http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25435
Raunchy Day At The Ridge + Release Failure
Casey Cox - 2012/03/05 21:15:05 UTC
First of all if you say bike release are you referring to the pilot release mechanism or the actual release where the line attaches?
- The release MECHANISM is the spinnaker shackle. And it itself isn't bad. Ya can't be completely stupid and use a weak link that's gonna tie itself to the gate but otherwise...
- The bicycle lever is the release ACTUATOR. Between the mounting location, velcro attachment, limit of travel, and cable bending issues - not to mention parasitic drag - it totally sucks.
From my experience of using both the bike release and old style Bailey which was probably the last in existence that I still have...
Don't worry about it. Just the assholes at Ridgely can punch that crap out at a rate of about a hundred copies an hour.
...and the newer Bailey release that uses a sailboat quick release shackle...
What's this? If it's any good it could very easily make my Barrel Release obsolete.
...as well as the LookOut.
Ooh! I like the way you capitalize that third "O". Puts a more accurate spin on the word. Not quite as good as:
Towing Aloft - 1998/01
APPENDIX IV
Useful Addresses
TOWING ACCESSORIES
Lockout Mountain Flight Park, Rising Fawn, GA (800-688-LMFP) - Towing supplies
but perhaps more encompassing of the whole operation.
The bike release has more leverage to open with more pressure on it.
- Great. So how does it handle TENSION?
- Has anybody given a thought to using a lanyard running inside the port downtube and using a block and tackle system to boost the mechanical advantage - the way every glider designer and his dog does with the VG system?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8319693754/
Just kidding.
However, not only does one have to let go, but most pilots mount the bike release up the downtube so one has to move the hand a fair bit.
No. An actual PILOT would NEVER do anything that incredibly STUPID.
I've had to pull harder on the LookOut release.
How hard and under what ten- sorry - pressure?
However, I had a very low lockout...
WHY? We need to know why this shit happened.
...and with my thumb in the release strap, I release as soon as the lockout started, not waiting to see if I could correct.
- Good.
- But don't think that that's always gonna be enough to keep you alive. Even set up like that and with the release easily handling the tension you can be on your ear before you even have a clue what's going on.
- More times than not you're gonna NEED to correct situations if you wanna go back home in the same shape in which you arrived.
I saved several seconds not having to move my hand so my lockout was really not very dramatic.
Any of you downtube lever douchebags hearing this?
I think some pilots may wait too long to release, causing the release to have a lot of pressure on it from the side.
- NOBODY'S "WAITING" to release from bad situations. They're staying on 'cause they can't get off - and every once in a while shit happens low enough that someone dies.
- If your release can't EASILY handle any angle allowed by your nose wires and any tension allowed by a 1.5 G weak link it's a piece of shit.
- If you're going up with a piece of shit you're not a pilot. REAL pilots don't go up with shit that won't do the job it needs to in order for someone to come back down in good enough shape to go up again next weekend.
I've only had half dozen flights while using protow, but I like it.
Great. Guess you'll probably never need the whole speed range for which the glider was certified. People very rarely do.
I have twin barrel releases...
- Straight or bent pin?
- To what load did you test them?
-- What are you using for weak link material? Just kidding.
-- How long is your bridle and why are you using that length?
-- How many weak links are you using?
...and they are just in front of eye view so I do not have to look down...
GREAT!!!
Should have no trouble at all getting to one...
http://ozreport.com/pub/fingerlakesaccident.shtml
...when the shit hits the fan.
...and my hand reaches in front of my face which I think is safe.
Well yeah. If you THINK it's safe I really can't see much of a problem.
And so what you're saying is that...
I saved several seconds not having to move my hand so my lockout was really not very dramatic.
...there's really not much of an advantage to being able to blow tow with both hands on the basetube resisting the lockout onset and saving several seconds by not having to move your hand.
Well...
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1725
Towing at Quest
John Dullahan - 2006/02/07 03:20:14 UTC
With winds of ten to twelve miles per hour I waited for a few minutes for a lull before giving the takeoff signal. Liftoff from the cart was nice and level, but at about ten feet the right wing was suddenly and violently lifted (Paul said a strong thermal came through just as I left the cart and pilots had to hold down their gliders). Almost immediately the glider went into a lockout and the weak link broke just as I hit the release. The high right wing put me into a left turn, so I committed to making a complete 360 back into the wind as the best option. At the 180 point I was about twenty feet over the ground and flying very fast downwind, so to avoid a downwind stall I pulled in slightly then pushed out to gain a little altitude before completing the 360. I almost got it around but couldn't quite pull it off, so the left corner of the control frame dug into the ground taking out the right downtube and fractured a small bone in my wrist (the ulnar styloid).
The incident demonstrated the few options available when towing in winds of 10-12 mph and a wing is suddenly and violently lifted close to the ground - a lockout often ensues very quickly and the glider is pulled into a turn before either the pilot can release or the weak link breaks, and a dangerous situation ensues (flying downwind close to the ground).
With a similar wing lift at a mountain site I think the pilot has more options, such as pulling-in if airspeed is low, or immediately and aggressively high-siding (without having to remove one hand from the base tube to release).
...MAYBE towing TWO point - but definitely not one with a pair of barrels right there in front of your face.
Hey Hang... Are you LISTENING to yourself talking? Are you making any sense?
You're smart enough to know that your two point system is marginal and your one point system is flat out dangerous but you're dumb enough to be trying to convince yourself that it's NOT instead of...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1459
Mouth release
Sergey Kataev - 2006/05/23 16:27:17 UTC
I have aerotowed recently, my first three times. Wasn't allowed to use my mouth release (got the proper type which opens when you open your mouth) because the club uses Wallaby ranch style V-bridle. I've been really worried about releasing in a critical situation.
Also it didn't help my confidence that the particular top release was very hesitant to open - it took about three seconds of squeezing the bicycle brake type lever to open the release.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=70921
Mouth Release . . . Here we go again
Craig Stanley - 2009/06/02 01:24:59 UTC
Sorry to stir this up again, but I wanted to give a quick update on the mouth release. I added another loop into the release and I have to say, I love this thing.
Tension at the mouth is low and comfortable. Locking it off with the sliding barrel at altitude is quite simple. Releasing couldn't be easier.
Yesterday I was hit with a quarter side/tailwind off the cart. I got really high and to the left of the tug. I was pulling in and turning back to the right to get in line with the tug, but the tug was unable to climb fast enough and I could not dive fast enough. By just opening my mouth, I was free of the tug. I did not have to take my hands off the bar and let the glider get in a worse AoA or turn.
I'm sure my release is not the best one out there (I think the mouth-throttle version is good as well), but I strongly believe having a mouth release adds a lot of safety to towing from the chest.
Antoine Saraf - 2012/02/08 11:13:07 UTC
I made 4-strings (ratio 60) AND remote barrel (ratio 16.4), I love them.
...DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
I added another loop into the release and I have to say, I love this thing.
I made 4-strings AND remote barrel, I love them.
Have you ever heard someone claim to love a Bailey Release? I mean besides some asshole who's trying to sell you a Bailey Release?
I have the long barrel release and not the short ones.
Oh! So somebody else FINALLY figured out that the barrel should be fitted to the pilot's hand instead of the fucking pin. And it just took a bit over twenty years. Who? What shape is the pin? Is there some glimmer of hope for the top 0.01 percent of humanity?
It seems to me I have more control of the glider due to there is no force pulling on it except though my harness.
- Yeah, in normal circumstances, you DO. But most people want the towline to have some control of the glider too so they don't hafta work to keep the glider down behind the tug. And notice that:
-- they don't put trainees up one point 'cause that gives them more control of the glider.
-- the primary reasons that people choose to fly one point are because all the Industry Standard two point releases are draggy dangerous pieces of crap that only work three quarters of the time if you're lucky and they're protected by a weak link so light that you can only get to altitude about two out of three times.
- But if the glider's going up like a rocket and you need to get the nose down when you're towing one point you can be lethally screwed.
Do you ever look at your release prior to grabbing or do you know where it is?
NO!!! I've got the fuckin' string between my fuckin' teeth. I don't hafta look at or grab ANYTHING. Why does this seem to be such a difficult concept to grasp.
That to me is the biggest advantage of protow.
The Herald on Sunday - 2009/01/10
Hurt hang glider pilot joked bravely with friends after a crash landing, unaware that his injuries were fatal.
But he began losing consciousness as he awaited the arrival of paramedics.
Elliot shattered four bones in his neck and damaged several blood vessels that supplied blood to the brain. He was flown to the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and put into an induced coma but died on Monday.
I wonder if Steve Elliot was thinking that while he was bravely joking with friends after his crash takeoff, unaware that his injuries were fatal.
