Weak link strength is curiously absent from the article co-written by Mike Meier, and the video appeared to be made without involvement from Wills. The video doesn't even prescribe a weak link strength...Steve just says they use an 'aerotow weak link' and that in 'this particular case' it's 130 (could be because the pilot is really light for all we know).
At any rate, weak links are one of the things I want to talk to Steve Pearson about the next opportunity I have.
Tad Eareckson wrote:Unless you hook the carabiner to an aerotow loop or something, how?
Maybe I'll post some pictures later if I have time...
Tad Eareckson wrote:Unless you wanna condition yourself to the string - which wouldn't be a bad idea.
I thought that was the idea. I didn't really think about verbal communication, but that could be an issue.
Tad Eareckson wrote:Just thought of a really good title for the concept:
Dumbo's Magic Feather
You don't got that feather securely wrapped in your trunk, you don't fly.
My point about Holly is just that it would have been best for her to release early on.
I know. When I said:
Everybody always plans to, virtually nobody ever does.
I wasn't really addressing what you were talking and thinking about. I was going after this bullshit we always hear decade after decade from these idiots and slimeballs whenever some poor bastard locks out and slams in...
Right there (I think) is the main issue...some pilots think they can fix a bad thing and don't want to start over.
"Billy getting eaten by that crocodile was a real tragedy. But he probably splashed too much doing the breast stroke (I think). If we always swim using a smooth efficient breast stroke - like I do - we shouldn't have a problem (I think). Water's great! Last one in's a rotten egg!"
Weak link strength is curiously absent from the article co-written by Mike Meier...
Yeah. CURIOUSLY.
Instructors wishing to use scooter towing as a training tool must also have significant experience as pilots in at least one method of ground based towing, and have a thorough understanding of the general principles of towing. A suggested reference book on towing is Towing Aloft by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden - available from:
According to the reference that WILLS WING is recommending...
Towing Aloft - 1998/01
A weak link is the focal point of a safe towing system.
...a weak link is THE FOCAL POINT of a safe towing system - and yet any MENTION of strength is CURIOUSLY ABSENT.
And any mention of weak link strength by Wills Wing or any of its people has been CURIOUSLY ABSENT since the publication of the 1985/09 issue of Hang Gliding magazine with Rob's report of Chris Bulger being killed towing a glider using a four hundred pound weak link - WELL below current USHGA allowance - with a piece o' shit trike release rated for three hundred pounds straight back.
Rob Kells - 1985/09
If you're towing, USE A WEAK LINK and test its breaking strength on numerous samples. Be sure it is breaking consistently at UNDER 200 lbs.
So if you're aerotowing two point you should be using - regardless of your flying weight - a loop of 115 pound Greenspot on the top end of your bridle - not that dangerously overstrength Industry Standard 130 stuff.
And did he ever go back and retract that statement?
It's on - and only available from - their website. Steve doesn't even LINK to it.
Ryan Voight Productions
Wills Wing dealer - as is his dad.
Wills Wing
Second title.
BlueSky
Wills Wing dealer. And the trainers they're using are Wills Wing Condors and Wills Wing Falcons.
Copyright 2007 by Sport Kites, Inc.
doing business as
Wills Wing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
They are FULLY RESPONSIBLE for every pixel in or missing from that video, every punctuation mark in or missing from the companion written manual, and everything in the suggested reference book - cover to cover inclusive.
The video doesn't even prescribe a weak link strength...
- PRECISELY.
- Hell, it doesn't even mention ANYTHING about its PURPOSE.
This video is intended for use by trained and qualified hang gliding instructors, in conjunction with the companion written manual: "Blue Sky Scooter Towing Method, Equipment & Practices."
So let's see what it says about the focal point of a safe towing system in the companion written manual: "Blue Sky Scooter Towing Method, Equipment & Practices."
This bridle is passed through a loop at the lower end of a longer V-bridle, which passes through the ring or carabiner on the tow rope, and is then attached, via a weak link, to the top release mounted on the keel of the glider.
Well that sure works for me! Anything else we need to understand about it before going on to the twelve hundred pound towline and turnaround pulley?
Steve just says they use an 'aerotow weak link'...
Steve just says precisely:
But with the towline we use a standard weak link like we would for aerotow...
Lemme repeat that with emphasis:
But with the towline we use A STANDARD WEAK LINK LIKE WE WOULD FOR AEROTOW...
And note that he's not using it "with the towline". He's using it with the top end of the two point bridle.
...and that in 'this particular case' it's 130...
Uh... This... In this particular case it's 130 greenline, 130 pound test.
- What the fuck is 130 greenline? Is that what it says on the label?
- Oh, it's 130 pound test. Glad you were able to read that much off the label. So at what the fuck towline tension does it blow when it's on the top end of the two point bridle?
- Why that particular number?
...(could be because the pilot is really light for all we know).
Yeah, sure.
- They use a standard 130 greenline loop for towing up into midday booming thermal conditions everybody and his dog who gets in line for the Dragonfly or trike.
- But for skimming Hang Zeroes five feet off the grass at low tension in calm morning and evening air they scale the weak link to the flying weight - but don't discuss that in either the video or the manual.
- So what's the point of - on a carefully edited instructional video - saying "IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE" if you don't say what THE PARTICULAR CASE IS?
BTW, Steve Wendt is exceptionally knowledgeable. Hell, he's the one that signed off my instructor rating.
- What's two plus two, Zack?
At any rate, weak links are one of the things I want to talk to Steve Pearson about the next opportunity I have.
Take a mirror with you and see if he still has a reflection first.
Zack C - 2011/01/22 19:12:14 UTC
A couple of years ago at a Lookout Wills Wing Demo Days QA session with Steve and Mike, I asked what the benefits of curved wing tips were. Steve's response surprised me: "They look good." He said they didn't provide any aerodynamic benefit and they only put them on their gliders because people want them. Either he or Mike (don't remember) then went on to state that they put backup hang loops on their wings for the same reason. I was impressed by their candor, but disappointed that consumer demand could override sensible engineering even in the realm of aircraft design.
I got fifty bucks that says he lost it a long time ago. Better have some garlic and a wooden stake handy.
These guys are lined up with all the scumbags that are controlling this sport and advertising and selling their gliders. You might as well be talking to Davis, Rooney, Matt, Tracy, or Tim Herr.
Mark Knight UNDOUBTEDLY used this Wills Wing scooter tow training video and manual and taught Bryan to...
Larry West - 2012/02/20 14:49:54 UTC
Broken arm Saturday for discussion
At that moment, the weak link broke. (He was using that lame greenstripe crap and no one had talked to him about weak links as far as I know. He had a 1000 foot roll of the stuff in the back of his van. He was just using "what they told him to use".)
..."with the towline use a standard weak link like we would for aerotow" in conjunction with his Wills Wing Falcon 3 170 and Wills Wing Z5 harness EXACTLY like it says in the Wills Wing scooter tow training video.
Larry West - 2012/02/20 14:49:54 UTC
This scared me, so I asked him how much theory Mark taught, and my buddy said "None. We just flew a lot." I laughed and said "That's cool, but they had you take a written test, didn't they?" and he got mad (he was already stressing) and said "Larry, we just flew and those guys said I was flying like a Hang 3.", at which point I just walked away and waited for something bad to happen......which it did five minutes later.
It's not "us" that has the track record... it's our process.
We're people just like anyone else. And that's the point. THIS is how we do it... normal, fallible humans... and it bloody well works.
So I don't give much credence to something that someone doesn't agree with about what we do for some theoretical reason.
Take this weaklink nonsense.
What do I "advocate"?
I don't advocate shit... I *USE* 130 test lb, greenspun cortland braided fishing line.
It is industry standard.
It is what *WE* use.
If someone's got a problem with it... we've got over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TANDEM TOWS and COUNTLESS solo tows that argue otherwise. So they can politely get stuffed.
As my friend likes to say... "Sure, it works in reality... but does it work in theory?"
Hahahahhaa... I like that one a lot
Yeah. Why say anything about weak link THEORY in either a hang gliding towing instructional video or training manual when you can just fly a lot?
You think these negligent Kool-Aid drinkers are suddenly gonna break the International Hang Gliding Code of Silence and and say something other than:
Please note that the weaklink *saved* his ass. He still piled into the earth despite the weaklink helping him... for the same reason it had to help... lack of towing ability.
on the issues of proportional and minimum weak link ratings? Good freakin' luck.
I thought that was the idea.
Rob Kells - 2005/12
Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked...
That's the MAIN idea. (Notice you haven't heard THAT message coming out of Wills Wing in the half dozen years since.)
But consistency runs a pretty close second. However, if I couldn't lift the glider in dead air I might dispense with the string when there was enough wind and/or crew to float it. I've never had any problem whatsoever of being scared shitless of launching unhooked immediately before every foot launch I've ever done - save for a few on the dunes in the course of my long weekend of lessons nearly 32 years ago.
I didn't really think about verbal communication, but that could be an issue.
He turned on me as if I were his mortal enemy just because I didn't think lifting a glider in strong winds was the most sensible way to check your hook-in status.
...who's convinced himself that getting the wing into the airflow prior to launch is a BAD thing?
On further consideration...
Just go for the people who CAN'T do it - the ones who WON'T aren't doing hang gliding or the gene pool any good anyway.
You're a lot more cynical than I with regards to Wills. I suspect they've avoided the weak link issue not because they disagree with accepted practices but because they feel it's a contentious issue best left to the professionals (i.e., instructors and tow park operators). In the sailplane world the purpose of a weak link is well-defined and its strength purely a function of the aircraft (as best I can tell), and if that were the case in hang gliding as well I'm sure hang glider manufacturers would also specify weak link strengths for their gliders. But as it is, most of the professionals regard weak links as having the (not necessarily sole) purpose of aborting tows progressing towards or in the midst of lockouts.
I seriously doubt Wills Wing would stay silent on the weak link issue if they felt accepted practices were dangerous. I just think they don't know...they don't have enough evidence to say either way. They're based in SoCal. There is no need for towing of any sort to exist there. They test fly gliders weekly off mountains. Their only exposure to towing is during Demo Days.
About the curved tip thing, I think Steve's response is a credit to him more than anything. I think it's solid evidence he'd answer my weak link questions honestly. He seems much more an engineer type than a salesman type.
Regarding the Blue Sky stuff, yes, Wills is promoting Steve Wendt's methods (to ultimately help sell gliders), but they're still quick to point out it's the 'Blue Sky Scooter Towing method'. I'd have to ask a lawyer what the implications of 'dba' are.
Tad Eareckson wrote:Mark Knight UNDOUBTEDLY used this Wills Wing scooter tow training video and manual...
You're a lot more cynical than I with regards to Wills.
Yeah, and I don't like to be because they've done a lot of good work - but I keep doing more and more research and I keep seeing more and more patterns.
I suspect they've avoided the weak link issue not because they disagree with accepted practices but because they feel it's a contentious issue best left to the professionals (i.e., instructors and tow park operators).
I find no disagreement in the professional community as to such.
Zack C - 2011/08/26 12:39:26 UTC
In a two point configuration, the ubiquitous 130 lb Greenspot loop allows somewhere around 240 lbs of towline tension. That isn't anywhere close to breaking a glider. If you're using a weak link that light for the purpose of protecting you from a lockout, we disagree about what the weak link is for. Those that understand that isn't its job are totally cool with a 1.5 G link because weak link breaks can be dangerous.
PS... you got to be careful mentioning weak link strengths around the forum, it can spark a civil war
Brendon McKenna - 2009/06/26 13:20:41 UTC
Hey Martin,
I have seen the odd discussion about weaklinks here on this list... LOL We definitely don't want to go there!
...the Mother of All Contentious Towing Issues.
- Whenever there's a contentious issue in aviation there's always a right answer and usually about ten of fifteen wrong ones and people are gonna crash and burn at a pretty good clip until the right answer is implemented as policy.
- Determining the right answer is almost always a no brainer.
- The right answer on this issue is a MASSIVE no brainer. The math is easy even if/when the common sense...
Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974
"The greatest dangers are a rope break or a premature release." - Richard Johnson
...doesn't kick in - and we had done it forty years ago.
- The Wills Wing guys ARE the fucking professionals. They're the innovators, designers, engineers. They're head, shoulders, thorax, abdomen, and knees above the kinds of dregs who operate tow parks, instruct, and fly their gliders. They write the books on how to preflight and fly their gliders and what can and can't be safely done with them.
- People with much in the way of brains tend not run flight parks or instruct for very long because they start going insane with the repetition and boredom pretty fast.
- Yeah it's a contentious issue - it's a few smart people versus untold thousands of total idiots. And the smart people have a responsibility not to cave.
- Mike was a high school physics teacher. That's twenty times more than you need to blow Hewett out of the water. And Mike blew Donnell out of the water in a nasty letter to the editor war back in 1980. And that was a real bad time to stop.
In the sailplane world the purpose of a weak link is well-defined and its strength purely a function of the aircraft (as best I can tell), and if that were the case in hang gliding as well...
IF ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
But as it is, most of the professionals regard weak links as having the (not necessarily sole) purpose of aborting tows progressing towards or in the midst of lockouts.
- And also of aborting tows progressing towards or in the midst of...
I've had weak links break on aerotows for seemingly no reason a number of times. I feel that this is dangerous and am suspicious of the wisdom of using 130 lb Cortland Greenspot for every pilot in every configuration.
- And, of course most of the professionals wanna keep the big dudes on the big T2s 1.7 times as safe as the little chicks on the little Falcon 3s.
...and if that were the case in hang gliding as well I'm sure hang glider manufacturers would also specify weak link strengths for their gliders.
Yeah I'm sure they would. But after over three decades of Hewett Link Hell they just can't figure this issue out. So they tell us to:
Always use an appropriate weak link with a finished length of 1.5 inches or less.
And then they post a video telling us that that an appropriate aerotow weak link is 130 pound test greenline. And anybody with half a brain or better knows that using 130 pound test greenline for any but the tiniest of gliders makes the tow about a hundred times more dangerous than using no weak link at all.
I seriously doubt Wills Wing would stay silent on the weak link issue if they felt accepted practices were dangerous.
Dave Broyles - 1990/11
In the opinion of the great majority of our club members, a light weak link break is as likely to endanger the pilot as to help him.
I talked to a lot of pilots at Hobbs, and the consensus was that in the course of Eric Aasletten's accident, had a weak link break occurred instead of the manual or auto release that apparently did occur, the outcome would have been the same.
The weak link breaking strength should be between 100% and 150% of the combined weight of the glider and pilot (the gross load) being towed...
Hang Gliding - 2005/12
Master's Tips
Pre-Flight, Distractions and Hooking In
By Rob Kells
Photos by Mike Meier
- They know that doing a hang check at the back of the ramp and assuming that you're hooked in at the front of the ramp is extremely dangerous but they're not just silent on the issue - their owners' manuals all tell you to do a hang check at the back of the ramp and assume that you're hooked in at the front of the ramp.
- The fatality that prompted that article was Bill Priday - 2005/10/01.
- Bill Priday, Hang Three, died because he was taught - in blatant violation of USHGA regulations - to do a hang check anywhere at any time and from that point on assume he was hooked in.
- Guess from whom Bill received all of his training and ratings.
- The video and manual were released 2007/03 - that's seventeen months after Steve's student ran off the Whitwell ramp without his Wills Wing Sport 2 and fifteen months after publication of:
Master's Tips - 2005/12
Pre-Flight, Distractions and Hooking In
By Rob Kells
Photos by Mike Meier
Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run. I always use this test.
My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above.
- Blue Sky Scooter Towing Method Equipment & Practices:
5. Demonstrate hooking in, doing a hang check, lifting and holding the glider at the proper angle of attack.
- Demonstrate the walk - jog - run method of initiating a run with the glider, accelerating smoothly until it is flying its own weight and lifting off the shoulders.
- There are about a dozen launches depicted in that video. Show me ONE instance of ANYONE making the slightest PRETENSE of hook-in status verification at ANY TIME prior.
- The video and manual were released less than eighteen months before Kunio was gonna run off the north Mingus ramp without his glider.
I just think they don't know...
- Then they're negligent.
- OK, then don't tell people on your website to:
Always use an appropriate weak link with a finished length of 1.5 inches or less.
...when you yourself have no fuckin' clue what an appropriate weak link is - other than something shorter than one and a half inches.
...they don't have enough evidence to say either way.
Then why aren't they over here on Kite Strings GETTING enough evidence to say?
They're based in SoCal. There is no need for towing of any sort to exist there. They test fly gliders weekly off mountains. Their only exposure to towing is during Demo Days.
Look at all five competitions listed across the bottom.
- East Coast HG Championship
- Texas Single Surface Shootout
- Santa Cruz Flats Race
- Flytec Race & Rally
- Midwest HG Comp
Click on it. Takes you over to The Davis Show for those and two more:
- 4th Annual Rob Kells Meet
- Big Spring Championship
NOT ONE of those gliders is getting into the air by running off a slope (or anything else).
- But they're perfectly OK endorsing Steve Wendt, Dennis Pagen, and Bill Bryden. On what basis?
Zack C - 2010/11/09 14:33:10 UTC
Dave,
David Hayner - 2010/11/09 05:14:53 UTC
Over the last several months I have observed direct questions to "Tad" requesting that he identify himself and state his hang gliding expertise. While I have not studied each and every response, I do not recall him providing specific, candid responses to either.
He has never been shy about his identity. As for his experience:
Tad:
I learned a LONG time ago that in hang gliding if you tell someone you've got ten thousand hours that that instantly makes your point invalid if you're contradicted by someone with ten thousand and two hours. So I usually just answer, "I've never flown. What's your point?"
He has a point. The number of flights or hours he has has no bearing on his points. But from the discussion it should be obvious that he's done a tremendous amount of research with regards to towing hang gliders - far more than anyone else I know of.
But what really disturbs me is the willingness of this community to engage with a random, un-identified, untraceable character based on one individual's statement concerning that he (Tad) knows a thing or to.
No one is engaging with him because he said he knows a thing or two. We're engaging with him because he has sound logic, which is independent of the source.
- Is there anything on this forum that a halfway intelligent junior high school kid from Southern California who's never been near a slope or tow launched glider couldn't understand just as well as any of the current participants?
About the curved tip thing, I think Steve's response is a credit to him more than anything.
- OK.
- But still:
...but disappointed that consumer demand could override sensible engineering even in the realm of aircraft design.
3. So why doesn't he publish in the magazine:
We put curved tips on our gliders only because people want them because they look good. They don't provide any aerodynamic benefit, they're a royal pain at setup and add to the time it takes to get into the air, and they raise the cost of the glider a hundred and fifty bucks a copy.
P.S. If the main suspension is properly maintained it's never going to fail, so the backup is sort of pointless. Years ago we didn't even put backup hang loops on our gliders, (there's no other component on your glider that is backed up, and there are plenty of other components that are more likely to fail, and where the failure would be just as serious) but for some reason the whole backup hang loop thing is a big psychological need for most pilots. So you're paying a little more for something totally useless in the airflow and it's a complication and distraction near to launch time when people don't really need near launch time.
So we recommend that you order your glider minus backup for a twenty dollar discount and take it off if you've already got a glider and preflight it once every five years or so.
I think it's solid evidence he'd answer my weak link questions honestly.
- OK.
- Will he pull and remake the video, pull and edit the manual, amend his owners' manuals, put out an advisory condemning the use of 130 pound Greenspot, and give us real hope for ending this global thirty year wave of insanity?
- Will he say that Tracy, Davis, Rooney, Bobby, Ryan, Wallaby, Quest, Blue Sky, Ridgely, Dennis Pagen, Bill Bryden, BHPA, and HGFA are totally full of shit?
Regarding the Blue Sky stuff, yes, Wills is promoting Steve Wendt's methods (to ultimately help sell gliders), but they're still quick to point out it's the 'Blue Sky Scooter Towing method'.
On the video it says:
Copyright 2007 by Sport Kites, Inc.
dba Wills Wing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this video may be reproduced without the express written permission of Sport Kites, Inc. dba Wills Wing.
In the written manual it says:
Copyright March 2007 by Sport Kites, Inc. dba Wills Wing, Inc.
In the owner's manual for the Falcon 3 (and undoubtedly every other Wills Wing glider) it says:
Copyright 1994 through 2008 by Sport Kites, Inc. dba Wills Wing, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of
Sport Kites, Inc., dba Wills Wing, Inc.
I'd have to ask a lawyer what the implications of 'dba' are.
Early in 1973, two brothers from California - Bob and Chris Wills - formed one of the first hang glider manufacturing companies, Sport Kites which became Wills Wing in 1978.
There ARE NO implications. It's just two names for the same corporation.
This video and manual are ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WILLS WING and they - not Ryan Voight, Steve Wendt, or Blue Sky - are ONE HUNDRED PERCENT responsible for the content - including but not limited to the standard aerotow weak link and the bent pin secondary aerotow release in the system they use to teach students good habits from the start.
Then why was Bryan towing from the shoulders?
- Bryan was a Hang Two from 2011/08/25 until 2012/02/18 - at which time he abruptly became a Hang Zero again.
- He had been signed off for his Surface Tow rating the previous month.
- The tow configuration and bridle/release hardware - which were not elements of the instructional video and manual - were of no significant relevance to the incident.
- The standard weak link like we use for aerotow - which WAS an element of the instructional video and manual - was of OVERWHELMING relevance to the incident.
Wills Wing either has to start getting competent in towing or get the hell out of it altogether and stop sleeping with these assholes and endorsing them and what they're doing.
Tad Eareckson wrote:And Mike blew Donnell out of the water in a nasty letter to the editor war back in 1980.
Interesting. What was that about?
Tad Eareckson wrote:
Zack C wrote:In the sailplane world the purpose of a weak link is well-defined and its strength purely a function of the aircraft (as best I can tell), and if that were the case in hang gliding as well...
IF ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Haha...sorry to raise your blood pressure. I didn't phrase that very well. I meant '...and if its purpose was similarly defined in hang gliding...'. Maybe replace the first 'and' in the sentence with 'with'.
Tad Eareckson wrote:Then why aren't they over here on Kite Strings GETTING enough evidence to say?
I suspect because they're busy making gliders, and when they're not they're busy with their families. Most people aren't willing or able to invest the time that I have in these discussions. But beyond all that, as I've said, I don't think they feel this is their arena.
Tad Eareckson wrote:But they're perfectly OK endorsing Steve Wendt, Dennis Pagen, and Bill Bryden. On what basis?
They endorse Steve Wendt because they think his methods may be the answer to a declining hang gliding population. They endorse Pagen and Bryden because no one else has a book on towing, and its content has been accepted by the industry for many years. In fact, I think you're the first person I've seen criticize anything in it.
Tad Eareckson wrote:So why doesn't he publish in the magazine:
Why would he? It's not like those issues are safety-related.
Tad Eareckson wrote:It's just two names for the same corporation.
All right, I dropped the ball on that one. For some reason I was equating Sport Kites with Blue Sky...I didn't realize it was Wills. I'll agree they're responsible for the content.
Tad Eareckson wrote:The tow configuration and bridle/release hardware - which were not elements of the instructional video and manual - were of no significant relevance to the incident.
Steve Wendt specifically mentions he tows from the hips in the video. How can you be so sure 'Mark Knight UNDOUBTEDLY used this Wills Wing scooter tow training video' if the procedures Bryan was taught deviated in that regard?
I really don't understand why Steve Wendt uses 130 lb weak links. He says very explicitly in the video that he never cuts power (only reduces gradually), with 'NEVER CUT THE POWER' written across the middle of the screen in red all caps. If cutting the power abruptly is such a concern, wouldn't a weak link break be an equal concern?
Tad Eareckson wrote:Wills Wing has gotta either start getting competent in towing or get the hell out of it altogether and stop sleeping with these assholes and endorsing them and what they're doing.
I agree they overextended their expertise producing that material. I don't know the whole history but I suspect they did it because at the time Davis was pushing Steve Wendt's scooter tow methods as the salvation of hang gliding but Steve Wendt had little motivation to produce and host the material himself so Wills took it upon themselves to make it happen because no one else would (USHPA's too afraid of being sued).
Donnell's throw-it-up-in-the-air-and-see-what-happens approach to aviation versus Wills Wing's see-if-you-can-break-it-on-the-ground-so-you-don't-kill-somebody-who-takes-it-up business model.
Don't ever do that to me again. It's too much work deprogramming people one at a time after they've come off the 130 pound Greenspot conveyer belt.
I suspect because they're busy making gliders...
And downtubes for all their customers who attempt to adhere to the landing instructions in their owners' manuals and use the standard aerotow weak link specified in their towing procedures video.
...and when they're not they're busy with their families.
- They have time to be designing and retooling for curved tips that look good and writing the setup procedures, they have time to figure out what the fuck they're talking about before they put out misinformation that's gonna destroy and end other people's lives.
- Pick one.
- a) Go home to the wife and 2.5 kids an hour before you finish doing your fuckin' job and a veterinary surgeon who's just bought a glider and harness from you leaves the field with his arm broken in four places.
- b) ...
- And let's not forget that they seriously crashed a number of gliders and seriously injured several pilots - including one who got a lifetime wheelchair sentence - 'cause they couldn't be bothered to fix their nosewires connection so it wouldn't disconnect during truck tow launch.
Most people aren't willing or able to invest the time that I have in these discussions.
- They're not MOST PEOPLE. They're the biggest glider manufacturers on the freakin' planet. They're PROFESSIONALS. This is their job.
- WE'RE most people - the contemptible weekend warriors whose "opinions" don't matter who get pissed all over by the total douchebags running the Authorized Wills Wing Dealerships.
- Yeah, it's so much less time consuming to declare 130 pound Greenspot the standard aerotow weak link that's worked really well over the course of hundreds of thousands of tows and move on to flare timing so you'll be able to safely deal with the standard aerotow weak link.
- They don't have invest time in discussions. Just search and skim the material until it's determined to be solid then go away and edit the video.
- If that's too much trouble then THIS:
Tost Flugzeuggerätebau
Weak links protect your aircraft against overloading.
is just about everything you need to know about weak links.
- How come this mangy little Hang Two Wallaby victim...
Axel Banchero - 2009/06/18
Tad... Thanks for the links to the Dynamic Flight reads on lockouts and weak links. I must confess I was one of those expecting the weak link to break in case of an ugly lookout before reading that. The info on that site is very clear and makes a lot of sense.
Axel Banchero - 2009/06/27
Thanks for the eye opening posts of yours. I will try to pass it and educate a few pilots here and there without getting into an argument of course. I'll see what happens if I try to talk with the instructors and flight park owners too.
...can get it THAT FAST and Wills Wing is still totally clueless after three decades?
- If any of the above is still too goddam much effort then just don't use them at all. Situations in hang gliding in which they're necessary are pretty much nonexistent.
But beyond all that, as I've said, I don't think they feel this is their arena.
Rob Kells - 1986/05
TRUCK TOW - A PRELIMINARY IMPRESSION
Towing has in the past always been a much more dangerous proposition than foot launch for hang glider pilots. Jerry and Mike of Air Time Of Lubbock (ATOL) have made some great steps forward recently to make towing safer.
The truck launch they have developed allows for launches with airspeed already established for the pilot. The pilot is prone and holding onto the base tube at the time of launch, which eliminates the need of transition from upright to prone.
I feel that the ATOL folks have really done their homework over the two years it took to perfect this new system. Safety is the top priority, and they have done a very impressive job of conceptualizing and executing an innovative system. The winch and release hardware are clean and well engineered, and worked flawlessly on my test flights.
I would recommend that anyone interested in flat land towing take a close look at this system. It's the best I've seen.
I don't give a rat's ass what they don't feel or claim not to. It's been their arena for a very long time. If you've set up a coin operated Glock machine at a junior high school cafeteria then that's your arena.
They endorse Steve Wendt because they think his methods may be the answer to a declining hang gliding population.
Yeah, right after they published an article in the magazine condemning Steve Wendt's methods which precipitated an extremely painful decline in the local hang gliding population in this neck of the woods. Maybe they should be more focused on keeping the people we already have have alive and in one piece than suckering new victims into the meat grinder.
They endorse Pagen and Bryden because no one else has a book on towing, and its content has been accepted by the industry for many years.
- Dan Poynter has a book on towing and it's a billion times better than the crap Pagen and Bryden perpetrated on the public. All you need to do is amend it with a note to move the lower bridle attachment from the basetube to the pilot and, if you're inclined, throw in a 1.5 G weak link and you're good to go.
- The industry just sells it - it doesn't and never has accepted its contents. There are standards for release performance in Appendix III which the industry - including the authors - totally ignores.
In fact, I think you're the first person I've seen criticize anything in it.
I'm the first person you've seen who's actually read it. Hell, it's 374 pages - and you know as well as I do that the attention span of the average glider diver is maxed out after a four sentence post on a web forum. Sometimes you can stretch it to five if you limit all the words to two syllables and throw in a dozen smilies - but after that there's a brick wall.
When a person WITH a brain reads it he starts noticing that it totally contradicts itself about three times a page.
Why would he? It's not like those issues are safety-related.
- No, just ethics related.
- Yeah, they are safety related.
SlingBlade - 2010/03/19
I think the only reason people switch to pro tow is drag. It's quite a lot of stuff hanging out in the wind so I can see why competitive pilots would hate keel releases.
He put the resources into catering to the bullshit fashion du jour instead of giving people a safer, cleaner glider by building my release into it. Had he done so their pilots wouldn't be compelled to tow in a dangerous configuration to avoid butchering a couple thousand dollars worth of the performance Wills Wing engineers in to win the Davis pecker measuring contests Wills Wing uses to advertise their gliders.
For some reason I was equating Sport Kites with Blue Sky...
Yeah, I figured as much. I did the same thing on the first skim.
Steve Wendt specifically mentions he tows from the hips in the video.
- He tows them from the hips AND the aerotow trim point on the keel.
- And then he puts them behind a Dragonfly, leaves the trim point on the keel alone and moves the secondary bridle from the hips to the shoulders.
- And then he sells them T2Cs, loses the keel attachment, and leaves the shoulder attachment alone.
- And Wills Wing and everyone and his dog know this.
How can you be so sure 'Mark Knight UNDOUBTEDLY used this Wills Wing scooter tow training video' if the procedures Bryan was taught deviated in that regard?
- Bryan didn't enter Mark's scooter tow program as an off-the-streeter. He entered it over four months after getting signed of as a Two by Rob McKenzie.
- If it walks like a duck - it's a duck. Even if it's colored and patterned differently from what you're used to seeing and has a very long pointy tail.
- If a guy in Russia is producing bent pin barrel releases you know, regardless of whether or not the guy's ever heard of Bobby Bailey, it traces straight back - maybe through ten degrees of separation - to Bobby Bailey in the fall of 1991.
- Steve Fucking Wendt is Ground Zero for scooter towing. If Steve had pronounced 250 pound Redspot to be the standard scooter tow weak link I one hundred percent guarantee you that all the stupid clones running scooter tow training would be using 250 pound Redspot standard scooter tow weak links and Bryan would've had a thousand foot spool of the stuff in the back of his van.
I don't care whether or not Mark watched the video, read the manual, and/or attended a scooter tow instructor clinic with Steve. Steve is the person who standardized and popularized that approach and Mark was operating under something that came directly or indirectly from him.
I really don't understand why Steve Wendt uses 130 lb weak links.
Same reason he uses bent pin secondary releases with stubby little barrels barrels you can't get a grip on. 'Cause he's a stupid clone who never had an original idea in his life and wouldn't recognize a magnitude ten improvement in anything from outside of the mainstream if it bit him in the ass.
He says very explicitly in the video that he never cuts power (only reduces gradually), with 'NEVER CUT THE POWER' written across the middle of the screen in red all caps. If cutting the power abruptly is such a concern, wouldn't a weak link break be an equal concern?
I'm planning on doing a major hatchet job on the idiot video. Leave my best material the hell alone.
I agree they overextended their expertise producing that material.
What expertise?
I don't know the whole history but I suspect they did it because at the time Davis was pushing Steve Wendt's scooter tow methods as the salvation of hang gliding but Steve Wendt had little motivation to produce and host the material himself so Wills took it upon themselves to make it happen because no one else would...
Yeah.
...(USHPA's too afraid of being sued).
And hopefully they will be.
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.
Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
11. Hang Gliding Special Skill Endorsements
04. Surface Tow (ST)
-a. Must demonstrate tow system set up and preflight, including a complete discussion of all of the factors which are particular to the specific tow system used, and those factors which are relevant to towing in general. Must demonstrate complete understanding of both normal and emergency procedures, including checklists for normal procedures and the indications of an impending emergency, and convince the instructor of his/her ability to recognize and execute emergency procedures.
-b. Demonstrates successful, confident, controlled launches and flight under tow to release altitude, with a smooth transition to flying, with proper directional and pitch control resulting in the proper tracking of the tow line and appropriate maintenance of proper tow line tension and airspeed. Such demonstrations may be made in ideal wind conditions.
c. Has discussed all Towing Discussion Topics with the issuing ST official.
Larry West - 2012/02/20 14:49:54 UTC
This scared me, so I asked him how much theory Mark taught, and my buddy said "None. We just flew a lot."
A probably nice guy was in love with the sport, invested a lot of effort, time, and money in it, was advancing quickly through it, and got signed off by a negligent, incompetent USHGA instructor and rating official, and, as a consequence, had his life take a hard 180. And it takes a big emotional toll on Larry too - and undoubtedly has a big impact on that local flying community.
And Wills Wing should be afraid of having its ass sued off too. You put out aviation equipment and procedures for the flying public and your customers you do your fuckin' homework and the best job you possibly can first.
That's what I do for the equipment I sell at cost and the technology I develop and give away.
...Well, members of the jury... We just endorsed Steve Wendt because we thought his methods might be the answer to a declining hang gliding population. We endorse Pagen and Bryden because no one else has a book on towing, and its content has been accepted by the industry for many years.
Fuck that.
If you wanna knock of early and go home to the wife and 2.5 kids then - fine - do it. But don't release the equipment and procedures until everything's solid - it's not like there's a critical deadline on any of this stuff.
Three years ago I tried to get minimum weak ratings into the SOPs and those fuckin' standard aerotow Davis Links outlawed and got rewarded with an effective national banning from the sport. And neither those Wills Wing motherfuckers nor just about any other motherfuckers lifted a finger to support or defend me. http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=992
Continuing Saga of Weak Link and Release Mechanism Failures
Warren Narron - 2012/03/06 02:26:04 UTC
There is a good chance that from now on, for every incident and fatality caused by insufficient weaklinks or substandard 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?
Probably be a lot easier to make a list of people NOT on that list but, yeah, you can DEFINITELY include Wills Wing.
And it's POSSIBLE for someone to come OFF the list but that's never happened before and I'm not holding my breath.
Master's Tips
Pre-Flight, Distractions and Hooking In
By Rob Kells
Photos by Mike Meier
Photos:
- A hang check ensures that you're hooked in, but doesn't guarantee that you're in your leg loops.
- The Oz Method for ensuring hook-in: Attach the harness to the glider first, then get into the harness.
- A tug on the carabiner and lines will assure you that your harness is firmly connected to the glider.
- Lifting the glider until you feel a pull on your leg loops ensures both hook-in and leg loops are good to go.
- Clipping the carabiner to a loop in front of the harness immediately after unhooking keeps lines untwisted.
Two of the most dangerous, yet easily preventable, mistakes in hang gliding are taking off with an improperly assembled aircraft and launching without hooking in.
Accidents of this type usually involve a distraction of some kind to the pilot's normal preflight routine. Be it a camera mounted on the glider, a film crew, radio, new instrument, changing weather conditions, or a contest, the pilot is usually distracted by something different that catches his attention and contributes to her or him making a serious mistake.
A Comprehensive Pre-Flight Check
Most test flights we do at the factory are on production or prototype gliders that have never been flown before. It's essential that a complete and thorough preflight be conducted to ensure the glider is properly assembled. I preflight a hang glider the same way I was taught to preflight an airplane: Start at the nose, check the center section, and then work around the glider in a consistent manner. My preflight covers every assembly, cable, tube, nut, bolt, pin, safety ring, strap, zipper, Mylar insert, sprog, washout strut, nose cone, and stitch on the glider. I personally believe that it is very important to actually touch each item as I check it. If interrupted by someone or something during the preflight, I go back to the beginning and start again.
Hooked In, Or Not?
Following a recent fatal accident caused by the pilot launching unhooked, there has been a discussion on how to guarantee that you are hooked in. The two main methods are:
1. Always do a hang check before launch, and/or
2. Always hook your harness into the glider before you get into the harness.
Interestingly, NEITHER of these methods GUARANTEES that you will not launch unhooked some day. Let's add a third one:
3. Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run. I always use this test.
A hang check seems to be a very reasonable way to ensure that you are hooked in, your lines are straight, and that you are the proper distance from the base bar. However, it does not ensure that you are in your leg loops. I know most pilots include the leg loops as part of their hang check, but remember the point about distractions. Several pilots have launched unhooked after doing a hang check because they were distracted and unhooked from the glider, and then, remembering having done a hang check earlier, they ran off the hill unhooked. If you unhook for any reason after your hang check, and a hang check is your way to be sure you are hooked in, you must always do another hang check! In some conditions, though, it's difficult to do a hang check, e.g. if you are the last pilot to launch.
"Knowing" that if you are in your harness you must be hooked in, means that if something comes up that causes you to unhook for any reason, you are actually in greater danger of thinking you are hooked in when you are not. This happened to a pilot who used the Oz Method for several years and then went to the training hill for some practice flights. He unhooked from the glider to carry it up the hill. At the top, sitting under the glider with his harness on, he picked up the glider and launched unhooked. Fortunately he was not hurt... but I bet he was very surprised.
My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above. Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
High Adventure's Rob McKenzie (18,000 flights) has yet another method. He is the only Wills Wing test pilot who does hang check on every flight. Rob makes a tripod between the base tube and his feet by slowly lying down to put pressure on his harness mains while pushing forward with his feet. Using this method Rob is able to do an unassisted hang check. One day while test flying production gliders at Marshall, he did his hang check and found himself lying in the dirt. He thought he was hooked in and was not, so it may have saved his life. He also told me that any time he unhooks for any reason, he says out loud, "I am unhooked, I have to do another hang check."
The Best Insurance Is To Believe It Can Happen To You!
I believe that there is no "one method" that is best for all pilots or situations. If fact, we use different methods at different times.
I know of five very experienced pilots who have launched without being hooked in. It is possible to climb into the control frame and fly the glider standing inside the bar after launching unhooked (two of the five managed to do so), but most pilots will not be able to do so for several reasons. It requires a lot of strength to get up into the bar, and most current gliders will be trimmed very fast if you are hanging from the base tube after launching unhooked. One pilot was able to deploy his parachute while hanging from the base tube after launching unhooked from a 1000-foot cliff. Miraculously he was not injured.
The right answer is to always be sure you are hooked in before you start your launch run. If you are on a sloped launch and feel your glider taking off without you, the sooner you let go the better. If it's a cliff launch, trying to climb into the control bar (if you are athletic) is probably your best bet. Once inside the bar, with the glider stabilized, you can wrap one arm around the control bar apex and hook in.
Last Thought Before You Start Your Launch Run: Hooked In? Not Sure? CHECK!
This is the technique Steve Pearson uses if he is not absolutely sure he is hooked in on launch. He sets the glider down and while holding the nose wires, turns and looks at his mains and carabiner and physically grabs the carabiner and gives it a tug. While it does not ensure that you are in your leg loops, it is an easy way to CONFIRM that you are hooked into the glider prior to launch.
Mission's Pat Denevan teaches a hook-in check, which is the "lift the glider to feel the leg loops go tight" method I outlined above. He adds that he teaches his students to repeat it if they do not launch within fifteen seconds. Pat points out, correctly, that it's more important to know that you are attached to your glider and in your leg loops than if your harness lines are twisted in some way.
All Lines In Order?
I always do a hang check when I get in a new harness or after I've worked on one. I do not usually do a hang check on later flights unless I'm aerotowing and have to lie down in the cart. I always hang my carabiner in a loop on the front of my harness right after I unhook from the glider. This assures that the lines remain untwisted next time I hook in.
I think that if all pilots started doing a hook-in check IMMEDIATELY PRIOR to their launch run, we'd have fewer cases of the very sad mistake of launching unhooked.
Two of the most dangerous, yet easily preventable, mistakes in hang gliding are taking off with an improperly assembled aircraft and launching without hooking in.
Most common HG injury... spiral fracture of the humerus.
The idiot hands-on-the-downtubes standup landing is OVERWHELMINGLY the most dangerous easily preventable mistake in hang gliding. It accounts for HUGE numbers of glider damaging crashes, broken arms, and dislocated shoulders, fair numbers of broken necks, and few a deaths here and there.
And y'all...
Gil Dodgen - 1995/01
All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."
...bloody well know it.
The fix is...
Christian Thoreson - 2004/10
Thus wheel landings, the safest and easiest way to consistently land a hang glider...
...brain dead easy.
But you don't even MENTION it as a landing option in any of your owners' manuals, your dealerships gear their training programs for the idiot hands-on-the-downtubes standup landing almost to the exclusion of any other consideration of the flight and to the detriment of prone flying, and none of you motherfuckers has ever lifted a finger to quash or de-emphasize the idiot hands-on-the-downtubes standup landing in the USHGA rating requirements.
About the only thing more dangerous than the idiot hands-on-the-downtubes standup landing is...
Demonstrate three consecutive landings within 25 feet of a target (or optional landing task - see Addendum 1 - Optional Landing Task) after a flight which requires turns on approach. In smooth conditions, the spot location should be changed by the Observer, for each of the three flights. Flights should be a minimum of one minute and 200 feet AGL.
Yeah, there's an Addendum 1 - Optional Landing Task - which is substantially less insane than the traditional lunatic bullshit, however...
That's...
At the discretion of the Observer or Instructor and not the pilot, this task may be substituted for the "three spot landings in a row" task.
...at the discretion of the Observer or Instructor and NOT the PILOT - even if the PILOT has racked up a couple hundred hours of XC and aerobatics over the past dozen years and is two or three sled runs away from getting his Four and the Observer is some ten hour shit who got his tickets signed last weekend.
AND, I just discovered upon reviewing the 2011/05 and 2011/11 updates, some USHGA douchebag has inserted that:
The optional landing task must only be used when the spot landing task is not practical or potentially dangerous.
which is a little weird 'cause it's hard to imagine circumstances in which the spot landing task IS practical and ISN'T potentially dangerous.
And it also now occurs to me that you don't actually have any instructions for hitting a spot in any of your owners' manuals.
So guys...
How do y'all feel about different requirements for different candidates based on the whim of some asshole USHGA rating official?
How do y'all feel about your dealer Tracy Tillman writing the USHGA AT rating requirements such that the candidate must pay for tandem training flights if his school has tandem training available - which Cloud 9 Sport Aviation just happens to - but he gets a ticket just as good without the extra tasks if he's lucky enough to be training at a solo only operation?
Two of the most dangerous, yet easily preventable, mistakes in hang gliding are taking off with an improperly assembled aircraft and launching without hooking in.
Accidents of this type usually involve a distraction of some kind to the pilot's normal preflight routine. Be it a camera mounted on the glider, a film crew, radio, new instrument, changing weather conditions, or a contest, the pilot is usually distracted by something different that catches his attention and contributes to her or him making a serious mistake.
Name some incidents - fatal, serious, minor, inconsequential - we've had because of improperly assembled aircraft.
You're setting up and/or preflighting your glider, some distraction occurs, what is it that you miss that causes a problem in the air? Preferably something worse than the moderate control issues which can result from a folded Mylar insert.
Without using tools - wrenches, wire cutters, hacksaw, file - if you wanted to sabotage an unattended glider in line for the ramp or cart and really fuck somebody up, how would you do it?
When you guys came out with the HPAT, Super Sport, and maybe another glider or two with that much nicer control frame hardware, we had a serious problem for a while. If you inserted the plug in the basetube but DIDN'T install the pin - like what I did one time when I figured I'd wait to see how the temperature was feeling before I'd make a decision on the bar mitts - the control frame would look together and stay together pretty well.
Sometimes it would hold together until you were safely down in the LZ - like for Ron Anten. Sometimes it would hold together until you got about 250 feet over the ridge - like for Pete Lehmann (slowed down crashing through the trees enough to survive in reasonably good shape). If you only insert the plug halfway - which is the only mildly intelligent thing I did that day at Woodstock (and helped compensate for the failure to preflight) - you can get lucky and have the control frame fall apart while you're moving the glider to the ramp. (That was the last time I ever flew without having paid very specific attention being paid to those junctions.)
So you guys did a pretty good job addressing that issue - first with the folding basetube option and later with some REALLY nice hardware on most of your gliders which totally eliminated the possibility.
And the other serious issue which produces pretty much identical results is sidewire failure.
A Comprehensive Pre-Flight Check
Most test flights we do at the factory are on production or prototype gliders that have never been flown before. It's essential that a complete and thorough preflight be conducted to ensure the glider is properly assembled. I preflight a hang glider the same way I was taught to preflight an airplane: Start at the nose, check the center section, and then work around the glider in a consistent manner.
And the preflight load test - which you include in all of your owners' manuals - is a damn good means of checking for sidewire problems and other issues - like idiots leaving pins out of downtube/basetube junctions - but I...
- don't know of any of your dealerships which teach their students and customers to adhere to the procedure
- know of some instructors and many of your Wills Wing glider owners who refuse to do it and advise others not to as well
- don't hear you even mentioning - let alone emphasizing - this most critical and valuable of all preflight procedures in this article
I'm pretty sure the reason you don't mention it here is because doing so would spotlight the negligent practices of your dealerships - and thus of your company.
My preflight covers every assembly, cable, tube, nut, bolt, pin, safety ring, strap, zipper, Mylar insert, sprog, washout strut, nose cone, and stitch on the glider.
OK, you're getting a glider that you haven't seen or flown before and nobody else has flown before. So you check every assembly, cable, tube, nut, bolt, pin, safety ring, strap, zipper, Mylar insert, sprog, washout strut, nose cone, and stitch on the glider. Good idea.
Now let's say it's your personal glider and you've done that thorough preflight before you've put it in the air.
How often have you found a serious problem with the glider on a subsequent setup and preflight? What do these problems tend to be?
I'm not really hearing any reports about gliders falling out of the sky 'cause Joe Airhead missed so-and-so before he got on the ramp. So how much focus do we need in this department?
I personally believe that it is very important to actually touch each item as I check it.
Yeah?
Austin Scott Collins, Malcolm Jones, and David Glover from your Wallaby dealership believe that if you fail to maintain the correct tow position (centered, with the wheels of the tug on the horizon), the weak link will break before you can get into too much trouble.
So upon what are you basing this belief? I'm not hearing that you've ever actually found a problem as a result of actually touching any item. Maybe a broken wire strand would draw some blood or you could find a dent that you couldn't see on the front of a leading edge spar - but what else?
Is the harness a part of the airplane? The freakin' Aussie Methodists are always screaming at the top of their lungs that it is and - while the procedures they advocate are moronic crap - I don't thing you'll find much disagreement that the harness is a pretty integral part of the system. You CAN fly the glider pretty well without one but not in a certified configuration or with the full certified range of control.
Why haven't you connected the harness to the glider at this point and/or mentioned it at all with amongst the items that you preflight? You don't hafta be an Aussie Methodist nut job to agree that having the harness connected to the glider before you get into it - even if you unhook it first - is the vastly superior way to preflight your system.
What if you're gonna aerotow the glider? Is the aerotow release system a critical component of the glider's control system or just something that your friendly neighborhood Wills Wing dealer sells you and tells you...
Some aerotow releases, including a few models from prominent schools, have had problems releasing under high tensions. You must VERIFY through tests that a release will work for the tensions that could possibly be encountered. You better figure at least three hundred pounds to be modestly confident.
Maybe eight to ten years ago I got several comments from people saying a popular aerotow release (with a bicycle type brake lever) would fail to release at higher tensions. I called and talked to the producer sharing the people's experiences and concerns. I inquired to what tension their releases were tested but he refused to say, just aggressively stated they never had any problems with their releases, they were fine, goodbye, click. Another person tested one and found it started getting really hard to actuate in the range of only eighty to a hundred pounds as I vaguely recall. I noticed they did modify their design but I don't know if they ever really did any engineering tests on it. You should test the release yourself or have someone you trust do it. There is only one aerotow release manufacturer whose product I'd have reasonable confidence in without verifying it myself, the Wallaby release is not it.
...they've never had any problems with it, they're fine, goodbye, click?
If you get one from your friendly neighborhood Wills Wing dealer at Lockout Mountain and the owner's manual says:
There is no product liability insurance covering this gear and we do not warrant this gear as suitable for towing anything.
do you just slap it on the glider and continue looking for bent safety rings so you'll be sure to have a safe flight?
When the regulation says:
This release shall be operational with zero tow line force up to twice the rated breaking strength of the weak link.
and the Wills Wing flight park says:
The new GT aerotow release, new as of July 11th 2009, is designed to be used with a V bridle and a 130-pound green stripe Dacron tournament fishing line weak link. At this time it is not recommended to use this release with a higher value weak link. We are confident that with an ultimate load of 130 pounds at the release point, the new GT aerotow release works better than all cable releases that we have experience with.
and all the other cable releases anyone has experience with totally suck, hasn't the glider pretty much flunked the preflight and shouldn't a responsible pilot be picking up the phone and reporting you motherfuckers to the FAA?
Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974
"Never take your hands off the bar." - Tom Peghiny
When the regulation says:
A release must be placed at the hang glider end of the tow line within easy reach of the pilot.
and the Wallaby release lever is on the downtube where it pretty obviously can't be easily reached:
do you pronounce the preflight successful and send your demo glider up with anybody better than some Davis caliber piece of shit on it?
Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974
"The greatest dangers are a rope break or a premature release." - Richard Johnson
When you preflight the system and notice that over half the tow tension in is being routed through...
But with the towline we use a standard weak link like we would for aerotow... Uh... This... In this particular case it's 130 greenline, 130 pound test.
...some shitty little piece of fishing line, the single most dangerous thing you can put on your glider for a towing operation...
If interrupted by someone or something during the preflight, I go back to the beginning and start again.
And that way you'll know fer sure that you've seen and touched once at the very least all the deadly cheap shit with which you're about to go up.
You're not looking for or warning people about the crap on their gliders that's most likely to get them crashed and killed. You're endorsing it. So you and your thorough professional preflight procedures can get fucked.
Following a recent fatal accident caused by the pilot launching unhooked, there has been a discussion on how to guarantee that you are hooked in.
- ACCIDENT? BULLSHIT. That was the one hundred percent predictable result of your criminally negligent dealership at Manquin never once teaching anybody anything remotely resembling a hook-in check, selling Bill Priday one of your Sport 2s he was consequently no way in hell qualified to safely operate, him going down to the turf of your criminally negligent dealership at Lockout Mountain where never once was anybody taught anything remotely resembling a hook-in check, and running off of a cliff without his glider 'cause no one was doing or looking for hook-in checks.
- These fatalities ARE NOT caused by people launching unhooked. They're caused by people NOT CHECKING to see if they - AND OTHERS - are hooked in - EVER.
- Fuck discussions on how to guarantee that you're hooked in. We've been having them for decades and they accomplish almost NOTHING. There's been a USHGA regulation on the books since 1981/05. Follow the goddam thing and revoke the ratings and certifications of the assholes who refuse to follow, teach, and require it.
The two main methods are:
1. Always do a hang check before launch, and/or
2. Always hook your harness into the glider before you get into the harness.
Do either of those "main methods" appear in the USHGA rating requirements anywhere? Have you actually read any of the USHGA rating requirements?
Interestingly, NEITHER of these methods GUARANTEES that you will not launch unhooked some day.
Yeah, interestingly it was understood in 1981 that shit can happen between preflight procedures and launch so USHGA enacted a regulation which required the pilot to verify his connection just prior to every launch.
Let's add a third one:
3. Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run.
Yeah Rob...
Doug Hildreth - 1981/04
Just before the first step of your launch run, lift the glider and make certain that the straps become tight when you do so.
Let's ADD that. Let's ignore the 1981 regulations, fourteen years of plea after plea after plea after plea from Doug, keep right on killing people because of the negligence of all of your shit dealerships, and then pretend that this is some great new idea.
Now that I think of it... Here's my letter to the editor:
Tad Eareckson - 1992/09
In the period from 1980 to the present there have been reported four fatalities resulting from total failure to clip into anything and one from failure to step through either of the leg loops (the same problem on the other end).
In doing a traditional hang check there are several obligatory operations between the check and the launch. One must regain one's footing, stand up with the glider, and possibly walk a few steps to launch position. This delay between the check and the launch has been a factor in fatal accidents in the past. Additionally, hanging from the straps does nothing to ensure that one has found his or her way through the leg loops. A secondary visual or tactile inspection must be made.
My hang check method consists of simply lifting the glider immediately prior to launch until I feel the suspension and leg straps tighten. The delay is eliminated and the secondary check is made automatically.
published in the magazine thirteen years and one month before you motherfuckers are gonna get Bill killed.
I always use this test.
Yeah Rob? HOW LONG have you been adhering to the 1981 regulations? Did you just start doing it right after after you killed Bill a couple of months ago? How come this is the first and last time we're gonna hear anything whatsoever from you on the issue?
A hang check seems to be a very reasonable way to ensure that you are hooked in, your lines are straight, and that you are the proper distance from the base bar.
- A hang check is a great way to ensure that you are at least PARTIALLY hooked in to SOMETHING at the time of the CHECK.
- A walk-through is an easier and better way to preflight your connection and line routing.
- Nobody ever got scratched because of a line routing or clearance issue.
- Anybody who feels compelled to check his clearance more than once per glider/harness combo is a moron.
However, it does not ensure that you are in your leg loops. I know most pilots include the leg loops as part of their hang check, but remember the point about distractions. Several pilots have launched unhooked after doing a hang check because they were distracted and unhooked from the glider, and then, remembering having done a hang check earlier, they ran off the hill unhooked.
Yeah Rob...
George Whitehill - 1981/05
In many flying situations a hang check is performed and then is followed by a time interval prior to actual launch. In this time interval the pilot may unconsciously unhook to adjust or check something and then forget to hook in again. This has happened many times!
Let's just keep saying the same things OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER - DECADE after DECADE after DECADE after DECADE. And let's do jack shit to get your motherfucking instructors like Steve Wendt and Matt Taber to IMPLEMENT anything.
If you unhook for any reason after your hang check, and a hang check is your way to be sure you are hooked in, you must always do another hang check!
Fer sure! If you're gonna use a dangerous noncompliant preflight procedure as a hook-in check make sure you do it more often!
In some conditions, though, it's difficult to do a hang check, e.g. if you are the last pilot to launch.
Why would you want somebody too stupid to be able to figure out some other way to verify his connection by himself within a few seconds of launch to stay in the gene pool anyway?
"Knowing" that if you are in your harness you must be hooked in, means that if...
WHEN. You've got a lot of monkeys and a lot of typewriters. This isn't a matter of "IF". This WILL HAPPEN to somebody every now and then.
...something comes up that causes you to unhook for any reason, you are actually in greater danger of thinking you are hooked in when you are not. This happened to a pilot who used the Oz Method for several years...
While continuing to ignore the USHGA regulation which requires him to verify his connection just prior to every flight regardless of whatever totally moronic procedures he employed ten or fifteen minutes ago.
...and then went to the training hill for some practice flights. He unhooked from the glider to carry it up the hill. At the top, sitting under the glider with his harness on, he picked up the glider and launched unhooked. Fortunately he was not hurt...
Praise be to the Lord! The gene pool can breathe a sigh of relief.
...but I bet he was very surprised.
- What did he do after he recovered from his surprise?
-- Get an incident report published in the magazine?
-- Weigh in on a discussion and condemn this idiot practice?
-- Start complying with the USHGA regulation which addresses this issue?
-- Sacrifice a turtledove and vow to become a better Aussie Methodist?
- Which of your douchebag instructors signed him off on his ratings?
Are we now gonna move on from this Aussie Method bullshit and say NOTHING about any safety issues related to being in one's harness and hooked in prior to being at launch position?
My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time.
The issue is NOT about managing to HOOK IN every time. Plenty of assholes have managed to do that for many thousands of flights. The issue is about CHECKING that you're hooked in IMMEDIATELY prior to EVERY launch. Not getting crushed to death on the rocks below the ramp is a side effect of adhering to the procedure.
I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above.
One of which you tell everyone else to use in the owner's manual of every glider you sell.
Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
IT'S BOTH.
There's a particular method - the one YOU USE - which is head and shoulders above everything else that can be done THE INSTANT of committing to launch and if you do it EVERY TIME and combine that procedure and muscle memory conditioning with the fear of launching unhooked THE INSTANT of committing to launch EVERY TIME you're gonna be pretty bulletproof.
High Adventure's Rob McKenzie (18,000 flights) has yet another method.
Fuck High Adventure's Rob McKenzie (and his eighteen thousand flights).
He is the only Wills Wing test pilot who does hang check on every flight.
And the only Wills Wing test pilot who skips any pretense of the USHGA mandatory hook-in check on every flight. And the only Wills Wing test pilot too stupid to figure out that what he's doing is totally useless.
Tell ya sumpin' Rob...
If the motherfucker were test flighting MY production gliders he'd be complying with USHGA launch procedures EVERY flight - if for no other reason than saving me the trouble of locating and recovering a scuffed up glider from somewhere down the ridge after search and rescue had recovered my test pilot's body. Otherwise I'd fire him and find myself a new Hang Two motherfucker capable of following instructions.
Rob makes a tripod between the base tube and his feet by slowly lying down to put pressure on his harness mains while pushing forward with his feet. Using this method Rob is able to do an unassisted hang check.
And exactly what does that accomplish that he couldn't ten times faster, easier, better, smarter by doing a walk-through?
He is the only Wills Wing test pilot who does hang check on every flight. All the OTHER Wills Wing test pilots have figured out that - since they're using the same harness for all their flights and all the Wills Wing gliders have standard clearance between the suspension and basetube - that it's pretty stupid to check harness clearance every flight (and that it would be no big fucking deal even if it were off a rather obvious foot either way).
One day while test flying production gliders at Marshall, he did his hang check and found himself lying in the dirt.
Whereas if he'd done a walk-through as his preflight procedure he'd have still been standing up holding the nose wires apex and looking at an empty hang loop.
And if he'd screwed the pooch on the preflight and deigned to do a hook-in check he'd have just felt the glider rising high and not felt his leg loops.
He thought he was hooked in and was not, so it may have saved his life.
I am SO RELIEVED! Hard to imagine hang gliding without Rob McKenzie around all those extra years training hundreds of students to ignore USHGA regulations and skip hook-in checks.
He also told me that any time he unhooks for any reason, he says out loud, "I am unhooked, I have to do another hang check."
Otherwise he says to himself, "I am hooked in! I just did a hang check!"
And of course at Marshall, unlike all the established sites I fly, one NEVER has to wait for other gliders to launch or winds to lull, strengthen, or straighten up after one completes his preflight procedures. So Rob's ALWAYS able to get airborne within two to five seconds of doing his stupid tripod unassisted hang check. So he really doesn't need to follow the rules and do a hook-in check.
YOU'VE JUST TOLD US THAT...
A hang check seems to be a very reasonable way to ensure that you are hooked in, your lines are straight, and that you are the proper distance from the base bar. However, it does not ensure that you are in your leg loops. I know most pilots include the leg loops as part of their hang check, but remember the point about distractions. Several pilots have launched unhooked after doing a hang check because they were distracted and unhooked from the glider, and then, remembering having done a hang check earlier, they ran off the hill unhooked.
HANG CHECKS ARE INHERENTLY DANGEROUS AND THAT YOU DON'T DO THEM.
So why are you, for all intents and purposes, ENDORSING what this asshole is doing - AND TEACHING - rather than CONDEMNING it in no uncertain terms?
Rob was a friend to every pilot he met...
Is it so you can be a friend to every pilot you meet? Regardless of how much of a dangerous, incompetent, irresponsible douchebag he is and how many people he helps to get killed?
