instructors and other qualified pilot fiends

[<BS>]

Glad it didn't require a huge effort.

We'd had that issue before:

Sorry I didn't remember that.

[Tad Eareckson]

Glad it didn't require a huge effort.

Ditto times fifty.

Sorry I didn't remember that.

Neither did I. Found it when prepping for the prospective overhaul seaching my word processing archive for:
"http://forum.hanggliding.org/viewtopic"
Totally blanked outta my memory until I started reviewing the posts.

[Tad Eareckson]

Regarding the Grebloville forum server migration issue:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post11357.html#p11357

Having gotten myself somewhat girded up to deal with the Jack Show issue which had already resolved itself I did a little regearing and wasted most of the day fixing about five and a half hundred of the Sylmar links.

The old format...
http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3840
http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
...still works if you just change the 2 to a 3.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/rules/

2019 HangGliding.Org Simplified Rules and Policies

* No posts or links about the toxic Bob Kuczewski, Scott C Wise, Tad Eareckson and related people, or their material or organizations. ALL SUCH POSTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27494
The exciting bits

Steve Davy - 2012/04/27 01:55:17 UTC

Why did you delete my post?

Davis Straub - 2012/04/27 02:42:02 UTC

Tad's name.

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson

Mike Blankenhorn - 2013/03/12 16:07:44 UTC

We should bury this thread and not give Tad the satisfaction that we are actually wasting our time acknowledging his existence. Yes, this needed to be brought into the light but now we should bury this asshole with some nice cold dirt (metaphorically) and never speak of him again.

Ya really gotta hand it to the mainstream for its success in pretending the Kite Strings elephant in the room doesn't exist.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=33936
ANSWERED: Why Will RRG Succeed if Insurance Failed?

Paul Hurless - 2016/01/25 05:49:39 UTC

It's not about pleasing everyone, it's about being responsible. As far as what Tad thinks (it's debatable if he's capable of actually thinking), I couldn't care less about what that shit stain "thinks" about anything.

That was just a bit under two and a half years ago. Now... NOTHING. Total silence. And all of the mainstream forums, with the arguable exception of The Bob Show (with the arguable inclusion of The Bob Show in the mainstream), have nothing of any substance to talk about with respect to the technology, procedures, plummeting direction of the sport. And any Jack or Davis Show thread that starts to get mildly interesting and/or productive gets locked down by Jack or Davis.

Kite Strings has a HUGE footprint - with respect to hang gliding - on the web. Try googling "Arys Moorhead" or "hang gliding" "weak links". Better yet... Try image searches.

If we're still poison to the sport then we need to be attacked and put out of commission. If we're legitimate then we need to be listened to, quoted, implemented. We must've achieved a precision strike right on the neutral line - not worth commenting on one way or another. Fuckin' amazing what with the sport in its current ever accelerating death spiral and its doomed rapidly shrinking population.

But speaking of search results... There's still a horrible Tapatalk vandalized version of us up through what had been originally our 2017/10/29 23:50:11 UTC post:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post10709.html#p10709

festering away out there...

http://www.tapatalk.com/groups/kitestrings/
Kite Strings - A forum devoted to the scientific advancement of hang gliding

...diluting attention away from our actual forum - current and as originally intended, wasting bandwidth, maintaining errors we've corrected here.

Much as I hate irreversible annihilation of stuff I think it's best if I/we go in, wipe out all the topics and posts save for the original one in "Welcome", edit/replace that one with a short explanation of what happened and a redirect to here.

So any comments? Barring hearing anything I may not have considered I'll go ahead and do that within a few days.

[Steve Davy]

http://www.kitestrings.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19
LMFP Release Dysfunction

Tad Eareckson - 2011/07/14 18:48:07 UTC

Textbook natural selection.

The Jack Show has been going for four days shy of five years now and in that time anybody who's shown any flickers of intelligence, competence, honesty, character, decency has been fairly quickly eliminated from the population. So it doesn't take too long before all you have left is a deep and vast slick of pureed, homogenized, stinking, toxic, self congratulatory ooze.

This ain't rocket science.

Congratulations, Jack! Your shit stain forum is now so ridiculous that even Paul doesn't bother to post anything.

Consider reinstating the "Sink This" button, and thus giving Paul something to contribute to your idiot asylum.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7686
Higgs' Dream

Ward Odenwald - 2019/07/04 23:26:39 UTC

Most current Region 9 HG pilots started their flying adventure years after one of our pioneers passed away on a training hill trying to perfect an assisted bungee-cord launch technique. Ron Higgs was a free-flight pioneer/visionary who had a remarkable sense of where the sport was going and had the guts to drag most of us there. He and his brother, Glen, had the foresight to purchase the land that we now call the Pulpit. During the construction of the original ramp, Ron with the excitement and certainty of someone who stands in a pulpit would preach to us about the XC potential of the McConnellsburg site. For many of us who wanted more than just landing at a primary LZ, it was "music to our ears". Heck, just a quick glance at a PA topo-map back then was enough to understand Ron's excitement about heading north from the Pulpit, soaring over the interconnecting ridges and flying deep into central PA and even to NJ. This was one of Ron's principle XC goals!

Now, many of us who are addicted to XC have understood for a long time that with the advances in glider performance, Ron's dream of ridge soaring north along the interconnected ridges (way past the Sac) is within reach. While achieving this may be one's "mission", historically it's a goal put forth by Higgs nearly four decades ago.

In honor of Ron, I suggest that we refer to soaring north from the Pulpit along Pennsylvania's interconnected Appalachian ridges as Higgs' Dream, as it is much more than just a mission.

Most current Region 9 HG pilots started their flying adventure years after one of our pioneers passed away on a training hill trying to perfect an assisted bungee-cord launch technique.

- I didn't. I started my hang gliding flying adventure about four and a half months before one of our pioneers passed away on a training hill trying to perfect an assisted bungee-cord launch technique.

- He didn't pass away on a training hill trying to perfect an assisted bungee-cord launch technique. He got abruptly totaled slamming back into the hill after locking out then going into an irrecoverable dive 'cause he'd unclipped the reflex bridle and pulled the defined tips of his Raven 209 "to make ground handling easier". Didn't really have shit to do with towing - even then close to the end of the frame-only connection era.

R.V. Wills - 1981/06

1980/08/23 - Ronald Higgs - 30 - Raven 209 - Lily Pons Hill - Buckeystown - Maryland

Hang IV flyer, Ron was getting "people tows," with his brother and others slinging him along with a pulley/bridle system. On his last launch, he got better wind, rose at 45 degrees to 100', got into a right hand lockout, then a wingover and dive back into the hill. No defined tips or anti-luff lines on the glider at the time.

Les King, the owner of Sport Flight in Gaithersburg, was there and told me he kept expecting the glider to pull out at any moment now. But the lesson learned by the Mid Atlantic genius crowd was that towing was an insanely dangerous fringe activity to be avoided like plutonium. It got booster shots from Frank Sauber and Bill Bennett / Mike Del Signore in '96 and only began fading after Highland Aerosports started up in '99 (over twenty years ago now).

I got my first glider - Comet 165 - used from Sport Flight and took my first seven flights on it at Lilypons on 1982/02/21 - 39°17'35.73" N 077°26'39.33" W. Did a local farm, Oregon Ridge north of Baltimore, the Taylor Farm (where Frank Sauber would be killed 1996/04/28 locking out from a scooter tow) King George,Virginia), down to Kitty Hawk mid March, second and last time at Lilypons 1982/03/28 for another 18 hops, then back down to Kitty Hawk for that season of "instructing".

Tom Haddon was at Lilypons instructing for Sport Flight that second time. He'd been Kitty Hawk instructor and ace dune pilot and I'd met him when I was working there in the fall of '80. He'd just won the Nationals and was flying the first Comet I'd seen.

All that's getting close to four decades ago. Seems like a century. Different planet and a dying sport that's a total sewer controlled by total dregs.

And the Lilypons Water Gardens a half mile to the east of the training hill (and across the Monocacy River) was about the last place in the state at which one could see Loggerhead Shrikes.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/12.225
Big Blue Sky

Harry Sudwischer - 2008/11/11 15:36:08 UTC

The film is true to the feel of the times. Maybe it is best appreciated by those who lived the dreams of the pioneers of Hang Gliding. Fear was also present, when I first found myself thousands of feet above the ground at Mittersil Ski Area in New Hampshire in August of 1975. Hanging under a 43 pound Wills Wing 20/20 Swallowtail Standard Kite with my recently purchased Colver vario screaming UP UP UP. I had the same thoughts as expressed by Sky God Taras Kiceniuk flying his Icarus spiraling up into the big blue sky: "what am I doing here". I wasn’t alone in the sky that day. Just off my left wingtip was Terry Sweeney in the new Sky Sports Kestral. He proceeded to get even higher than me and went XC upwind several miles from the mountain before landing.

My fears of that flight were overcome later that day by joy when it sunk in what I had just done. The next morning I met Tom Peghiny in the LZ at the base of the Ski Slope. I told him I was impressed with the Kestral that he and Terry Sweeney had developed. He was all enthusiastic about the gold colored Colver audio vario hose-clamped to my control bar. I was in the presence of the "Sky Gods", great fellows who shared all they knew and reached out to help anyone who asked for help.

So it continued. I met Stu Smith "Future Sky God" that very same weekend. We rode up the Ski Lift and he was pumping me for flying tips. I guess he thought I knew what I was doing when all I really knew was how to hang on really tight and let the sky have its way with me. I was extremely lucky to have lived and survived those early days . My tears came years later hearing of the death of Stu Smith at Grandfather Mountain. Stu a champion gymnast became disconnected from his wing while doing aerobatic maneuvers and was not able to hang on, I cried again last night .

1. Mittersill Alpine Resort. SSE of Franconia.
2. Kestrel.
3. Rubbish.

Hang Gliding - 1986/10

STEW SMITH DIES IN LANDING MISHAP

Stew Smith, internationally renowned hang glider pilot and 1984 U.S. National Champion, was killed in a landing mishap during the Masters at Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina on September 5. News of the tragedy reaches us just as we go to press so details are still unclear. However, the accident occurred on landing at "The Meadows," an alternate landing site known for its turbulence. Stew had recently set a cross country record of 110 miles at Grandfather (see July, 1986 Hang Gliding).

Stew is survived by his wife and two young children. Donations can be made to the Stewart Smith Memorial Fund, Apery County Bank, Newland, NC 28657.

Dennis Pagen - 1986/11

Accident Report
-Stewart Smith-

Any time a fellow pilot is seriously or fatally injured it is a period of soul-searching and insecurity for the entire hang gliding community. Stewart Smith was such a well-known and expert pilot that these emotions are particularly magnified. I will leave the tribute to Stewart to those who flew with him on a day-to-day basis and concentrate only on the cause of his accident. My purpose in writing this report is two-fold: first, there may be something we can learn to prevent similar accidents and secondly, we need to remove as much mystery as we can from the incident in order to stop rumors and allay unfounded fears. I believe Stew would want it that way.

Unfortunately, we will never know exactly why the accident occurred due to the observation problems (more on this later). However, we can list the probable causes. I personally interviewed all the people who witnessed the accident and have put together their observations here. The conclusions are my own based on these individual reports.

Stewart was fatally injured whit his glider struck an embankment in the landing field at Grandfather Mountain during the Masters of Hang Gliding meet. Steward finished a pylon course on the mountain and was free to land at his leisure. He flew back over takeoff to inquire about conditions in the landing zone and was informed that conditions were light with a slight switch of wind directions. This report had been sent up by a competitor in the landing field about 15 seconds earlier.

Stewart flew out with a number of pilots to land. Because of the buoyant conditions over the landing field, pilots could choose their landing times. Stewart descended about midway through the sequence.

Stewart set up his approach along the south side of the field and made a left turn to land into the wind on the field. His turns began with a pull in an a roll motion to the side which resulted in a 30 to 50 degree bank and a nose down attitude. The turn continued smoothly with increasing steepness until the glider hit an embankment about four feet below the top. Stewart's body disappeared from the pilots observing in the landing field because of the banked maneuver. Also, the impact was not witnessed as it occurred below the rim of the embankment. Massive brain damage indicated that Stewart's head received a major blow which leads us to believe the he was still prone when the impact occurred.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

As best we can determine, there were three factors contributing to Stewart's accident. The first is that he most likely was fatigued from a week of little sleep. Stewart had spent the previous week finishing up the rules and organization for the Masters meet. I arrived a couple of days before the accident and know that Stew only had about three hours sleep the night before the meet started as we were revising the rules. A day of rain allowed him to get some rest, but I doubt if he was 100% during his fatal first-round flight. We will never know if fatigue was a factor in Stew's death, but it could have been.

The second factor concerns conditions in the landing area. Stew had close to 1,000 flights at Grandfather Mountain as an exhibition pilot and was well acquainted with the possibility of turbulence in the landing zone. This turbulence is due to the field's position next to the drop off, trees surrounding the field, the existence of embankments within the open area and the potential for thermal generation.

A pilot landing 30 seconds before Stew experienced turbulence that threatened to turn him into the trees. Pilots landing prior to this and after Stew indicated no untoward turbulence. Pilots in the landing field witnessed light winds during Stewart’s landing. Finally, pilot's watching Stew's approach saw no sudden change of direction or wing movement to indicate control problems due to gusts. With these conflicting reports it is only fair to say that conditions were apparently changing. We can only conclude that conditions may have been a factor due to sink on the downwind side of the embankment in the area of Stew's approach. If this sinking air was in fact present, his diving turn may have lost a lot more altitude than Stewart expected.

The third factor is the one which I believe is the major cause of the accident. Stewart had modified his glider by hanging from the kingpost two inches higher than the factory stock position. Stewart was flying a Sensor B with a 100% Mylar sail. Stewart weighed about 132 pounds and his light wing loading coupled with the stiffer sail cloth reduced his handling capabilities. The higher hang point reduced his roll pressures.

Stewart also removed the tail fin that comes stock on the Sensor B. The purpose of this tail fin is to provide yaw stability during a slipping maneuver. Stew removed it because he felt it reduced his ability to turn into a thermal. This may be the case since a thermal lifting a wing will cause a glider to slip and then yaw away from the thermal. However, I consider the tail fin to be an important safety device on the Sensor B due to its relatively low degree of sweep and thus reduced yaw stability. I personally would not fly without the tail fin.

As a further modification, Stew added a Pitchy (a device to reduce pitch pressures). The rear of the Pitchy was attached to the normal kingpost hang strap and the front was attached to the keel just behind the control bar. The rear hang strap (from the kingpost) was held back by a Kevlar line to the rear of the keel to provide the proper separation of the pitchy straps and to adjust the trim speed.

Stewart had been flying with the Pitchy set-up for some weeks, but just before the meet he had moved up the kingpost one inch and tested this position with a five-minute sled ride in smooth conditions. Rich Pfeiffer flew a similar glider in the contest with a similar Pitchy set-up with the exception that he was hanging one inch lower than Stew on the kingpost.

After Stew's accident, Rich reported an unusual pitch response with his glider. When the nose was pushed up, it was slow to recover. This made me suspicious, so we inspected Rich's set up with him hanging in the glider and it became apparent that both he and Stew had their Pitchys set up improperly. Both Pitchys were set up about four inches too far back which allowed six inches of (virtual) attachment point too far aft.

One problem with a too far aft c.g. (center of gravity) in any aircraft is that the aircraft will become unstable in pitch. With a Pitchy, the aft c.g. will only occur if the pilot is pushed out or the nose of the glider gets knocked up by a gust. This seems to parallel Rich's experience.

Putting this evidence all together, this is what I believe happened in Stew's accident. He made his approach fast and high, (agreed upon by all observers), perhaps to allow extra control and to dive through any unexpected turbulence. He initiated a left diving turn. This turn had some slipping component (the amount of the slip varies with the observer, but the fact remains that all turns in a hang glider initially include a slipping component). In a slipping turn, a pitch control movement will not necessarily raise the nose but will increase the rate of the turn. Only when the glider yaws into the direction of the turn and rolls out with normal pitch response return. I believe Stew pushed out at some point in his descending turn which put his center of mass close to the center of drag forces that are responsible for your stability. A rearward c.g. not only compromises pitch stability but reduces yaw stability as well. The net result in this case would be for the glider to remain in a slipping, diving turn for much longer than expected.

The glider did not appear to alter its progress into an increasingly steeper diving turn, nor did it appear to be affected by any control inputs which we can only assume Stew was attempting. This points out an insurmountable stability problem. Observers such as Gerard Thevenot of La Mouette and Bill Moyes of Moyes Delta agree that Stew's Pitchy was set up improperly with the likelihood of a stability problem.

I wish to point out here that the stability of the Sensor B is not implicated in this accident, and any glider modified as Stew's was may exhibit the same problem. Stew's light wing loading may have been an additional contributing factor as reduced washout reduces yaw stability. I personally fly a 100% Mylar Sensor B and have detected no yaw or pitch stability problems during some 90 hours of air time on the glider which includes many slipping turns.

Not everyone will agree upon the exact cause of Stewart's accident. However, all the pilots at a forum held to probe the causes of the accident agreed that the three factors were the only ones of importance. Any disagreement was on the significance of each factor.

The main point to learn from Stew's death is that none of us are immune to judgement errors. Stew made the comment before the flight that he didn't know how the Pitchy set-up worked, but it gave him the response he wanted. Furthermore, his actions at takeoff before he went out to land indicated to some observers that he was overly worried about the landing, possibly due to a control problem with the glider during the earlier part of the flight. If, in fact, the improperly set up Pitchy was the main factor in Stew's accident, I believe it was only a matter of time before he either modified the set-up or an accident occurred. Unfortunately for all of us, the latter outcome prevailed. We will miss you Stew.

Stewart Smith, Grandfather Mt. flight director, four-time U.S. World team member and silver medalist in the 1983 FAI World Championship.

Editor's Note: An article explaining proper set up of all pitch enhancing devices will be forthcoming. Any modification of any hang glider is potentially dangerous and should be approved by the appropriate manufacturer.

Doug Hildreth - 1987/03

1986/09/05 - Stu Smith - Advanced - 40 - Seedwings Sensor - Grandfather Mountain, NC - Head

Experienced competition pilot flying the Masters. Pilot modified glider (hang point higher on king post, pitch device added, sail fin removed). On final approach, a little high, pilot performed slipping turn; glider did not recover and continued into the ground.

And nobody takes any issue with Harry's recollection.

I'm pretty sure that I met Stew and several of his buddies 1982/06/18 where I was camping out with fellow Kitty Hawk Kites instructor Lawrence Battaile on top of Potato Hill, 36°17'58.28" N 081°43'22.86" W, the day after my first mountain flight. An hour ten before the wind quit and I sank out.

Not doable at the time. Talked with him a bit, noted that people were a bit bummed that they'd missed out.

Regarding the crash... Sad but nothing really to be learned. You decertify the glider - by screwing with the suspension, trying to fly it upright with your hands on the control tubes, hooking up with a pro toad bridle - you're no longer flying a certified glider.

[Tad Eareckson]

A little snapshot of what has happened, is happening, isn't happening with the sport courtesy of Peter's little international, inbred, off limits, Hewett based, surface towing cult:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/skysailingtowing/info
THE TOWING LIST for all towed gliders - Yahoo Groups

Message History

0000 - 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012
-------------------------------------------------
2019 - 000 000 000 000 001 005 000 000 011 000 000 000
2018 - 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 026 000 009 000
2017 - 007 009 000 000 000 000 000 001 003 000 000 000
2016 - 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
2015 - 000 000 002 000 006 000 000 003 000 018 000 017
2014 - 028 001 038 017 000 003 009 003 000 000 000 021
2013 - 006 000 000 000 023 005 029 000 000 035 021 007
2012 - 008 001 053 033 025 018 035 000 003 000 052 000
2011 - 005 018 004 012 032 032 020 016 010 018 049 021
2010 - 002 059 126 091 033 017 009 009 001 022 073 019
2009 - 015 113 041 085 120 072 031 020 041 028 005 008
2008 - 012 087 042 027 007 027 004 001 008 076 009 038
2007 - 046 012 043 026 020 008 006 066 028 018 020 048
2006 - 126 069 061 064 112 237 009 009 019 016 008 000
2005 - 090 259 067 029 062 031 003 069 141 046 086 066
2004 - 025 020 035 134 029 020 036 047 012 022 036 046
2003 - 173 063 095 087 105 103 068 123 041 040 063 114
2002 - 152 257 144 124 081 120 102 044 045 081 062 078
2001 - 041 121 133 118 206 122 071 253 091 129 108 194
2000 - 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 016

72 posts to date subsequent to the end of 2015 - average of 18 per year.

Group Information

Members :791
Category : Hang Gliding
Founded : 2000/12/19
Language : English

Group Description

An international group of hang glider, paraglider and other soaring craft pilots who wish to improve the efficiency and safety of towing.

Sure ya do...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/4593
Weaklinks

Peter Birren - 2005/02/08 19:22:49 UTC

What is the big issue? Re-launching? Oh, the wasted time! Oh, the hassle! Oh, the embarrassment! These are sure preferrable to Oh Shit!

http://blog.4herrings.com/2011/08/11/zapata-world-record-encampment-wre-2011-parte-dos/
Zapata World Record Encampment (WRE) 2011- Parte Dos | Cloud Base addict

BJ Herring - 2011/08/11

Stalwart of the WRE and friend Pete Lehmann let his knee have an affair with the runway. Needless to say it was short and dirty and needed antibiotics as the bone made contact.

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

Davis Straub - 2011/08/28 15:26:28 UTC

Then again, Russell Brown had us double up behind him after six breaks in a row at Zapata. We couldn't figure out why we had so many breaks so quickly. Maybe just coincidence.

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

Mark Frutiger - 2013/02/08 19:12:21 UTC

Zack hit the lift a few seconds after I did. He was high and to the right of the tug and was out of my mirror when the weak ling broke. The load on the tug was not excessive as with a lockout, but I was not surprised when the weak link broke. I was still in the thermal when I caught sight of Zack again. I did not see the entry to the tumble, but I did see two revolutions of a forward tumble before kicking the tug around to land. The thermal was still active in the area that I had just launched from so I did a go round and landed on a runway 90 degrees cross to the direction we were towing in.

An international group of hang glider, paraglider and other soaring craft pilots who wish to improve the efficiency and safety of towing. But no one can even read anything about all these marvelous advancements you're constantly making without first being scrutinized and then being granted permission by Lord Peter. THIS:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/6726
Weaklinks

Peter Birren - 2008/10/27 23:41:49 UTC

My take is more like what's on http://www.birrendesign.com/towing_B.html

No dolly... foot launched static tow.

You trying to tell me the pilot had time to release? Not a prayer.

I know about this type of accident because it happened to me, breaking 4 ribs and my larynx... and I was aerotowing using a dolly. The sh*t happened so fast there was no room for thought much less action. But I wasn't dragged because the weaklink did its job and broke immediately on impact.

You're focusing on AT but there's a lot more towing going on then at the flat/smooth-ground country club sites. On a crowned country road, off the back of a truck or trailer... ain't a place for a dolly or a threaded bridle of any type.

If your belief is that the weaklink is there mainly to protect the equipment and break before the glider breaks, I suggest you try to break one while being towed. With a 1.4G link, which in my case is about 385 pounds, I may as well not even bother because a slightly worn towline will break at about that tension.

No, you will not be happy with the result of a weaklink breaking should the pilot stumble and the glider impact the ground, but it's still better than being dragged until the tug stops (or in the case of static towing, the vehicle stops and the tension on the towline eases).

Imagine if you will, just coming off the cart and center punching a thermal which takes you instantly straight up while the tug is still on the ground. Know what happens? VERY high towline forces and an over-the-top lockout. You'll have both hands on the basetube pulling it well past your knees but the glider doesn't come down and still the weaklink doesn't break (.8G). So you pull whatever release you have but the one hand still on the basetube isn't enough to hold the nose down and you pop up and over into an unplanned semi-loop. Been there, done that... at maybe 200 feet agl.

Now maybe if I'd pushed out quickly, real quick-like, the weaklink might have broken. That, however, would have possibly also put the tug pilot and plane in jeopardy if it didn't break.

Scenario: at a static tow site, driver takes his eyes off the gauge to watch the pilot in the rear view mirror. When he looks back, the gauge is reading zero, so he steps on the gas... but the needle had gone all the way around to about 350 lbs and here he was giving more tension. Pilot stuff the bar 'cuz to let go as low as he was would be riskier. Pilot rode it out until the .8G weaklink broke, holding the bar to his knees and riding it "over the top" to safe, level flight. (shoulda seen the pilot's eyes... big as the proverbial saucers.)

So if the 914 can only pull .5G, then why in Heaven's name do you need a 1.4G weaklink?

Nice that you've got a good place to aerotow with good dollies and all, but your "strong link" will have brought more hurt onto the pilot who crashed because it won't break soon enough. As for my incidents and evidence, the above stories should be enough but, if not, I can provide several others where the main thing proved (to me and others on-site) is that a less-than-1G weaklink is MUCH better than a strong link.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/7066
AT SOPs - proposed revisions

Peter Birren - 2009/05/10 01:33:31 UTC

If you want a truly foolproof release, it's got to be one that eliminates the pilot from the equation with a release that operates automatically.

The pilot was eliminated from the equation in the same millisecond that hang gliding was defined as foot launchable and landable aviation. It's been saturated by snake oil and under control by its salesmen from Day One and NOTHING will EVER change that.

Wanna see where it's headed? As if that shouldn't have been blindingly obvious decades ago? Look at the levels and quality of participation in all the mainstream coffee shops. And thanks bigtime for providing us with such a great visual aid, Peter.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=384
Another accident report

Marc Fink - 2005/04/17 02:04:44 UTC

Having read about several pilot's recent accidents while trying to land in midday turbulent conditions--I experienced a very bad situation today myself while trying to land at Fairfield--our "local" aerotow field.

The forcast was for moderate thermals being capped off by a low inversion and light SSW at 5 mph or less. Two pilots towed up before me and were in the process of returning to land when I decided to go--having ground crewed for their launches. My tow was fairly uneventful--but we transitioned through thermals strong enough that the tug pitched up and down pretty dramatically, but I was able to keep things pretty controlled and felt that it was an average strength day. A later look at my Compeo, though, had me surprised at just how strong some of the cores were.

OK, I'll skip the flight details and get to the juicy part that everyone wants to read--while setting up my approach all the wind indicators were showing a south flow. The airstrip runs east-west, and slopes off on either side, so the most reasonable option seemed to be approach to the west and split the difference low down to swing out into the wind after a short final. I use this technique with success very often at HR when its west cross. Just as I started to initiate the slight turn to the south, I was slammed by a violent gust/thermal from the west which not only pitched the glider up by 30 ft or so, but also rolled it into a left bank so that I was now in a quartering tail wind on the sinking back end of the gust/thermal.

The bar is stuffed and I pull over for all I was worth to the right, but the glider didn't seem to respond to my turn input (that was probably just a perception thing, it just seemed that way because I was in a tailwind component)--I was flying fast towards the ground. The feeling was about the same as when you encouter a strong thermal at altitude which initially rolls you away beacuse only part of the wing is in strong lift. Being fully proned, with the ground whizzing by at 30 to 40 mph very close to my face (and I fly without wheels) it became quickly apparent that the physics and geometry of the situation did not favor an inexpensive, pain-free outcome. Just before the control bar contacted the ground I used my patented control bar heave-ho technique and threw the control bar out for all I was worth--and amazingly the glider slowed down enough so that when the left corner bracket dug in the downtube took the force and bent , but no part of my body contacted anything--and the glider itself didn't ground loop or even nose over. I simply stood up and walked the glider off--though I was embarassed and well aware that I narrowly escaped a serious crash.

I'm not going to bother with the cathartic pilot-error prostrations or advise what to do to avoid this--I'll leave that to the more enlightened readership. But I think I was able to make some interesting conclusions about the conditions I was flying in.

Before I left late in the day I heard one pilot remark how nice it was to fly in such lite conditions, and I thought about what I had just experienced. I have come to the conclusion that, in a way, flying in light winds on unstable days can in fact be very dangerous. In my experience, any forecast of 5 to 7 mph or less simply means light and variable. And light and variable simply means that the odds are fairly good that the winds--and gusts or thermals--can come from any direction at any time. And by implication this means that the odds are pretty good that you might not get a consistent wind direction indication through the last phases of your approach--no matter how careful you are. Stronger winds generally tend to street up thermals and lift lines.

Having read about several pilot's...

Pilots'.

...recent accidents...

There's no such thing as an accident.

...while trying to land in midday turbulent conditions-

You mean the only kind worth flying in?

-I experienced a very bad situation today myself while trying to land at Fairfield--our "local" aerotow field.

- Pennsylvania. Mid Atlantic Soaring Association. 39°45'26.90" N 977°21'06.64" W.
- And please don't trouble yourself to give us a date on this one.

The forcast was for moderate thermals being capped off by a low inversion and light SSW at 5 mph or less. Two pilots towed up before me and were in the process of returning to land when I decided to go--having ground crewed for their launches.

So obviously you checked to make sure that all their equipment was well within compliance with all u$hPa SOPs and FAA regs - specially and critically with respect to the long track record weak link. Well done.

My tow was fairly uneventful--but we transitioned through thermals strong enough that the tug pitched up and down pretty dramatically...

And yet the weak links at both ends continued to not succeed. And here I was thinking that the primary purpose of every weak link in the system was to protect the tug from getting pitched up and down pretty dramatically. Were you guys using Tad-O-Links to trade off safety for convenience?

...but I was able to keep things pretty controlled and felt that it was an average strength day. A later look at my Compeo, though, had me surprised at just how strong some of the cores were.

Well yeah. Otherwise there would've been no excuse for you ending up limping off the field with a damaged glider.

...while setting up my approach all the wind indicators were showing a south flow. The airstrip runs east-west...

If we're on the same wavelength the runway's 15-33 - which is a lot more north-south than east-west. But we'll go with your references anyway.

...and slopes off on either side, so the most reasonable option seemed to be approach to the west...

- You can't approach TO the west. You need to approach FROM the east. And if you're doing a pattern - anything other than a long straight glide in - that's meaningless anyway.

- Seemed to be? Not WAS? Sounds like you'd have done things differently in hindsight. Me? I believe there's always ONE best decision to make for any set of circumstances at the time. Those circumstances may change such that if we had a time machine we'd do things differently but we don't so one always takes the same option for the same circumstances and cope with upcoming variables as best as one can.

...and split the difference low down to swing out into the wind...

It's impossible to swing OUT INTO anything. The reason for this one is becoming pretty obvious.

...after a short final.

There's no such thing as a FINAL from which one turns.

I use this technique with success very often at HR when its west cross.

You have a definite problem with apostrophe's.

Just as I started to initiate the slight turn to the south, I was slammed by a violent gust/thermal from the west which not only pitched the glider up by 30 ft...

Lose the "by".

...or so, but also rolled it into a left bank so that I was now in a quartering tail wind on the sinking back end of the gust/thermal.

- There's no such thing as a sinking gust.
- At thirty feet or so? Shouldn't be a huge problem.

The bar is stuffed...

So you're prone. So got any comments on all the Greblo-mold total fucking douchebags who have their students upright for final no later than two hundred feet?

...and I pull over for all I was worth to the right...

With the bar stuffed. That doesn't do a whole lot in the way of turning the glider.

...but the glider didn't seem to respond to my turn input...

You weren't effecting any turn input - just roll.

...(that was probably just a perception thing, it just seemed that way because I was in a tailwind component)-

- No, that's the way it actually was. Try it at altitude sometime when you've got nothing better to do.

- Bullshit. The only way you can have a tailwind "COMPONENT" is to be in a tailslide - asshole. Here's Reidar Berntsen:

10-00704
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1527/25000631815_67393621b6_o.png


getting pretty damn close to one in a pretty damn close approximation of Zack Marzec's Standard Aerotow Weak Link induced increase in the safety of the towing operation.

-I was flying fast towards the ground.

Bar stuffed, hard over. Yeah. That's a really good technique for losing altitude when you need to.

The feeling was about the same as when you encouter a strong thermal at altitude which initially rolls you away beacuse only part of the wing is in strong lift.

And because the other wing is in the falls spilling off the edge of the thermal.

Being fully proned, with the ground whizzing by at 30 to 40 mph very close to my face...

..and no wheels...

...(and I fly without wheels)...

And you fly without wheels. You're OK flying pro toad with an easily reachable release just as long as you have a Standard Aerotow Weak Link 'cause that'll allow you to survive a lockout from 250 feet and up but... No landing gear, no problem.

...it became quickly apparent...

...that I should've been upright with both hands at shoulder or ear height where I could more easily slow the glider down, effect better roll control, and stop things safely with a perfectly timed flare.

...that the physics and geometry of the situation did not favor an inexpensive, pain-free outcome.

- Well, the best we can do is continue to hope.
- You mean like with a bent pin easily reachable pro toad release with a Standard Aerotow Weak Link?

Just before the control bar contacted the ground...

Symmetrically. You don't say CORNER OF the control bar. So you're not pointed in the direction you wanna be but you're level. So if you hadn't been too much of a douchebag to go without wheels, while you might've bounced back up a bit, you could've just stayed prone and landed it.

...I used my patented control bar heave-ho technique and threw the control bar out for all I was worth-

- You threw it out worth total shit? Try more than two three degrees next time.

- You're still on the basetube with no wheels so you can't land it safely and also have zilch flare authority so you can't stop it effectively. But you haven't done anything significantly wrong on this one.

...and amazingly the glider slowed down enough so that when the left corner bracket dug in the downtube took the force and bent , but no part of my body contacted anything--and the glider itself didn't ground loop or even nose over.

Great piloting skill then - almost as great as your skills in writing coherent sentences. Make sure you teach your students to maximize their use of great piloting skills.

I simply stood up and walked the glider off--though I was embarassed and well aware that I narrowly escaped a serious crash.

Why should you have been embarrassed? You did everything right way above and beyond the call of duty and in freak circumstances that would've killed ten out of ten of us stupid student muppets. Why didn't people cheer and carry you off the field on their shoulders?

That's a smoking gun. I don't believe in aviation "accidents" so let's do a scenario in which you have the right of way and someone who doesn't blindsides you. Your glider's damaged, compromised but you get it down and stopped well enough to walk away smelling like a rose. You're not embarrassed - that's the job of the guy who flew into you. Nobody's gonna think you fucked up in the least - far from it. You're embarrassed 'cause you KNOW you fucked up somehow or other - at least one being no-brainer flying minus wheels or skids - and you're posting this to advertise how perfectly you performed in these deadly and totally unforeseeable circumstances.

I've fucked up bigtime before and have paid a terrible price for one that wouldn't have even been the slightest fuckup in any halfway sane tow environment. I don't have the slightest problem admitting my fuckups to anyone. I'll happily advertise them as instructional aids. So how come you're so fucking perfect all the time? You and your buddy...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2809
hook-in failures

Marc Fink - 2007/11/11 12:51:54 UTC

As for Jim Rooney--he's well known for his rather spare and direct "tell it like it is" style--but it's very rare when Jim doesn't say something that's right on target, timely and accurate.

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


http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49837
Jim Rooney tandem paraglider incident in New Zealand

Jim Rooney - 2016/10/01 05:55:48 UTC

Up from surgery... Plates on L2 while it heals, will come out after. Feeling good.
I won't comment on my crash just yet. Maybe after the CAA investigation.

...Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney. (2016/09/29 - three years plus a dozen days and counting.)

I'm not going to bother with the cathartic pilot-error prostrations...

- See above.
- Why should you? You did everything 100.00 percent right. Relax a bit and bask in the glow of our admiration.

...or advise what to do to avoid this-

You're a fucking instructor aren't you? If it isn't your fucking JOB to advise what to do to avoid this then what the hell IS? Teaching flare timing perfection?

You're not even saying you're gonna start flying with landing gear or advising anybody else at any level to do so. So are ya gonna tell all your students up front before they hand over the check that this sport is just a dice roll with their lives? If the wind is under seven anyway?

-I'll leave that to the more enlightened readership.

There is no enlightened readership allowed to post on your shitty little Capitol Club rag. Which is a real good thing for you, motherfucker.

But I think I was able to make some interesting conclusions about the conditions I was flying in.

Fly in them and you're gonna die if you're not lucky?

Before I left late in the day I heard one pilot remark how nice it was to fly in such lite conditions, and I thought about what I had just experienced.

Precipitated.

I have come to the conclusion that, in a way, flying in light winds on unstable days can in fact be very dangerous.

- Wow. What an amazing insight. Any thoughts about a situation like this in these conditions (soarable) on the other end of the flight? À la John Dullahan 2006/02/05?

- I have too. Christ. If something like this can happen to a Marc Fink doing everything twenty times righter than any of us muppets could possibly dream of doing...

- In my later career - which was exclusively AT - all I did was fly in such light max unstable conditions. I had zilch interest in XC with all of its hassles and just wanted to thermal for as many hours as possible and land next to the car. And I only had one downtube incident when I came down as a major dust devil was fucking up the LZ. And it wouldn't have even been a downtube incident if I hadn't been stupid enough to come in in foot landing mode. But thanks bigtime for the dire warning anyway. I have no doubt whatsoever that you saved a countless number of arms, necks, lives.

In my experience, any forecast of 5 to 7 mph or less simply means light and variable.

Oh good. So if it's five to seven then guaranteed thermals.

And light and variable simply means that the odds are fairly good that the winds--and gusts or thermals--can come from any direction at any time.

Even on a solid overcast drizzly day.

And by implication this means that the odds are pretty good that you might not get a consistent wind direction indication through the last phases of your approach--no matter how careful you are.

Such amazing insights. Good thing you had that experience and survived in good enough condition to clue the rest of us in. But I'm deeply concerned that none of the folk in conventional aviation will hear and be able to heed this message.

Stronger winds generally tend to street up thermals and lift lines.

- OK then. No more flying in excellent thermal conditions on light wind days. Let's get the word out to all the AT operations and mountain clubs and get this shit shut down NOW. Even if we're as highly skilled and superbly equipped as you are...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467
weak links

Marc Fink - 2007/05/30 02:52:19 UTC

Tad, I'm truly dismayed at the prospect of you showing up at the ECC's--flying in that in environment is stressful enough without having someone walking around preaching imminent death to someone who aerotows with present systems.

If you don't think you can control your impulse to denigrate others for using something other than what you personally approve of, I'd just as soon not show up.

You gonna be a good and leave it alone during the comp?

...we're all just rolling dice with our lives whenever we go out on any of the days we've hitherto found most desirable. Keep up the great work.

- According the Donnell Hewett the only thing we have to fear on a tow flight is the tow flight itself. And there's no problem on tow flight that can't be fixed by an Infallible Weak Link. So how come you had such a dangerous landing? One that left you bent and came close to getting you fucked up pretty good? Were you flying with a Fallible Tad-O-Link?

By the way, Marc...

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

Marc Fink - 2011/08/28 21:11:09 UTC

I once locked out on an early laminarST aerotowing. went past vertical and past 45 degrees to the line of pull-- and the load forces were increasing dramatically. The weaklink blew and the glider stalled--needed every bit of the 250 ft agl to speed up and pull out. I'm alive because I didn't use a stronger one.

Marc Fink - 2011/08/31 08:11:05 UTC

This all happened in a few seconds--in a lock out the line/bridle will likely be caught in your corner bracket further complicating things. I was actually in the process of reaching for the release and just about to pull it when the weaklink blew. If procedures were amended to "insist" on stronger weaklinks I would simply stop towing.

Procedures WERE amended to "insist" on stronger weak links - and had been seven years prior to your idiot post when the FAA pulled hang gliders in with sailplanes with respect to legal weak link range which put virtually everything over the Standard Aerotow Weak Link. And there wasn't one single whisper of objection or protest from the tiniest little girl glider anywhere.

And then we had Davis put:

http://airtribune.com/2019-big-spring-nationals/info/details__info
http://airtribune-production.s3.amazonaws.com/media/contest/files/2019/07/GTxd6mT4AIn8.pdf

2019 Big Spring Nationals - 2019/07

Weaklinks of 140 and 200 pounds will be available and provided by the organizers. Weaklinks provided by the organizers must be used by the competitors.

on the books. The lightest weak link option is eight percent over the one that allowed you to come out skimming the grass. Procedures HAVE BEEN amended to "insist" on stronger weak links. You WOULD have been killed. (So close, so disappointing.) So did you simply stop towing as you promised us you would? Obviously so. But then how come you neither protested nor warned others not to play with the fire that the "other side" is made of? You were always such a staunch and vocal advocate of safety when it was Yours Truly making recommendations and calling for compliance with existing stuff.

And if you or anyone else is flying comp you are using ONLY the cheap illegal crap Davis and his Flight Park Mafia buddies PERSONALLY approve of - and (sell on site). And Davis and his buddies are all...


http://ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident2.jpg
http://ozreport.com/pub/images/fingerlakesaccident3.jpg


14-0614 - 18-0801

...stupid incompetent total douchebags. So how come no objections to the rest of the shit sandwich either?

When I first see this crap near a decade and a half ago I think bent downtube, big fuckin' deal, give it a light skim, not really interested. But after getting all this experience really analyzing crap from scumbags like this, understanding what they're really doing and why, knowing where this crap is leading and will take us to...

Thanks bigtime for this valuable contribution to the historical record Marc.

Last detectable pulses - 2014/05/30 03:10:55 UTC and 2014/10/28 22:48:45 UTC on the Capitol Club wire and Davis Show respectively. Close to five years now. Do these douchebags start figuring out that they're no longer capable of opening mouths without flatly contradicting a minimum of thirty other statements and claims they've made before? (Took forever and a day plus two chopper rides for that lightbulb to start glowing for Rooney.)

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36602
First minor crash with a broken plug-on batten

dwarka.damodaran - 2019/10/04 20:55:38 UTC

Hello Guys...

It was my second day of prone flying and I screwed up the upright transition phase with a pop and an adverse right turn which ended up taking me into an unplanned flight path between a hanger and a parked airplane. I wasn't high enough to make course corrections and so went with the flow and belly landed which has costed me a batten. This crash has taught me some important lessons,

1. Although the glider seems to fly really slow, it can get ugly really fast
2. From the ground the hanger, airplane and my flight path seemed to be far enough for a safe flight, but when in flight they all seemed only few feet away from each other (appearance are deceptive)
3. Practice upright transition well before actual flight
4. Listen to the instructor - It was a scooter tow session with a dolly launch. The flight plan was to launch from the dolly hold the height for a second at 15 feet, then fly to release altitude, initiate a 180 turn, release, complete the turn, fly DBF approach and land. My instructor always tells me to take a longer base and then a final but i rush into the final which had put me close to the hanger and the airplane.

It's always good to not be in that situation but that's not always in our hands and so i started researching hang glider crash and things that could be done differently to make it less serious and came across the following video,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-k3meO6IE


I would like to discuss about the different techniques discussed in this video or other techniques that you guys know. Like i said, i am putting maximum effort to learn how not to be in that situation but knowing this might be a great help if need be. Thank you all in advance...

Hello Guys...

Damn near two weeks now and none of the guys have gotten back to you quite yet. A bit odd given that you're posting in the worlds largest hang gliding community. Maybe try raising your voice a notch or two.

It was my second day of prone flying...

So I'm guessing you got about thirty hours mastering the introductory upright stuff?

...and I screwed up the upright transition phase with a pop and an adverse right turn...

Well at least you were then upright and thus well prepped for going into crash mode.

...which ended up taking me into an unplanned flight path between a hanger and a parked airplane.

If you gotta choose go for the hangar. While you might initially be in better shape after flying into the plane your longer term outlook needs to be considered.

I wasn't high enough to make course corrections...

And at this point you won't be able to pull in enough to have any prayer of regaining maneuvering airspeed.

...and so went with the flow and belly landed...

So you went prone again. When you MOST NEEDED to be upright for the best possible emergency landing outcome. Go figure.

...which has costed me a batten. This crash has taught me some important lessons,

And here I was thinking that that was what your douchebag instructor was supposed to have done prior to giving you a chance to get into a situation like this. Go figure.

1. Although the glider seems to fly really slow, it can get ugly really fast

Happens a lot when the ground gets close.

2. From the ground the hanger, airplane and my flight path seemed to be far enough for a safe flight, but when in flight they all seemed only few feet away from each other (appearance are deceptive)

Try staying prone next time. I find that things seem a lot less threatening in that configuration.

3. Practice upright transition well before actual flight

Also making the easy reach to your easily reachable release. You want that action to be reflexive so's you don't need to waste valuable time looking around for things. Ditto for your hook knife.

4. Listen to the instructor...

The fuckin' asshole who let you get into that situation? I couldn't agree more.

By the way... I didn't catch his name. Would you mind repeating it for us?

It was a scooter tow session with a dolly launch.

And at what point was it that you started having problems?

The flight plan was to launch from the dolly hold the height for a second at 15 feet, then fly to release altitude, initiate a 180 turn, release, complete the turn, fly DBF approach and land. My instructor...

Still no ID? How's he gonna get more students if you don't do your two cents worth of advertising for him?

...always tells me to take a longer base and then a final but i rush into the final which had put me close to the hanger and the airplane.

It's always good to not be in that situation but that's not always in our hands...

Ditto for the case with your easily reachable release and control bar.

...and so i started researching hang glider crash...

And you didn't register for Kite Strings? The activity levels for the worlds largest and smallest hang gliding communities aren't all that far apart nowadays.

...and things that could be done differently to make it less serious and came across the following video,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7-k3meO6IE

I thought I'd seen that video long before its 2019/03/29 posting date.

I would like to discuss about the different techniques discussed in this video or other techniques that you guys know.

Do be sure to get in touch with Dave Hopkins. The worlds greatest authority on using your glider as a crush zone. (Last detected pulse... 2017/06/26 04:28:32 UTC.)

Like i said, i am putting maximum effort to learn how not to be in that situation but knowing this might be a great help if need be.

If I were you I'd put all your efforts learning how not to be in that situation on the back burner and go full steam on learning and perfecting the best crash techniques. Hard to believe you even watched the video without reaching that conclusion on your own.

Now that I think about it... The perfectly timed spot landing flare is based on the assumption that the alternative will be a lethal crash into a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place. And that's a total mirror for the Hewett Infallible Weak Link. If you're not using one for any given flight it's a total dead certainty that you'll climb into a lethal whipstall altitude or roll off track into a lethal port or starboard low level lockout.

Backup loop... The primary is the one critical component of the glider that we'll inevitably be incapable of adequately preflighting. (The harness suspension will never itself be the slightest worry.)

Thank you all in advance...

Don't mention it. More than happy to oblige.