Tad Eareckson wrote:I went to the FAA with a couple hundred pages ...
Tad Eareckson wrote:How's that been working out for ya with respect to the only other site ...
We can expect that every jurisdiction is going to be different. But each person reading this topic can make an effort with some of the sites in their area.
Tad Eareckson wrote:And you got Dennis Pagen to agree to try to shut me up ...
That's not a true statement. I endorsed having Dennis try to work with you rather than having Tim Herr threaten you with a lawsuit. I never said anything about shutting you up, so please don't mislead others (or yourself) that I did. Thanks.
Tad Eareckson wrote:So any thoughts on who a one person should/might be for any flying resource anywhere in the US? Or just a specific flying resource?
I will obviously continue working at Torrey, and I have some ideas on some other local sites as well. I think Funston would be a good candidate, and I really miss flying there, but it's quite a distance for me to do it alone. It would be good to have a local pilot spearhead each site if possible.
Here's a suggested mass email to all registered Kite Strings members:
Hello Fellow Kite Strings Members,
We are endorsing a joint effort with the U.S. Hawks to make more hang gliding sites available to non-USHPA members. If you have a local site that currently requires USHPA membership, please consider suggesting it via email or a personal message through the forum.
We can expect that every jurisdiction is going to be different.
Fuck yeah. Every jurisdiction outside of your SoCal neck of the woods is different in that nobody gives a rat's ass about Breaking USHPA's Monopoly Control of Flying Sites.
But each person reading this topic can make an effort with some of the sites in their area.
- HIS area. The subject is "(each) person" which is singular. "their" is plural. Watch the Grammar Nazis video a few more times.
- What slight indication do you have that anyone outside of SoCal feels adversely affected enough to consider lifting a finger?
I first learned about Tad Eareckson when I was Regional Director and the USHPA Board circulated a letter he had written (with intention to send?) to the FAA about some dangerous practices in hang gliding.
The Board's knee-jerk response was to try to take some kind of legal action to silence Tad. I indicated that I thought we shouldn't be sending our lawyers in as our first response, and that maybe we should have someone talk with him first. So Dennis Pagen volunteered, and I believe the matter was settled without any serious damage to the sport.
You wanted u$hPa to have the freedom to continue its dangerous practices in hang gliding and continue mangling and killing people at unabated rates and just make things unpleasant and expensive for me if I choose to make derogatory and false statements about USHPA to the FAA I could back up as their second response if Dennis failed to silence me with its first response.
I endorsed having Dennis...
Wow! The Great Dennis Pagen! Coauthor of the excellent book, Towing Aloft, by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden. What an HONOR that would've been!
...try to work with you...
- TRY to work with me. But then after I proved to be the senile lunatic your buddy OP properly identified me to be...
- Maybe I could call up Dennis, Rich Hass to have them try to work wih you.
...rather than having Tim Herr threaten you with a lawsuit.
So after having Dennis not talk sense into me (and after he'd ripped me off for a one point AT release assembly) you were good with your good Buddy Tim Herr THREATENING me with a lawsuit. FOR FUCKIN' WHAT??? Writing an OPEN LETTER to a government agency? Like you're trying to get everybody on Kite Strings to do with this now 72 post topic you started here well over two months ago?
- And this would've been a BAD thing? To have a cease and desist order from u$hPa in black and white regarding my communicating with a government agency? Isn't that pretty much EXACTLY what you used to score your Dockweiler Crumb Days from LA County?
- I was MASSIVELY restrained back then 'cause I still didn't understand what totally evil pieces of shit these motherfuckers all were and I was holding out hope that I could work with them. Compare/Contrast with what I began posting on Kite Strings not long after its founding. Where's the letter from Tim Herr? Where's the lawsuit?
I never said anything about shutting you up...
Nah, you just locked me down in your Basement "for about a month" as a scientific experiment to accurately measure the effect on Bob Show participation.
...so please don't mislead others (or yourself) that I did. Thanks.
Get fucked.
I will obviously continue working at Torrey...
Until the end of time.
...and I have some ideas on some other local sites as well. I think Funston would be a good candidate, and I really miss flying there, but it's quite a distance for me to do it alone.
Really? Your buddy Rick Masters doesn't consider any flight not launched above twelve thousand feet at the Owens to be genuine hang gliding. And just about everybody from the Great Plains east unwilling to fly it two or three weekends a month is unworthy. And anybody who gets up with three or four minutes of winch, truck, tug time is sub-paraglider.
It would be good to have a local pilot spearhead each site if possible.
It's not. Local US hang gliding associations are all homogenized crud, nothing controversial is tolerated in discussions. And people who don't play nicely with others aren't tolerated.
Here's a suggested mass email to all registered Kite Strings members:
Nope. All the people with any interest are in this discussion, we have something under fifty registered members, lots of them are non US, lots are unknown.
Hello Fellow Kite Strings Members,
We are endorsing a joint effort with the U.S. Hawks to make more hang gliding sites available to non-USHPA members. If you have a local site that currently requires USHPA membership, please consider suggesting it via email or a personal message through the forum.
That would be a good start.
They can read it there. And the ones who'd be your most likely candidates are the most active members and so far we're not seeing anything.
---
Your last post is time stamped 2017/10/14 16:12:27 UTC. But that's not when you posted it. Until I think just a wee bit prior to 2017/10/14 16:59:44 UTC it was yet another "Work in progress...".
You do that as a placeholder so you can take your sweet time on your cell phone responding to one post while preventing everyone else from getting in words in sequence when they're ready and requiring you to read, consider, modify your response accordingly. Easier for Bob, harder for everyone else - particularly Yours Truly. It's an abuse of the editing privilege and a distortion of the historical record.
Use a laptop or tablet with a proper keyboard so you can see what's going on and have five times the number of digits available for typing, editing, revising, proofreading, navigating.
If someone gets in ahead of you - tough. Deal with it. Same way I have to all the freakin' time when important stuff is happening.
And dealing with it doesn't mean checking for new traffic AFTER you've hit submit and deleting or editing what you've just submitted.
If you do this stuff again I'm gonna be seriously considering pulling your plug (again). Plus I think everything that can be said on this topic already has been multiple times and you're repeatedly not addressing issues I've raised.
I've had to deal with a lot of dishonest, untrustworthy, and even despicable people in my long effort to gain fairness for hang glider pilots at Torrey and elsewhere.
I've developed an approach (you might call it a "tactic" or a "strategy") that tends to give me one of two things that are helpful to my effort. Here it is in a nutshell:
1. I publicly make reasonable requests.
2. I do my best to publicly distribute the results.
That's it. That's what I do. Here are a few examples that come to mind:
- I asked David Jebb to give a reason for banning Dave Beardslee for life and me for a year.
- I asked the Soaring Council to add the Torrey Hawks to balance a clearly unbalanced Council.
- I asked the USHPA Board to endorse adding the Torrey Hawks to the Soaring Council via their representative on the Council.
- I asked the USHPA Executive Committee to honor the USHPA Board's vote.
- I asked the City Council to add the Torrey Hawks to the Advisory Board.
- I asked USHPA's Training and Safety Chairman to investigate the safety of ACA's training.
- I asked USHPA to publish the voting records of Directors.
- I asked San Diego to reinstate the Torrey Pines Advisory Board.
- I asked Bill Helliwell for his position on several important issues.
- I asked USHPA to cite the bylaw or SOP violations justifying my expulsion.
- I asked Los Angeles County to not require USHPA membership due to USHPA's retaliation.
Those were all reasonable requests. Some were honored, and I publicly praised those actions (the carrot). Others were denied, and I publicly criticized those actions (the stick).
But in each case I either got the reasonable thing I requested or I got pretty solid grounds to discredit the person/organization denying the reasonable request (that's why it always has to be a reasonable request).
Now in the current topic, I've made a reasonable request for you to send an email message announcing and endorsing an effort to break up USHPA's monopoly control of flying sites. You can do it (which is what I would like), or you can give me the consolation prize of proof that you weren't serious in the first place.
See how nicely that works out?
P.S. Here's another reasonable request: Please post all the rules of this forum somewhere so people will know that they're not allowed to properly spell "Jonathan Ditch", and they'll also know exactly how much they can or cannot edit their posts.
I've had to deal with a lot of dishonest, untrustworthy, and even despicable people in my long effort to gain fairness for hang glider pilots at Torrey and elsewhere.
This has not been easy or fun. This has been a sad realization for me that some people are so pathological that they cannot interact reasonably with others. That's why so many societies have jails (or death penalties). At some point, they've realized that the costs of interacting with pathological people is too high to be paid. We're reaching that point.
Bob Kuczewski - 2011/12/15 01:26:02 UTC
Re: Peaceful Coexistence
Tad,
After our last conversation which I've documented below for my own memory, I've decided that I don't want you on the US Hawks forum any longer. Period. I'll take the lumps for banning you if that's what it takes.
I will still honor my suggestion below that you resign from the forum voluntarily so we can support our shared causes, but I do not want you to continue posting on the US Hawks forum. Please let me know if you'd like to resign "peacefully" as I've outlined by midnight tonight (Eastern time), or I'll remove you and state my own reasons.
Even REALLY despicable ones.
I've developed an approach (you might call it a "tactic" or a "strategy") that tends to give me one of two things that are helpful to my effort. Here it is in a nutshell:
1. I publicly make reasonable requests.
And, of course, ONLY reasonable requests.
2. I do my best to publicly distribute the results.
So what kind of results did you get from your email spamming of the 618 other current Bob Show members?
That's it. That's what I do. Here are a few examples that come to mind:
...
And T** at K*** S****** to voluntarily resign from The Bob Show.
And made The Bob Show a safe place for people of varying ages to visit when he refused. Which it wouldn't have been if T** at K*** S****** had been permitted to continue posting there.
Those were all reasonable requests.
Well then this one must be too.
Some were honored, and I publicly praised those actions (the carrot). Others were denied, and I publicly criticized those actions (the stick).
Any chance some individuals would have opposite reactions regarding your praise and criticism on some issues?
Now in the current topic, I've made a reasonable request for you to send an email message announcing and endorsing an effort to break up USHPA's monopoly control of flying sites. You can do it (which is what I would like), or you can give me the consolation prize of proof that you weren't serious in the first place.
One or the other. If I don't spam every registered Kite Strings Member - well over half of whom have never made a single post, thirteen of whom have never once logged in subsequent to being activated, a bunch o' non-USers, many I know nothing about beyond appearing to be legitimate aviation people - I proved that I'm not serious about breaking the evil corrupt monopoly that ended my hang gliding career nine years and three days ago a bit shy of my full qualification for Master level.
Obviously must not be serious about any other Kite Strings issues 'cause I've never done a single universal spam for any of those either.
And I guess by the same logic nobody in the sport has ever been serious about anything.
See how nicely that works out?
Yep. So if this is a reasonable request can you cite an example of a similar request and action from somewhere in the history of glider forums and show us how effective the response was?
No. This is NOT a reasonable request. I've reconnected your wire, given you full Member level access and privileges, allowed you to present your case, fairly moderated conflicts. You've been heard by the only people likely to have any interest and all but two of the Members here - the two by far most active - are free to continue the discussion as they please on The Bob Show. And:
- You haven't identified any sites outside of SoCal at which u$hPa monopoly control is perceived to be the slightest problematic by area flyers.
- Have you considered that a global Kite Strings Member spam might well have results the polar opposite of what you're hoping/assuming they will be?
- If this is such a reasonable request then how come you haven't made it at Grebloville? Ten times the members and they're a helluva lot more likely to have interests in other US non-SoCal flying sites? And what's wrong with the Jack and Davis Shows? You've got people on both and this doesn't have to and shouldn't be a particular Bob issue.
P.S. Here's another reasonable request: Please post all the rules of this forum somewhere so people will know that they're not allowed to properly spell "Jonathan Ditch"...
Don't need to. Don't have the slightest problem with any of the Members. And the one individual with whom the issue is problematic is a Guest who's already been very thoroughly briefed. And I don't want that fake issue to be discussed much further.
...and they'll also know exactly how much they can or cannot edit their posts.
Haven't had significant problems with the Membership. But for the further benefit of the Guest...
Do not disrupt the forum, distort or vandalize the historical record, make my jobs as Moderator and Archivist any more pains in the ass than they need to be.
Write concisely and clearly, proofread, run spellchecks.
Post in turn / No placeholders. When a reader sees a new post he doesn't want his time wasted seeing "Work in progress...". And he doesn't wanna hafta keep checking over the course of the next hour, inflating the hit count, holding back on anything he had ready to go.
Wanna fix typos, spelling mistakes, grammar; expand, clarify, better illustrate, deal with broken links, better format... Fine, encouraged. I do it all the time with enormous help from Steve and Brian.
Occasionally someone will click on a new post of mine only to see "Delayed." That will be for one of two reasons: I've accidentally hit "Submit" instead of "Preview" in the course of preparing and editing a post or I've realized that I've forgotten to address an important point. So then I'll work as quickly as possible to complete what I intended and get it up.
Also fine and I prefer that people do same when mistakes are made rather than delete the post and permanently obliterate its number (this one will be 10619) which upsets me and makes archiving more of a pain.
Delete a post after I or anyone else has had a chance to grab it... Consider it public property.
A point about Kite Strings...
The children here play nicely with others because the forum is academically (science, math, history, language) based and that attracts like quality individuals and keeps us on the same pages. ALL other US based and influenced forums - including The Bob Show - are based on popular personalities and opinions. And those are all approved and certified by Tim Herr.
You're never in a million years gonna take a stand against bent pins 'cause you can't afford to lose the pin bender support you have now. And that's why Kite Strings runs very smoothly without you and why I ALWAYS wind up with exhaustion, headaches, blurred vision, extra depression with you. (Like now, for instance.)
Tad, you "ALWAYS wind up with exhaustion, headaches, blurred vision, extra depression" because you're desperately trying to prove you're right when you're wrong. It's like you're trying to prove that "pi" is exactly "3" because you want a 4th grade answer to a 7th grade problem. You drive yourself crazy trying to prove the facts you want rather than accept the facts you see right in front of you. Eventually, out of desperation, you'll push the "ban" button because it's your only way "out" of the illogical box you've put yourself in. Except you're not really "out" of that box. You're still in it, but at least you've silenced anyone telling you so.
Bob wrote:I'd like your help and the help of your members to work toward breaking that monopoly.
Tad wrote:Sure. It's a total no brainer legitimate issue.
So what does "your help and the help of your members" look like? Here was my suggestion:
Hello Fellow Kite Strings Members,
We are endorsing a joint effort with the U.S. Hawks to make more hang gliding sites available to non-USHPA members. If you have a local site that currently requires USHPA membership, please consider suggesting it via email or a personal message through the forum.
Since your message above amounts to a long winded "No" to that suggestion, let's all sit back and watch what exactly you ARE going to do to support the "total no brainer legitimate issue" of providing "your help and the help of your members to work toward breaking that monopoly".
I predict you'll continue to whine and complain and call people names without any discernible plan to actually fix anything. You'll still be in your own self-made box.
But don't take my word for it. Come back and read this entire topic a year from now to see if I was right or not.
Tad, you "ALWAYS wind up with exhaustion, headaches, blurred vision, extra depression" because you're desperately trying to prove you're right when you're wrong.
I get there in periods when I'm just reviewing and archiving discussions you're in and I'm not.
It's like you're trying to prove that "pi" is exactly "3" because you want a 4th grade answer to a 7th grade problem.
You mean like:
Donnell Hewett - 1981/10
WEAK LINK
Every tension limiting device discussed up to now consists of mechanical components, has a limited range, or relies upon human operation. Every one of these tension limiting devices is subject to failure. Please correct me if I am wrong, but it is also my understanding that there are a large number of tow pilots today who are depending upon smooth air, rope stretch, boat speed, mechanical devices, and ground crews to provide the tension limitation control for their flights. Well, in the author's opinion that is just not good enough. Skyting requires the use of an infallible weak link to place an absolute upper limit to the towline tension in the unlikely event that everything else fails.
Now I've heard the argument that "Weak links always break at the worst possible time, when the glider is climbing hard in a near stall situation," and that "More people have been injured because of a weak link than saved by one." Well, I for one have been saved by a weak link and would not even consider towing without one. I want to know without a doubt (1) when I am pushing too hard, and (2) what will break when I push too hard, and (3) that no other damage need result because I push too hard.
Furthermore, I will not use a mechanical weak link no matter how elaborate or expensive because there is always the possibility that it may fail to operate properly. In skyting we use a simple and inexpensive strand of nylon fishing line which breaks at the desired tension limit. There is no possible way for it to jam and fail to release when the maximum tension is exceeded. Sure, it may get weaker through aging or wear and break too soon, but it cannot get stronger and fail to break. If it does break too soon, so what? We simply replace it with a fresh one.
A properly designed weak link must be strong enough to permit a good rate of climb without breaking, and it must be weak enough to break before the glider gets out of control, stalls, or collapses. Since our glider flies level with a 50 pound pull, climbs at about 500 fpm with a 130 pound pull, and retains sufficient control to prevent stalling if a weak link breaks at 200 pounds pull, we selected that value. Of course, a pilot could deliberately produce a stalled break at 200 lbs, just as he can stall a glider in free flight. But if he is trying to limit his climb rate and the forces exceed the break limit, the glider simply drops its nose to the free flight attitude and continues flying. If the weak link breaks (or should the towline break) at less than the 200 pound value, the effect is even less dramatic and controlled flight is still present.
Most people are amazed at how small a string is needed for the weak link of a tow system. In fact, many people upon seeing it in operation for the first time make a comment something like "Don't you need something a little stronger than that? It's going to break!" But, of course, that's the whole point, it's supposed to break. And in order to break at about 200 lbs, it needs to be a single strand (loop) of No. 21 or 24 size nylon cord or a double strand (loop) of No. 12 or 15 size. For our glider we have found through trial and error that a loop of No. 18 braided nylon twine is ideal. A single strand of this twine is rated at 140 lb breaking strength, so a double strength loop should break at 280 pounds. In practice, we have found that because of the knots, it actually breaks at about 200 lbs when tied in a loop and attached to the towline.
Although we suspect that the same weak link would work well with other gliders, we have not had the opportunity to run tests on other gliders to varify this suspicion. Until such tests can be run, we strongly recommend that considerable caution be exercised in determining the correct weak link for any other glider. One should start with a line that definitely breaks too soon, gradually increasing the strength until a point is reached where the glider is able to climb at a good rate without breaking the weak link, but where no stall occurs when the weak link does break.
Obviously, more work needs to be done in this area, but even so, we have found our current system to be quite satisfactory and able to provide the necessary tension limiting and regulation needed for safe and enjoyable flight under tow. Our next article will discuss various methods of attaching the towline to the glider and why the skyting method is to be preferred.
That all add up just fine when you plug it into your Aeronautical Engineering model? If it does we don't have all that much to talk about and if it doesn't you're mispriortizing your targets.
You drive yourself crazy trying to prove the facts you want rather than accept the facts you see right in front of you.
And here I was thinking that I was already crazy.
Eventually, out of desperation, you'll push the "ban" button because it's your only way "out" of the illogical box you've put yourself in.
I pushed the ban button 2012/05/07 12:38:07 UTC. How many times do I need to remind you that you're here on Guest status as a courtesy? If I disconnect your wire again - which I'd prefer not to do - it will be to get a much needed break from an issue that's been discussed to the maximum extent possible already and to free me to get on with something more productive.
Except you're not really "out" of that box. You're still in it, but at least you've silenced anyone telling you so.
Got news for ya. You didn't silence me when you made your forum a safe place for people of varying ages to visit and I didn't silence you for spamming Kite Strings with scores of massively inappropriate posts on personal issues which had absolutely nothing to do with the purpose and mission of Kite Strings.
So what does "your help and the help of your members" look like?
What you've seen already and have been seeing for a long time.
Here was my suggestion:
Hello Fellow Kite Strings Members,
We are endorsing a joint effort with the U.S. Hawks to make more hang gliding sites available to non-USHPA members. If you have a local site that currently requires USHPA membership, please consider suggesting it via email or a personal message through the forum.
Great. You've posted it and now Members and anyone else interested can respond accordingly.
Since your message above amounts to a long winded "No" to that suggestion, let's all sit back and watch what exactly you ARE going to do to support the "total no brainer legitimate issue" of providing "your help and the help of your members to work toward breaking that monopoly".
Using aerotow weak links of tested strengths falling in the middle of the FAA legal range to protect against structural overload versus magic one-size-fits-all long-track-record fishing line that broke at any pressure anyone in the Flight Park Mafia said it did to increase the safety of the towing operation total no brainer legitimate issue. But when I tried to get things into legally compliant order you and your u$hPa motherfucker colleagues moved en masse to harness my qualities in a positive direction and we had to wait another four years for them to fatally splatter one of their pro toad tandem aerotow instructors for a positive crumb to happen.
I predict you'll continue to whine and complain and call people names without any discernible plan to actually fix anything.
I got a few more people doing hook-in checks and using safe tow releases, bridles, weak links. We totally demolished Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and made it impossible for any Industry motherfuckers to make any statements on weak link strength and purpose.
You'll still be in your own self-made box.
And still averaging about ten hits per post.
But don't take my word for it. Come back and read this entire topic a year from now to see if I was right or not.
About what?
- That USHPA's Monopoly Control of Flying Sites needs to be Broken? Show me where I've disagreed? I didn't know it at the time but I was doing a lot of work on that long before you were. I was developing superior aerotow equipment starting probably early 1992 and safe tow equipment started becoming a major threat to u$hPa and u$hPa control about a decade earlier.
- That it will be possible to accomplish anything beyond what you have already with your tenuous Dockweiler Crumb Days? See the Torrey Pines Gliderport / Bob Kuczewski model.
Bob wrote:I predict you'll continue to whine and complain and call people names without any discernible plan to actually fix anything. You'll still be in your own self-made box.
But don't take my word for it. Come back and read this entire topic a year from now to see if I was right or not.
Tad Eareckson wrote:About what?
See above.
Tad Eareckson wrote:That USHPA's Monopoly Control of Flying Sites needs to be Broken? Show me where I've disagreed?
Is it just me or is the gal's helmet not buckled? The straps seem to be blowing in the wind. I'm impressed that it stayed on!
And if it hadn't? What are the probabilities that the:
- flight will terminate in a crash?
- helmet would:
-- come off in a crash?
-- be of any use in a crash?
And, of course, it's perfectly OK that neither of their helmets is a full face.
Preflight people!
- The primary and "backup" releases are inaccessible pieces of shit with no load capacity.
- The primary bridle is a skinny piece of shit designed to wrap at the bridle. In lockout simulations it does so over half the time.
- The secondary bridle is a cheap overlength piece of shit with lotsa wrap potential.
- If the secondary bridle wraps the glider driver has no means of releasing it.
- The "backup" release isn't weak link protected. Consequently neither is the glider. And ditto on the tug.
- The primary weak link is heavier than the tug's.
- None of those Quest douchebags has a freaking clue as to the strengths of their weak links or even their purpose.
- They're telling students that installing weak links on both ends of bridles doubles the towline tension required to blow them.
- They're towing behind a tug that went out of control and killed a driver at Ridgely a year and a half ago and we still don't have a report.
is OK 'cause his full face helmet is buckled, right Danny? As long as he's done a proper preflight on his helmet it's perfectly OK for him to leave the wheels in the closet 'cause he's gonna be good to handle that instant deceleration he's highly likely to experience without them.
He's good to run off the Henson ramp because he always preflights his suspension via a hang check with assistance prior to stepping on the ramp and never leaves his harness once he gets in it?
Bill Umstattd - 2012/12/22 01:49:56 UTC
Philadelphia
No helmet and going negative in a whip stall. Keepin it classy.
- The one closest to the ground has a helmet. The one closest to the keel doesn't.
- How 'bout the towing equipment, Kevin? People have died using and because of that crap.
Matthew Graham - 2012/12/24 05:02:16 UTC
Takoma Park
What a bunch of freakin' yahoos! Florida Ridge has lost a future customer.
But your loyalty to the douchebags at Ridgely and Manquin will be undying - regardless of how many people their incompetence, negligence, and stupidity crash, mangle, and kill.
Danny Brotto - 2012/12/24 05:02:16 UTC
I know that I'm "old school"...
Yeah. Fly with whatever crap you feel like. Make sure that your brake lever is securely velcroed to the downtube, bent pin release is fully closed, and standard aerotow weak link isn't too fuzzed. As long as you've preflighted it you're good to go.
...but watching that just makes me sad.
Me too Danny. Keep up the good fight. No telling how many lives you could save by getting people to make sure their helmets are buckled.
Fuck you and the rest of all you CHPA/MHGA/Ridgely/Manquin wastes of space.
And then about eleven and a half days after that post...
Tad, used to post about as nice as anyone, and nicer than some. Remember?
Blowback... You put in a thousand plus hour$, tooling, te$ting and documenting safety issues for the masses and have it ignored and suppressed by people, for whatever reason, and you would get testy too.
You're fairly snarky as it is, and you haven't done the work...
And you may be correct about the footnote... but today's footnotes are now hyperlinks...
There is a good chance that from now on, for every incident and fatality caused by insufficient weaklinks or sub-standard release mechanisms, a hyperlink trail will lead back to Tadtriedtowarnyou.com ... where all the evidence can be found.
A further link could then go to a list of all the people and the role they played in the suppression of those safety issues...
Who would like to be on that list?
How many are already on it?
Those were actions, Bob. But zilch got into circulation 'cause compliance with and enforcement of existing equipment standards would stifle all that speed of light innovation we're seeing all the time. Almost impossible to understand what I was thinking when I took the steps I did. It was like mandating minimum standards for laptops because our computing power is so anemic and progress has been so glacial. And I'll be eternally grateful to you for helping your u$hPa buddies figure out how to harness my energy and bring my important perspective to the sport. And also, needless to say, will be the sport.
Do something.
I've done something. And barring further developments in this area I've done all I'm gonna. And I suspect the same is true for you. I'm not seeing this strategy as viable anywhere outside of the situation in which you've already made your small dent. And my old local crowd is composed entirely of u$hPa Board, operatives, and cocksuckers. There are no allies here - only enemies.
P.S. I used to look to guys like Rob Kells, Steve Pearson, Mike Meier, Felipe Amunategui, Tracy Tillman, John Heiney, Peter Birren, Bob Kuczewski as likely allies.
As I type this post, I'm laying in the shade of my glider on the beach at Dockweiler resting up after a few flghts.
Tad Eareckson wrote:P.S. I used to look to guys like Rob Kells, Steve Pearson, Mike Meier, Felipe Amunategui, Tracy Tillman, John Heiney, Peter Birren, Bob Kuczewski as likely allies.
There's a well-known saying: To have a friend, you have to be a friend.
The normal braking force in pounds for a weak link is around 180, at least that is the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations. By adding a second weak link to your bridal you are cutting the load on each link by half, meaning that the weak link will not break at the intended 180 pounds but it will need about 360.
If that is what you use and is what your instructor approved then I have no business on interfering, i dont know if you are using the same weak link material but there shoul be only ONE weak link on a tow bridle for it to be effective in breaking before higher loads are put into you and the glider should the glider gets to an attitude or off track so much that the safety fuse of the link is needed to break you free from the tug.
I made the same mistake on putting two weak links thinking that I was adding protection to my setup and I was corrected by two instructors on separate occacions at Quest Air and at the Florida RIdge.
Forgot that he had started by boosting the 130 pound Greenspot single loop to an extra 38 percent over the approximate 130 on which the small handful of us who've bothered to ACTUALLY TEST...
...it all agree. So what blows AT BEST at 260 pounds towline now blows at 360 pounds with the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations on one end of the bridle and 720 pounds with it on both ends - Two Gs for a fairly heavy glider, better than three and a half Gs for a little girl glider. (The way you calculate chain strength in Flight Park Mafia World is pronounce a strength for a standard link and multiply by the number of links. (With a dog leash chain long enough you can safely lift an aircraft carrier.))
If you look at that 28 post Jack Show thread you'll notice that NOBODY - from a certain Zack all the way down to total dregs like Mike Bomstad, Pat Halfhill, Davis, Craig Hassan, Dennis Wood, Rodie, Ryan, Chris Valley - is suggesting, as you are, that Juan may be misrepresenting and/or mistaken about what he was taught at two of the three Florida Flight Park Mafia operations.
And even if he is... What the fuck does it matter? They're the ones who trained and certified him to engage in hang gliding's most dangerous (and expensive) flavor of towing. They're either totally incompetent operators or grossly negligent instructors. And if you're a totally incompetent operator you're automatically a grossly negligent instructor. And your product is out there putting out deadly misinformation for all the unfiltered consumption of all the Jack Show halfwits - not to mention the general public.
And tell me why there's such a thing as the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations - which was then disputed by NO ONE and brutally enforced by total scumbags like Davis Dead-On Straub, Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney, Dr. Trisa Tilletti - when FAA regs MANDATE weak links based upon the Max Certified Operating Weights of individual glider models?
And ever wonder what's going on with the irregular weak link lines used at few aerotow operations? Is this stuff geography dependent or sumpin'?
And if there's THIS MUCH CONFUSION amongst Flight Park Mafia certified products like Juan in the Worlds Largest Hang Gliding Community tell me how the motherfuckers don't have a moral responsibility to monitor relevant traffic and set all us muppets straight.
And furthermore along that line... How do you explain the UNIVERSAL ABSENCE of relevant information concerning the focal point of the safe towing system on one hundred percent of the operations' websites?
Here's what Quest had up from the beginning of time until about a decade ago when they replaced it with nothing:
The strength of the weak link is crucial to a safe tow. It should be weak enough so that it will break before the pressure of the towline reaches a level that compromises the handling of the glider but strong enough so that it doesn't break every time you fly into a bit of rough air. A good rule of thumb for the optimum strength is one G, or in other words, equal to the total wing load of the glider. Most flight parks use 130 lb. braided Dacron line, so that one loop (which is the equivalent to two strands) is about 260 lb. strong - about the average wing load of a single pilot on a typical glider. For tandems, either two loops (four strands) of the same line or one loop of a stronger line is usually used to compensate for nearly twice the wing loading. When attaching the weak link to the bridle, position the knot so that it's hidden from the main tension in the link and excluded altogether from the equation.
IMPORTANT - It should never be assumed that the weak link will break in a lockout.
ALWAYS RELEASE THE TOWLINE before there is a problem.
Run that through your Navier-Stokes equations and see if you can't find anything that smells a wee bit off.
Here's a recent example, end of last year, at Quest, of the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations breaking before the pressure of the towline reached a level that compromised the handling of the glider and not every time he flew into a bit of rough air.
...until AFTER the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations has selflessly increased the safety of the towing operation. (Give the comments on that video a skim. Both of our forums make into the discussion.)
And a less recent example of the same thing at the same place in more inconvenient circumstances:
I didn't need and wasn't asking for any FRIENDS or ALLIES. I needed SOMEBODY to check my arithmetic and EXISTING SOPs and regs and, if the sum came out to FOUR, say "He's right." That's exactly what I did in your situation when I saw...
...the video, heard the circumstances which are disputed by NO ONE. I DIDN'T say:
I'm not an expert in paragliding, but I consulted someone who knows the topic pretty well and Robin Marien's comment was that while it might be good for USHPA to make recommendations in this area, there is still plenty of room for innovation. For that reason, he doesn't think USHPA should mandate any kind of obligatory system that would stifle that innovation - whether Mr. Kuczewski's or any other. (Did I mention that I have very little background in paragliding?) So I'm just passing this perspective on for your general consideration.
I said that yeah, they put a student they'd rated as P1 into traffic at a soaring site they rated as H4 and half killed her. (And one of their staffers lied his ass off to the husband on a couple of issues with the camera running.)
Dan Lukaszewicz - 2015/11/11 20:12:42 UTC
The sport draws together people with similar character traits and I'm sure you will feel right at home almost immediately.
You don't wanna alienate too many members of the Worlds Largest Hang Gliding Community who fly with and trust their lives to the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations - whatever the fuck that is nowadays.
And whether or not one has very much background in towing, towing is:
- how:
-- the sport initially got off the ground
-- a huge percentage of the hang glider population was and is started off in the sport
- the only option for getting off the ground in the overwhelming percentage of square miles in the country
- used to great advantage in the shadows of mountain launches (which may or may not be pointed into the wind at any given moment)
- pretty much essential for comps and demo days
- practiced by the vast majority of contacts of:
-- Owens-Or-Nothing Total Assholes like Rick Masters
-- everybody else in the sport
- when platform or dolly launched a zillion times safer slope, ramp, cliff foot launch
And furthermore if one doesn't understand the basic aerodynamics of towing one also doesn't understand the basic aerodynamics of anything else involved in hang gliding - or any other flavor of aviation.
is flying SOLELY by being TOWED. Thrust (tow pressure) is being transmitted from the external power source (Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Voight - through the harness suspension) to the keel at (or close to) the hang point. That's EXACTLY how ALL hang glider towing works.
...acting mostly on the pilot take over as the driving power.
Ryan Voight - 2015/02/22
If you teach them how to pull the glider with the harness they'll learn to steer the glider through weight shift simply by running toward their target.
Wrong. False. Totally backwards. EXACTLY like Hewett and his delusional auto roll correcting center-of-mass bridle.
Let's replace Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Vought’s five thousand pound carabine(e)r with a loop of the regular weak link line used at most aerotow operations.
What happens if it abruptly increases the safety of the launch run operation and Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Voight keeps his hands free? What degree of increase in the safety of the launching operation should we expect?
How well will Ninja Matt be able to steer the glider through weight shift simply by running toward his target if he makes an easy reach to something with one of those two hands he's simply resting on the control tubes and carefully applying no lateral torque?
If we can't reach some agreements on reality, simple up/down/left/right stuff, I'm gonna have even more zero interest in keeping this sport from going totally extinct in North America - regardless of how much Monopoly Control u$hPa has or hasn't - than I do now.
