http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28742
Leg loops, leg loops, leg loops!!!
Paul Hurless - 2013/03/30 01:00:42 UTC
Reno
If you're on launch and something doesn't feel right, stop, take a breath and then review your mental checklist until you figure out what it is.
I was up on Slide Mountain...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28654
Jay Powell's accident at Slide Mountain Jul.4 1998 or 1999
Marianne (Bing) - 2012/07/24 22:50:02 UTC
Jay Powell's accident at Slide Mountain, July 4 1998 or 1999
I'm trying to find an article about a hang gliding accident on Slide Mountain, Reno, Nevada on the fourth of July, about 1998, 1999. The name was Jay Powell, and he didn't clip in. Do you have anything about this accident? Thank you very much for reading this!
It was my son who crashed from Slide, for some unknown reason he didn't snap in. He had a helmet on, however he had a closed brain injury and will never be the same. I never did save any of the articles, now I'm trying to find one, if possible. His name is Jay Powell if you ever come across a writing, would you kindly send it on? I know that's much to much to ask, however, you never know!
Regards, Bing
...today for my first flight of this year and my first flight with a new harness. The conditions were mellow and it should have been a no-brainer.
I climbed over the guard rail and was standing there observing the conditions and something about my harness seemed off. I expected to take a few flights with it to get used to it, but this wasn't anything to do with the fit. After mentally going back over my preflight I realized what it must be. I reached down to confirm it and yes, that was it, the leg loops were not around my legs.
Another pilot from the .org was visiting the site and he held the nose wire of the glider for me so I could unzip and fasten the loops where they would do some good.
I have always flown with High Energy Tracer harnesses and their leg loops pretty much fasten themselves around your legs when you put them on. My new Moyes Contour lacks that feature. I don't know that it would have been anything more than some discomfort when I landed, but I will be putting a lot more emphasis on checking them from now on. Even a little bit of complacency can be a problem.
Thanks, Tom (Low), for giving me a hand.
Mark Selner - 2013/03/30 01:41:39 UTC
Apple Valley, California
ive launched without them on.
Mark Selner - 92054 - H2 - 2012/07/28 - Dan DeWeese - FL FSL
Hey Dan...
Why don't you make some plaques that read:
and Check Your Leg Loops!
and install them right under all of your "Hook In!" jobs? That way you could remind people to check their leg loops in addition to checking to make sure they're hooked in, continue to teach them to skip hook-in checks, and not risk getting your instructor certification pulled and your USHGA Safety Award recalled.
...almost turned into the mountain .i had too pull my self up on the base tube then un clip too get the cacoon out no fun at all.had too run fast on the landing.and didnt even wack.
Or you could've flown the glider away from the mountain, just climbed into the control frame to kick into the boot if necessary, and bellied in. But bellying in could've been dangerous if you had elected to land in a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place instead of the Crestline primary.
Manta_Dreaming - 2013/03/30 05:18:11 UTC
Glad to hear you're ok and kept a level head.
That's about the most level you're ever gonna be able to see that head getting.
As I recall there was a pilot who launched without his legs in the leg loops but unfortunately he fell to his death, maybe in Switzerland a few years back.
Austria.
Question - would a hook in check have also caught that?
Of course not!
Tom Galvin - 2012/10/31 22:17:21 UTC
I don't teach lift and tug, as it gives a false sense of security.
All that would've done would've been to have given him a false sense of security.
Paul Hurless - 2013/03/30 05:34:05 UTC
If by hook in check you mean picking the glider up to verify being connected...
He does.
...then yes it would have. I caught it before that.
The pick up and tug is what I do right before I launch. It's part of my normal launch sequence during which I pick up the glider and give it one or more firm extra tugs to feel it picking the harness up, checking and saying "clear", and then saying "launching". As soon as I do that I am off the hill.
And thank you SO MUCH, Paul, for all the help you've given us in all the post unhooked launch forum battles against assholes like Ryan Voight, Davis, Rooney, Bob Kuczewski, Rick Masters, Sam Kellner, Quinn Cornwell, Stewart LaBrasca...
I like having a good habit pattern to always follow, now I just need to add a step to it.
Why?
I did a hang check behind the launch, but that was mostly just to check the height above the bar since it was the first time for me flying with this harness.
1. Which is about the only time a hang check is of any use.
2. And it DID NOT catch your leg loops.
I also do a lean forward and look and feel the strap pulling tight before I pick up the glider to move to launch. I do my best to eliminate single points of failure.
Yeah Paul...
Towing Aloft - 1998/01
A weak link is the focal point of a safe towing system.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flyhg/message/17223
Mark Frutiger - 2013/02/03 13:41
Yesterday was a light and variable day with expected good lift. Zach was the second tow of the afternoon. We launched to the south into a nice straight in wind. A few seconds into the tow I hit strong lift.
Zach hit it and went high and to the right. The weak link broke at around 150 feet or so and Zach stalled and dropped a wing or did a wingover, I couldn't tell. The glider tumbled too low for a deployment.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=28290
Report about fatal accident at Quest Air Hang Gliding
Paul Hurless - 2013/02/09 08:49:22 UTC
If you had been properly trained on how to tow, you would know that it shouldn't be a big deal when a weak link breaks, even just after coming off the cart, if you are doing things right.
Sure ya do.
I seriously doubt that there is any way I could have fallen out of the harness since I would have to dislocate both shoulders to get my arms to slip through it when it's zipped up, but it would have been weird and/or uncomfortable when I landed.
I tend not to panic or worry too much when something goes wrong, I just troubleshoot it and fix it.
So please tell us how you'd have trouble shot and fixed whatever it was that went wrong with Zack Marzec's flight right after his Rooney Link popped. Just landed and gotten back on the cart for a relight because you've been properly trained to do things right and it shouldn't have been a big deal?
John Fritsche - 2013/03/30 05:41:45 UTC
Lompoc
I had a Tracer for many years, in which you just stick one leg through one leg strap, and the other strap automatically closes around your other leg when you close & zip the chest of the harness. I then switched to a Z5, which doesn't have that nifty feature, and caught myself about to launch with only one leg secured on one of my first flights with it. Fortunately, that close call has continued to keep me very aware of the need to step through two leg straps now.
Meaning you don't do hook-in checks - and have no intention to start doing them, even after having read what Paul just said.
So, Tracer owners, beware: if/when you switch to any other harness, you've got to remember that you've got to step through two leg straps from now on!!!
So you can keep skipping hook-in checks.
Manta_Dreaming - 2013/03/30 05:44:41 UTC
Here's the link to the incident I referred to:
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=13504
Fatal Failure to Engage Leg Loops
Note that the unfortunate pilot only fell around fifty feet - enough of course.
Instead of just lifting the glider five inches.
Dave Boggs - 2013/03/30 06:28:51 UTC
Cocoon, Hook in harness ( Aussie),then get in leg loops first . IF I need to get out, I crawl out of the harness, it stays hooked in until I land
Usually last off hill, nobody there, to tell me I am about to die
I always assume that I am - regardless of whatever stupid bullshit I've done in the setup and staging areas. That's what keeps me from dying.
)
