest weight and when I pushed with my feet against the boot of the harness it raised my hips off the ground - and so I couldn't tell that my leg loops were unattatched.
And you're the FIRST PERSON who's ever done that...
Doug Hildreth - 1992/01
1991/09/19 - Mark Kerns - 41 - H4 - Airwave Magic IV - Wasatch State Park - Fatal: head, chest, pelvis, leg
Experienced pilot simply forgot to put legs through leg straps of cocoon harness. He could not get his foot into the boot after launch (which has saved other pilots), was able to hold on for several seconds, but slipped out of the harness and fell 200 feet. Died instantly.
A lot of pilots will pick up the glider until they feel the tension on their leg loops to be sure that those leg loops are attached.
I would like to first wish Henry a speedy recovery. Hang in there brother.
Secondly, I would like to propose that the use of "Lift and Tug" is dangerous, does not work, and should not be used!
Personal experience: Many moons ago, I read a post in the HG magazine that suggested lifiting your harnes to see if your legs are properly through the leg loops of your harness. Sounded good to me, so I adopted the method. One day at Pack, I was distracted by a bunch of wuffos and failed to put my legs through the leg loops. (I believe there is another lesson here). As part of my pre-launch routine, I lifted the glider and felt what I thought were my leg loops tugging at my crotch. What I was actually feeling was my shorts being tugged by my custom fitting harness. So off I went...
I would emplore all HG pilots who currently use the techniqe to abandon it, and discourage anyone thinking about adopting the technique to not do so. Reach down and positively feel those leg loops around your legs!
Corollary axiom: Because I have had to launch last so often with no assistance, and because launching without being hooked in sucks, when foot luanching, I always attach my harness to my HG as the last step in putting together my HG. This assures I do not launch unhooked. Also, it makes getting into my harness much easier.
Many moons ago at the Pack Charles Schneider fucked up on getting into the harness, blamed it on some total assholes who were showing some interest in hang gliding, skipped his preflight, got a false positive from the hook-in check, and got through the launch, flight, and landing unscathed. So NEVER do ANYTHING like THIS:
Proven system that works, incredibly long track record.
I'll show you after the video of the flight what I'm doing different to make sure this doesn't happen.
Really? I thought you had been doing something to make sure this doesn't happen for years before it happened.
So what suddenly makes you an authority on making sure this doesn't happen? Your old sure-fire system failed predictably almost catastrophically after years of you getting away with shit and now you've established a Plan B that's been in place for well under two months and is well known to fail catastrophically.
My wife looks on as I start my run
Not showing my wire man, a good friend and an excellent pilot - this was 100% my issue.
BULLSHIT.
- You were required to do a hook-in check, you didn't, he didn't give a rat's ass so he wasn't a "good friend" or an "excellent pilot", you weren't all that far away from getting killed. This being a supposedly "self regulated" sport" I hold him to be even more accountable than you 'cause he didn't even have a ghost of a "distractions" defense.
- If he's such a "good friend" and "excellent pilot" why are you protecting his identity?
- I like that beautiful little plaque...
...you've right at the back end of the ramp. Really helps to get you focused on the most critical issue of the launch. Ever consider installing one or two of THESE:
I know of at least one pilot out there that flies with two caribiners. His logic makes more sense to me... you can't have too many backups.
You can't have too many backups.
For a second I thought I should kneel on the base tube, but then decided I should stand in the boot.
Did you think for a second:
- what you might have done a second prior to launch that would've kept you from getting into that situation? Just kidding.
- that if you had attended one of Joe Greblo's unhooked launch clinics you'd have known exactly what to do after launching unsecured?
I feel the zipper has moved up, but maintaining glider control is #1
No. #1 checking to make sure you're safely secured to the glider just prior to launch. Lotsa times if you've done just that much you can take your hands off the bar and close your eyes and still come out way better than the guy who's skipped #1.
Now trying for the lower zipper, but this is Mingus... pretty turbulent.
With no leg loops...
And no wheels - another critical option you chucked before you left the ground. 'Cept this was deliberate.
I'll have to land zipped up...
But not STANDING up - or in such a manner.
Have a decision to make:
I now need the BIG LZ...
Why? What's the little LZ and why do you need additional runway for this issue?
...and I am too low to reach it.
Do I go back and hope for a thermal?
What would you do?
I'd go back for the thermal - 'cause...
A lot of pilots will pick up the glider until they feel the tension on their leg loops to be sure that those leg loops are attached.
...I'm one of those assholes often seen walking around in their harnesses and who never have feelings of security about anything and will thus pick up the glider until they feel the tension on their leg loops to be sure that those leg loops are attached.
I notice the sun warming that low ridge...
Yes!!
How high to go?
I fear my zipper could split at any time.
Why? How many times have you heard about zippers blowing open when they're not backed up by buckles? Zippers don't blow open in the course of aerobatics, parachute deployments, crashes. They're not gonna blow open in the course of normal thermalling.
Decisions, decisions...
High enough!
Even if I get hit by sink on the way out...
My full weight in the boot has torn the harness internally, so I can't make it go prone...
It shouldn't have. What's torn?
I don't want to anyway...
My proned weight would stress the zipper more...
Nonissue.
I find that I cannot finely control the glider from this weird position...
Think about the implications of this...
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.
Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
...scared SHITLESS I'm gonna do something like that right before there's a possibility that I'm gonna do something like that right on up to the point at which it's too late for me to do anything to prevent it.
So ya know that I heard the, uh, definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing and to expect different results. So I decided to make a change.
Here's something else that makes for a definition of insanity: doing a variation of the same thing you've been doing - preflight procedures and checks - and expecting better results when the logic, evidence, data, history all indicate that you're gonna get WORSE results.
And so now I've incorporated a formal checklist system when I fly.
Instead of looking at the people who aren't launching unhooked and incorporating their procedures and mindsets.
There's a lot of them out there. This is the one that I'm using, I want to thank Dan Schroeder for - one of our local hang glider pilots here in Arizona.
Thanks Dan...
Daniel Schroeder - 45387 - H3 - 1989/01/15 - D. McManus - FL CL FSL TUR
...and D.
So it's a two checklist system. Here's a preflight checklist and I'll give you copies of both of these at the end of the video, just for your reference.
So once I'm done with preflighting and I get in my harness...
1. You CAN'T be done with preflighting until AFTER you've gotten in your harness and connected to your glider - in whatever order is best for your particular circumstances - and checked all the important connections. The most critical elements of your preflighting - and about the ones you're likely to fuck up and get bit by, but GOOD - aren't available for checking yet.
...then this is the final checklist - the one that I go through just before I walk up on the ramp to launch.
GREAT, Greg!!! Then we can all be reasonably well assured that you'll be totally airworthy when you're walking up on the ramp to launch.
And I read through this checklist to make sure I'm good to go...
Any time you're SURE you're good to go - you're NOT. The one thing that every single person who's found himself dangling from the basetube or plummeting to his death just after launch was that he was sure he was good to go just prior to launch. The less sure you are that you're good to go the less the likelihood of you having a serious problem.
I roll it up, I slide it up here in the nose cone, it has a piece of velcro on it, and there's also a velcro on the back side of the nosecone, and it's attached to there, I'm aerodynamic and it's secure.
Once I'm done flying and I go to break down, peel the nosecone off, and this checklist is permanently attached to the glider so it's there for the next flight.
Great! And, of course, this system is totally immune...
I felt like if I hooked my harness into the glider without fail before I ever got in the harness that I'd never launch unhooked.
I was preoccupied with things that had happened during preflight, and so I didn't think through the steps, and I didn't buckle myself into the harness.
...from the preoccupation/distraction issues that came reasonably close to getting you killed using your previous system. 'Cause once you've started up the back of that ramp there's just no possibility of you unhooking or unbuckling anything for any reason. And even if you do you're always gonna be focused enough to take that card out of the nose cone and check all the items on it again before committing.
Look dude... You walked right over THIS:
right at the back of the ramp. Not only did it have no effect whatsoever in the way of triggering an alarm bell about your connection status you didn't even MENTION that it had no effect whatsoever in the way of triggering an alarm bell about your connection status. And it's a whole helluva lot more visible conspicuous than some little card stowed in your nose cone.
I hope you found the video to be helpful. I think for me the main point is - don't assume that just because your harness is hooked into the glider that you are properly buckled into the harness.
DON'T *ASSUME* ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT *ANYTHING*. *ASSUME* that you're NOT hooked in and buckled. What's the downside?
You saw my hang check and it looked like I was good to go.
Whenever I see someone doing a hang check I have the exact same response seeing someone with a protoad bridle and/or a Rooney Link - a fatality waiting to happen. It hardly ever DOES but if I just wait a few years I can always be assured that someone's gonna provide some quality entertainment for me.
So I hope that you will have safe flying, I will see you again, maybe on the next mistake that I make. Until then, fly safe, see you soon. See ya.
Don't expect to be able to make a whole lot of follow-up videos addressing mistakes like this.
