instructors and other qualified pilot fiends

[miguel]

Question: Who was the first to mention 'child molestation' on the Bob Show board. You or Bob?

I dunno, miguel...

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=884
The Bob Show

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/12/13 05:55:39 UTC

If I boot you permanently it will be due to my concerns over the topic we discussed on the phone. This forum should be a safe place for people of varying ages to visit. You have not given me any assurances that's true with you on this forum.

Is your IQ in the:
-a) lower; or
-b) higher
single digits?

If you answered "a" I'll 'splain it to you...
- Bob's a lying sleazeball politician who saw me as a threat to his sleazeball political agenda.
- Bob tried to use sleazy political tactics - intimidation, innuendo, distortion, lies, blackmail - to neutralize me.
- Bob was/is too fuckin' stupid to understand who he's trying to screw over and think ahead a couple of chess moves.
- There's only one way to respond to a move like that and I'm a fuckin' expert at it.
- Look at the results.

B. 7.5 IQ points.

Ok, I fired up all 7.5 of my IQ points. I went over to Bob's place. I tried his search function. Those IQ points were hot from the extreme over exertion. I found your direct quote above. The quote gives no real information to anyone who does not already know the story.

However, further down the thread, I found your detailed explanation of the events.

If me and my 7.5 IQ points are wrong, please tune us up.

[Tad Eareckson]

The quote gives no real information to anyone who does not already know the story.

Zack C - 2010/11/23 05:23:34 UTC

The purpose of Kite Strings is to foster serious discussion regarding the practices and technologies of modern hang gliding. This is a forum ruled by science, truth, facts, reason, and logic. Anyone with a respect for these principles and a willingness to learn and engage in rational discussion is welcome to participate.

- There is one and only one logical interpretation of that quote.

- If you really need someone to walk you through the logic...

http://www.kitestrings.org/post1019.html#p1019

- This:

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=884
The Bob Show

Bob Kuczewski - 2011/12/14 17:51:49 UTC

This is an important subject, and it's not something that we should be handling lightly or without considerable thought.

Tad, I called you privately because I felt this was a private matter. That's also why my posted reference was non-specific. You've made it public by your own choice. Please don't blame me. I am just trying to deal with a concern that has been brought to my attention by one of our members.

is one hundred percent pure unadulterated bullshit.

- That "nonspecific reference" was one hundred percent pure unadulterated blackmail.
- Blackmailers are one hundred percent predictable.
- There's only one way to deal with a blackmailer.
- I IMMEDIATELY dealt with the motherfucker EXACTLY the way I needed to.

(Really amazing just how much damage an unrepentant child molester can do when he plays his cards right.)

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25435
Raunchy Day At The Ridge + Release Failure

Paul Edwards - 2012/03/28 12:14:28 UTC

That's excellent Craig. It's good to hear from someone who has actually towed a Sport 2 from the chest. I did four tows the other day to practice and I set my VG at three quarters. Big difference... I really liked it. Bar pressure went way down and she still handled easy. You do have to beware the difference between yaw and roll though!

Miller Stroud - 2012/03/28 14:06:01 UTC
Arlington, Tennessee

Linknife, Linknife, Linknife!!!!!

Yeah, it was just a matter of time...

It works.

So does a fuckin' spinnaker shackle if you rig it in a sane fashion.

It's non-mechanical.

- Bullshit.
- Perish the thought that we should have anything mechanical on a glider.

It's inexpensive.

- And of course we wouldn't wanna sink much more than twenty bucks into hang glider release system. Then we might not have enough money left over for curved tips and parachutes.

- Until you start figuring in the time cost of rigging a new weak link every tow. That's one reason you'll never see a Linknife at any substantive aerotow operation.

It's small and light weight. I have even made a double release using them. I use tubing to eliminate the string. I HATE STRINGS!!!!!!!

- You'd be loads of fun on an America's Cup race.

- So how would you use tubing to eliminate the string on Outback's VG system and pod closing lanyard?

- The thing that got Outback killed for the purpose of the exercise wasn't STRING - it was CABLE. If he had been running string to the spinnaker shackle he'd have been as OK as his marginal flying skills woulda permitted. But I don't hear you - or any other Jack Show Assholes In Good Standing - questioning the use of cable.

- One point aerotowing is more dangerous than two point - period.

- Two point aerotowing - by definition - REQUIRES STRING. You need string to run:
-- from the pilot, up through the tow ring, and back to the glider; and
-- to a release mechanism either at the bridle apex or upper attachment.

- If you put the release mechanism at the bridle apex you can't release with both hands on the basetube.

- Outback and everyone else with half a brain or better understand that you're asking to get killed if you put the release actuator someplace where you hafta reach for it when the shit hits the fan.

- And your little configuration with the Linknives and tubing...

Steve Kinsley - 1996/05/09 15:50

Personal opinion. While I don't know the circumstances of Frank's death and I am not an awesome tow type dude, I think tow releases, all of them, stink on ice. Reason: You need two hands to drive a hang glider. You 'specially need two hands if it starts to turn on tow. If you let go to release, the glider can almost instantly assume a radical attitude. We need a release that is held in the mouth. A clothespin. Open your mouth and you're off.

...stinks on ice.

[Tad Eareckson]

Oops. Miller seems to have amended his post since I harvested and wrote a response to it.

I use the double version for foot launching a rigid but it doesn't matter what your flying. I could see a single version working very well in a pro tow set up. I made up about 10 of these over the winter and thay are all gone. I could do another run if the interest was there. Here's a video of it's use!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcKebsmnVUk

Ya know, Miller...

Damn near EVERYTHING works very well when everything's going great. You could launch with nothing but a fuckin' hook knife in your teeth and get pretty good results for maybe a few hundred consecutive flights.

I could've shot those video clips with nothing but a fuckin' hook knife in my teeth and they'd have looked about the same.

We need stuff that:
- works without control compromise when the shit hits the fan; and
- allows someone to make a mistake or two without having to pay with his life.

And you've done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to move the technology forward in those regards.

And your buddy Peter Birren has done a great deal to move things backwards.

P.S.

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

2-50215c
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7393/13994956550_d2f0fb8ded_o.png

4-50401c
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7400/14178971732_128c78ab68_o.png

5-50423c
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7424/13994978727_b6ff7ffe41_o.png

7-50506c
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7362/14158429266_952429da22_o.png


You're all a bunch of morons.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25435
Raunchy Day At The Ridge + Release Failure

deltaman - 2012/03/29 08:23:52 UTC

Hi,

Don't forget that aerotow a rigid and a flex are two different sports ! So easy with a rigid wing !
With a flex, controlled by weight shift whith TWO hands, really unstable, I want my TWO hands on the control bar from the beginning, even more near the ground, to a safety altitude.

The 2 points (pilot & glider) is by far easier and safer
- # half tension on the pilot
- reduce consequences of an overcorrection
- controlbar position quite similar than you know it in free flight
- really more speed available (you can pull more)
- less effort in pitch, better sensitivity and confort in roll
- probably better yaw stability

The 1 point (pilot only) shouldn't be considered as a progression but is a dangerous compromise compare to 2 points
- all tension on the pilot
- that increase the handling and is better to PIO
- your speedbar is far back and with less speed you should have in free flight with the same position. Unconfortable position for lot of pilots
- less to pull avilable, so less speed available, so less defense against lockout and offset upwards with the tug
- more effort to pull, straight arms, less sensitivity in roll

Regardless the method you choice, use a GOOD* release you can actuate with 2 hands on the controlbar:
- GetOff release (2 points): http://ozreport.com/1327514388
- Mouth releases (1 point): http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?p=274422

*a GOOD release = mechanically simple (reliable), easy to actuate with little effort at ALL load you can experiment, available immediately with two hands on the controlbar

PLEASE don't EVER tell these idiots that there's any correlation between mechanical simplicity and reliability. The case is virtually ALWAYS - in any kind of engineering you wanna talk about - the PRECISE OPPOSITE.

And if you don't believe me just look what's going on right now with Joe's release starting here:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post1705.html#p1705

And you're also talking about increasing the complexity to deal with issues on the actuation end of the system:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post1410.html#p1410

Zack C - 2011/01/10 14:28:40 UTC

When I first saw your release years ago on the Oz Report forum my impression was the same as most people's. I didn't know what the pictures were showing but it looked way more complicated than it needed to be. After seeing the problems that even the best releases on the market have and learning more about your release, however, I understand why you made it the way you did and the advantages it provides.

This release system:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8318603266/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8305308635/

is the most mechanically complex and most reliable, robust, and safest on the planet.

[deltaman]

ok ok. corrected.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25707
Liberty

Bob Flynn - 2012/04/03 15:24:02 UTC
Jacksonville, North Carolina

On North Wing's website is a video of them testing some wings on their test bed truck. The Liberty is shown being tested. Just from the video, I'd say it was airworthy.

Dennis Wood - 2012/04/03 15:32:46 UTC

huge difference between strong enough to survive "truck testing" and being "air worthy". a steel plate could survive the truck, but i doubt you'd like the stall characteristics...

Bob Flynn - 2012/04/03 15:51:24 UTC

Nothing like stating the obvious, peanut. You knew what I meant. Do you actually think NW would release a glider for sale that was un-airworthy? Would Wills Wing?

No, but not a single one of these motherfuckers has the slightest problem whatsoever with putting you up on shit tow equipment that can make the glider just as unstable and kill you just as dead as any of the chintzy full luff divers of the early to mid Seventies.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=19369
Hang Gliding ratings and tows

sweetie13 - 2010/10/14 17:28:28 UTC

Hello everyone. Nice to see you all again. Do you have to foot launch if you do scooter towing, aerotowing, or any other type of towing on hang gliders? Meaning, when you're being towed, do you launch with the feet and go up in the air, or does the tow pull you into the air?

If you cannot do foot launch, can you still obtain your H-1, H-1, H-4, etc. ratings with just towing?

What are you? Some kind of freak or something?
Hang gliding isn't about flying. It's all about foot launching - AND LANDING. Get back to your nursing home and take up checkers.

Brad Barkley - 2010/10/14 17:33:03 UTC

If you learn by scooter towing, then yes, you have to learn to foot launch, although the tow rope "helps" you in much the same way as gravity on a hill. If you are learning to aerotow, then you launch from a rolling dolly, with the option to land on your wheels, as some pilots do as a matter of course.

Right Brad. You can dolly launch for aerotow but it's physically impossible to dolly launch for scooter tow. Dolly launching appears nowhere in the Wills Wing / Blue Sky Scooter Towing manual or video so just forget about it.

Lori Pignatelli - 2010/10/14 17:58:02 UTC
Atlanta

Aerotow does not require foot launch at all and there is nothing stopping you from getting at least an H2. The problem comes in with landing. If you can't land on your feet then you may or may not be able to get H3 depending on the school.

Yeah. The SCHOOL should be able to dictate what you can and can't do to get a rating.

But as long as you fly at a place with a nice landing zone then you don't need the H3 anyway.

- 'Cept lotsa places you can't fly without a Three unless you have a babysitter. And some places you can't fly at all.

- You can wheel land at some pretty crappy landing zones and still have a lot better odds of flying again next weekend than a foot lander at the Happy Acres putting green.

Due to knee issues this is how I do it - I've never landed on my feet and I couldn't foot launch for a while, but I continued flying.

INFIDEL!!!

-
H2
AT FL CL FSL
WW Falcon 3

Jim Rooney - 2010/10/14 18:41:50 UTC
Queenstown

Not being able to run won't stop you.
There's paraplegics that fly hang gliders.

Aerotowing is the easiest way as you can fly gliders on a full set of landing gear. Our tandems are rigged this way and we have some solos setup on gear as well. Quest in particular has a full gear rigged student glider that they use for first solos.

Hell, I know a guy who rolls off of takeoff in the mountains.

Michael Abdullah - 2010/10/14 20:18:47 UTC
Naugatuck

Also keep in mind that you are NEW to this sport. I am assuming you took a lesson this past weekend. If you had a real hard time with certain aspects of learning to hang glide well guess what? You are normal. Congratulations!

Yeah. Welcome to the rest of your flying career trying to get your fucking flare timing just right.

You fall into the same situation most people here went through. I saw you posted about downtubes hurting your shoulders in another thread. Yep. This will happen too. Have you pulled a hamstring yet? Blown a quad?

Do yourself a favor and take some more lessons.

Do yourself a favor and...

Zack C - 2010/12/13 04:58:15 UTC

I had a very different mindset too back then and trusted the people that made my equipment. Since then I've realized (largely due to this discussion) that while I can certainly consider the advice of others, I can't trust anyone in this sport but myself (and maybe the people at Wills Wing).

...regard everything you're taught, told, and sold with the DEEPEST of suspicion.

If you really want to fly, you will do it.

Depends on how badly she mangles her body doing stupid, useless, dangerous shit people make her do under the pretense of training her to be safe.

It may take you longer than other people. Don't let this get to you. It sounds like you want to avoid learning to footlaunch or are giving up on it after only ONE lesson. Even if you could just go learn AT or ScooterTow...give FL a few more tries before you give up on it.

Why? Lotsa people have no need WHATSOEVER to foot launch - ever.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=4171
Have you ever blown a launch?

David W. Johnson - 2007/11/05 00:57:23 UTC
Huntsville, Alabama

Just so you will know, blowing a launch is probably not the worst feeling in the world.

My fourteen year old daughter's first mountain launch went wrong. I got to watch her fall forty feet into the trees.

Everything turned out alright. She bruised her knee and even the glider wasn't badly hurt, but I have never posted the video on the net out of concern for the sport.

Great Dave!

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=20756
How is Zach Etheridge doing?

Bob Flynn - 2011/02/04 11:26:34 UTC
Jacksonville, North Carolina

Lookout keeps this kind of stuff under their hat. You never hear of accidents there. But every time I go there, I hear about quite a few. Blown launches, tree landings, etc.

Help Matt keep the lid on things so somebody else can watch his fourteen year old daughter get on that ramp with shit training and plummet off the end - with or without her glider.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7671
Gallery Of Pain

Hghg - 2012/04/03 11:38:13 UTC

ouch

http://i.imgur.com/tt379.jpg

Christopher LeFay - 2012/04/03 12:17:11 UTC

Any word on what contributed to the lockout? The valley frequently features sketchy conditions for towing low over trees - sucky place for a tow program; still, if you consider the number of tow flights, there are remarkably few accidents of this sort...

Ones that you hear about anyway.

It is absolutely ASTOUNDING that something like that can happen and that post from Christopher is everything we know about it.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/11.196
Ratings?

Bill Jacques - 2007/10/05 21:15:43 UTC

After being in this sport for only about two years I am convinced that hang glider ratings through the USHPA are dangerous. They are too "simple" and any "special skill ratings" are implicitly advanced along with a pilot's generalized hang rating.

As an example I received my Hang 3 a month ago. Implicitly, my FL, PL, and AT ratings were elevated. But after spending a lot of time on training hills (in Santa Barbara and in here in Chattanooga) and launching off several mountain sites I can tell you that the FL rating needs to be better defined. Even though I was technically rated to fly several H3 foot launch sites, I can tell you I was not qualified to do so.

I knew nothing about adjusting for crosswinds, proper use of wire crews, adjusting for wing lift during launch, cycles, thin air launches, soft pack versus hard pack, etc. All these items were introduced to me because I took the time and money to improve my FL skills and sought the advice of experienced pilots / instructors.

I think there should be levels of competency for all these "special skills" (a FL1, FL2 and FL3 instead of just a FL). Otherwise, someone not as conscious and cautious as me will think that he's are qualified to do something he really isn't. And he might get hurt.

As I travel, I often call many of my ex-instructors (James Tindle, Mike Barber, Rob McKenzie, and, now, Matt Taber) to determine my competency, as well as their comfort, with me undertaking certain launches or flying parameters. But, I doubt most pilots do this. They get a beginning FL or AT designation, and as they are revised upward in their "H" rating, they probably just assume they are just as advanced in their special skills.

Pretty dangerous, and stupid, if you ask me.