2004/06/26 14:00 - Hang Glide Chicago, Cushing Field, Sheridan, Illinois - W 5 mph, thermally
- Mike Haas - 53 - H4 - Litesport 147 - Tug: Kolb - Pilot: Arlan Birkett - 46 - H4, Advanced Tandem Instructor, AT Administrator
Joe Gregor - 2004/09
The weak link broke after the glider entered a lockout attitude. Once free, the glider was reportedly too low (50-65 feet AGL, estimated) to recover from the unusual attitude and impacted the ground in a steep dive. The pilot suffered fatal injuries due to blunt trauma. There is no evidence that the pilot made an attempt to release from tow prior to the weak link break, the gate was found closed on the Wallaby-style tow release.
2005/09/03 18:30 - Hang Glide Chicago, Cushing Field, Sheridan, Illinois - North Wing T2, over/under harnesses - Tug: Kolb
- Arlan Birkett - 47 - H4, Advanced Tandem Instructor, AT Administrator
- Jeremiah Thompson - 32
I watched the glider come almost straight down from about 250 feet. I saw that Jeremiah was doing the takeoff right from the start and I watched him get pretty low on the tow as the tug crossed the road at the end of the runway.
Mike Van Kuiken - 2005/10/13 19:47:26 UTC
The weak link broke from the tow plane side. The towline was found underneath the wreck, and attached to the glider by the weaklink. The glider basically fell on the towline.
Chicago Sun-Times - 2005/10/06
"They're 200 feet in the air, and while normally they would glide to the ground, this hang glider nose-dived to the ground," attorney Matthew Rundio said. "We need to find out why that happened."
OK..As an aerotow pilot i had one really bad tow...(thought i'd share it and see if i'm not alone)..
Just got my new glider..(Horizon ET April 2005)..Started flying in 2004 at Hang Glide Chicago (Arlan Birkett..Instructor....Some of you may have known him)
Anyway the glider was a brand new model.(Arlan had placed the order before it was released by North Wing)...When it finaly showed up Arlan flew it a couple of times to find the tow point on it , after that i flew it a few times in smooth air (not a problem)
So then i take it up mid day and had fantastic flights (hour long ...first flight 5 miles out and return)..But then one week later , I set up and get ready to take a tow in the morning , At this point i haven't really used my VG as it was something i could mess with later after i got a good feel for the wing , I set up the glider as i have done before , but on the gliders down tube the VG line is routed through ruber back end of the down tube , this i've noticed before and so i wraped my release velcro on loosely (otherwise you can't use the VG).
I get the glider set up as allways, put it on the dolly, got in my harness,hooked up to the tug and gave the magic words GO GO GO ....We took off, lifted off the dolly and started following the tug up...at around 200 ft i noticed that the glider wasn't climbing very good (tug too high and i don't have the bar pulled in at all)
I decided to stick with the tow anyway , at around 700 ft i decide to push out and see if i can get it to climb..(we used a Kolb not a Dragon Fly) at the same time the tug is turning sharply left , no climb ,no responce to roll the glider decides to bank hard right on it's own,,(i am high up on the left) I reach to hit the release and accidently push the release on the outside of the down tube "shit" at this point i was at a bank angle of about 75 dg still high up on the left (thank god for secondary). When i pulled the secondary the glider was at 90dg , i kept the bar pulled in and followed through the turn loosing 350 ft almost instantly.. (glad i had the altitude).
When i landed one of the pilots on the ground told me "I was 100% shure you were going to go inverted"..Tug pilot landed and asked me "what happened" , I explained it and he said "well it was partly my fault I was flying too slow".
Then i looked over my glider and noticed that the right side wire fitting was turned downwards ..(making the right flying wire slightly shorter than the left), This is what caused the turn . (I learned..Preflight, Preflight,Preflight)
You REALLY need to understand releases and weak links a lot better than you do now.
2007 Hang Gliding Accident Summary by Joe Gregor and Bacil Dickert (PDF)
2005 Hang Gliding Accident Summary by Joe Gregor (PDF)
2004 Hang Gliding Accident Summary by Joe Gregor and Brian Vant-Hull (PDF)
2003 Hang Gliding Accident Summary by Tom Johns (PDF)
Hang Gliding Accidents - The First 20 Years by Doug Hildreth (PDF)
We at Wills Wing feel that the most important role of the dealer is to insure the safety of the retail customer and promote the safe growth of the sport by offering quality instruction and service. It is primarily on our determination of your ability to do that that we grant dealerships and corresponding discounts.
The responsibilities of a Wills Wing HANG GLIDER DEALER include:
A) Offering competent, safe instruction in the proper and safe use of hang gliding equipment.
And the fine print:
Note: Wills Wing authorized dealers are independent business entities, are not employees or agents of Wills Wing, do not directly represent Wills Wing, and are not authorized to enter into contracts, agreements, or commitments on behalf of Wills Wing. Although Wills Wing safety policies require that certain items be purchased from an authorized Wills Wing dealer, those policies do not require that an order be placed with any specific Wills Wing dealer, and any such order that is placed with a Wills Wing dealer is considered by Wills Wing to be an agreement entirely between the dealer and the customer. Although Wills Wing policies state certain expectations of authorized dealers, Wills Wing does not evaluate dealers with respect to either their ability to meet or the degree to which they customarily meet such expectations. Customers are encouraged to conduct all appropriate due diligence in evaluating any authorized Wills Wing dealer with whom they plan to do business.
which, of course, renders "The responsibilities of a Wills Wing HANG GLIDER DEALER" totally meaningless.
So, Wills Wing, is there ANYTHING that a Wills Wing dealer...
Mission Soaring Center
1116 Wrigley Way
Milpitas CA 95035-5418
408-262-1055
Pat Denevan
...to negatively affect your determination of his ability to meet his primary responsibility of offering competent, safe instruction in the proper and safe use of hang gliding equipment to the extent that you'd pull his franchise?
Would dropping a passenger a thousand feet and swallowing the memory card do the trick?
As a former Manager of a flight park and DragonFly Tug owner I'll say this, as awesome as the DF is for towing and even aerobatics, it's an odd duck to fly.
Tad, for some reason I can't get logged in to Kite Strings to join a dialog on the two Jims.
For the record, (as you already know) Jim Gaar, is a big talking fraud.
But what you might not know is that Jim Gaar, even now, is barely a H3 and never has flown a Dragonfly. He likes to give the impression that he has .. but it's a big fat lie.
Jim Gaar has very little experience in towing of any kind and it's really pathetic to see him posture and pretend to others that he is such an old timer. When Jim Gaar mentions hundreds and hundreds of tows and years and years of experience, he is actually talking about other pilots, as a group, that has those credentials...
In 2001 Jim Gaar was a new H2 when two other pilots and myself, plus Gaar's father went in together on a cheap Dragonfly to form a flying club that is now long-gone defunct.
Jim Gaar, was instrumental in the failure of this group and the resultant "flight park" as the 'Blindrodie' was named temporary manager of the flight park in the paperwork his lawyer father wrote up for the group.
The temporarily named 'place holder Gaar', became de facto permanent manager over time because neither of the other partners had the backbone to properly elect an officer as the partnership bylaws prescribed.
At that time, Gaar, had about two hours claimed in his log book and was handed the reigns to the "flightpark".
Ignorance is one thing and it really isn't a crime, until it's coupled with arrogance..
Add in the Gaar predisposition to falsely prop oneself up as some kind of an authority, plus a tendency for larceny and it looks like Jim Gaar might have missed his calling in politics!
Jim Gaar's postings on the Jack and Straub show prove that laws of lowest common denominator prevail...
I hate to think that some young pilot might confuse him for someone with a clue.
It's buyer beware around Jim Gaar, kids.
Don't let him blow smoke up your butt and keep your eyes on your valuables.
Seriously.
Because it works with all the variations found at a modern towpark, or certainly any one where I would be responsible for safe launches. I came up in the early stages of ATing. I was a Mentor, and a test pilot. I'm NOT a tug pilot but all the tug pilots that worked with me (3) were on board with the current procedures described in this thread.
Jim, as I am starting to play with Elektra Tow (ET) at Quest Air (the battery powered "scooter" tow system you and Adam got me jazzed up about up at Highland) I've watched this thread closely. We all can learn.
Enjoy your posts, as always, and find your comments solid, based on hundreds of hours / tows of experience and backed up by a keen intellect/knowledge of the issues when it comes to most things in general and hang gliding AT/Towing in particular. Wanted to go on record in case anyone reading wanted to know one persons comments they should give weight to.
Hey J(im)R(ooney), you want personal attacks, here is one...
You are a MORON!!!
We should all be ambassadors to our sport.
So what is your record? How many Tandem incidents have you been involved in and what were the outcomes?? (injury to yourself, student, deaths)???
I wouldn't let my worst enemy fly with you. I don't know you and I have never seen you fly, but judging by your behavior here and O(z)ther sites, you seem like a Egocentric Moron who just wants to always play Devil's Advocate.
Hey Just my $0.02
I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way...
The then Towing Committee Chairman who asked ME - not YOU - to help him revise the mostly useless USHGA AT SOPs to give the pilot some expectation of protection and safe participation.
...Lin Lyons. What's the best kind of hook knife to use in a situation like that?
As a rep of both the USHPA and FAA...
The former organization whose primary functions are to sabotage the best efforts to advance the sport and acclimate the participants to shoddiness and the latter whose primary function it is to make the sport as expensive as possible and allow the USHPA to run the sport as a monopoly any way it feels like.
I would like to help you, USHPA, and the FAA improve safety in flying, towing, and hang gliding.
I'd like you to help me as well.
- Suggestion 1: Leap out into the Interstate in front of a speeding heavily loaded semi.
- Suggestion 2: Write articles in the magazine about the Cone of Safety and your expectations of 130 pound test fishing line.
The FAA gets a lot of letters of complaint from a lot of yahoos.
Yahoos who believe that hang glider:
- emergency situations are best dealt with using TWO hands on the basetube
- barrel release pins should be straight instead of bent
- weak links should:
-- be used only to protect against overloading
-- scale with the capacity of the glider
-- not routinely blow when the glider's ten feet off the cart
-- be tested for capacity on the ground instead of being assumed to blow at twice the test strength of the fishing line
-- still be present in the system following bridle wraps
-- be heavier on the tug end than on the glider end
For best effect, I suggest that you describe in your letter (and also post to the skysailingtowing group...
Saint Peter of Birren won't allow me to post on his show anymore because I wanted to say what *I* wanted me to say and Saint Peter would only allow me to say what *he* wanted to say. Hell, Saint Peter won't even allow me or anyone else to read anything on his show without his permission. Any idea why that is?
...and share with the USHPA Tow Committee)...
- Oh good... TWO "e"s in "Committee" this time! Keep up the great work!
- Any chance I can get a list of names of the members of the Committee? Just kidding.
...your areas of expertise (if any) related to this issue...
I'm really good at tying 130 pound Greenspot fishing line into loops with finished lengths of 1.5 inches or less in various manners which hide the knot from the main tension such that they would break consistently at my expectation of 260 pounds if I ever decided to actually test them.
In what other areas does one NEED to have expertise in hang glider aerotowing? Name a single problem in hang glider aerotowing that that fishing line so tied won't solve - lockouts, stalls, excessive angles of attack, high bank turns, Mach 5 takeoffs, prop wash, wings getting torn off, dust devils, thermals, blown launches, draggings, cart failures, funky shit releases, Cone of Safety rule violations, tug endangerment, general muppetness...
...and list your qualifiications...
I can spell "qualifications" with just three "i"s. Does that count for anything?
logged hours, and currency in certain categories, such as:
1. hang glider pilot rating and logged hours
2. hang glider aerotow rating, logged hours, and logged number of tows
3. hang glider tug pilot rating, logged hours towing, and logged number of tows
4. hang glider aerotow administrator appointment date
5. hang glider aerotow supervisor appointment date
6. hang glider tanderm instructor rating, logged hours of aerotow tandem instruction, and logged number of instructional flights
7. airplane pilot license ratings and logged number of hours
8. airplane tow pilot endorsement date, logged number of hours towing with airplane, logged number of tows
9. sailplane tow pilot license ratings, logged number of hours, logged number of tows.
10. sailplane instructor license date, logged number of hours of instruction, logged number of instructional tows
11. any other flying or engineering-related credentials that you may have as evidence of your competence to make these claims.
Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06
Russell Brown, a founder of Quest Air in Florida and a well-known Dragonfly tug pilot, is also a sailplane pilot, tug pilot, and A&P mechanic for a large commercial sailplane towing operation in Florida. He told us that, like us, he has never seen a sailplane weak link break, either. Russell owned the first 914-powered Dragonfly ever made--he helped us build the second one, which we still fly. He is the one who, many years ago, showed us the method for making a WT weak link and suggested we use polypropylene rather than Spectra for hang glider V-bridles.
Then again, Russell Brown had us double up behind him after six breaks in a row at Zapata. We couldn't figure out why we had so many breaks so quickly. Maybe just coincidence.
(BTW, if you have an AT hang glider rating or above the you would/should have received the USHPA Aerotow Guidelines as part of your instruction from the person who taught you to aerotow and/or gave you your AT rating, and you should currently have access to them via the packet that is accessible to you on the USHPA web site, if your AT or higher AT-related ratings and appointments are current.)
Right Trisa. We CERTAINLY wouldn't want the USHPA Aerotow Guidelines made available to anyone who doesn't have current AT or higher AT-related ratings and appointments. If we started allowing that kind of transparency who knows where it would all end?
It would also be good for the FAA and USHPA to know what kind of ultalight or sport plane tug and airplane you use for towing hang gliders and sailplanes with at your operation (if any), along with a general description of your towing operation or who you provide towing and instructional services for (if any).
I actually don't fly a tug with at my operation (if any). But if I did I'd want it to be one like THIS:
except with the wheels pointing down and fewer cops taking notes.
I especially like the way the tow mast snaps off at four hundred pounds towline so - even if I can't be bothered to put a weak link in the system - no glider heavier than 286 pounds can fly at or above the middle of the legal range and stall me or otherwise put me out of control.
Additionally, if you want to really present a convincing argument, you should also: (a) get other experts to co-sign your letter, such as those who have some or most of the aerotowing-related credentials listed above, who have been doing this for many years with many students, and who support your argument;
I had Zack Marzec all lined up to do that but he suddenly became...
A hang glider from Illinois died Saturday after crashing on the runway of a rural south Lake County airfield. The Lake County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as 27-year-old Zachary Marzec. According to Marzec's Facebook profile, he is a hang-gliding instructor and he has several dozen photos of himself hang gliding with friends. Deputies say something went wrong as Marzec was in flight and caused the hang glider to go down at Quest Air Hang Gliding's airfield. No one at the business could be reached after the crash.
...nobody was answering the phone. And I just don't have that many other good friends in the business anymore.
...and (b) present reliable data based on valid research...
- Member submits an accident report. Could be the pilot who had the accident, or some other witness.
- Accident report is sent to Tim to maintain legal privilege. Tim reviews the report and determines whether there's significant legal risk associated with it. He may redact certain parts (personally identifiable information, etc.) if in his opinion exposure of that information poses a risk to us. If the report is very risky, he may decide that it can't be shared further, and will notify the ED about it. He may also notify our insurers if he sees a potential for a claim, as is normal practice for any incident where we are aware of such a potential.
...showing that there is a significant difference in safety with the changes that you recommend.
I was thinking it might be a good idea to delete all references to aerotowing equipment standards from the SOPs.
Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06
What we have covered in this article is practical information and knowledge gleaned from the real world of aerotowing, developed over decades and hundreds of thousands of tows by experts in the field. This information has practical external validity. Hopefully, someone will develop methods and technology that work better than what we are using as standard practice today. Like the methods and technology used today, it is unlikely that the new technology will be dictated onto us as a de jure standard. Rather, to become a de facto standard, that new technology will need to be made available in the marketplace, proven in the real world, and then embraced by our sport.
I just don't think USHGA be dictating stuff like releases that can handle legal range weak link loads. If we do that then no glider over 282 pounds could use the New and Improved Lockout Mountain Flight Park Release - at this time, anyway. And we'd probably hafta start using straight pins in our barrel releases - and Jim Rooney figured out a way to make those jam.
My general rule is "no funky shit". I don't like people reinventing the wheel and I don't like test pilots.
I don't like people reinventing the wheel and I don't like test pilots.
Supportive comments from aerotow experts along with convincing data can make a difference.
Jim Rooney - 2013/02/12 18:00:27 UTC
Deltaman loves his mouth release.
BFD
I get tired as hell "refuting" all these mouth release and "strong link" arguments. Dig through the forums if you want that. I've been doing it for years but unfortunately the peddlers are religious in their beliefs so they find justification any way they can to "prove" their stuff. This is known as "Confirmation Bias"... seeking data to support your theory... it's back-asswards. Guess what? The shit doesn't work. If it did, we'd be using it everywhere. But it doesn't stand the test of reality.
Good enough? We're all agreed on a no funky shit ruling?
Otherwise, it may seem as if your perception of "the sky is falling" may not be shared by most others who have a wealth of experience and who are deeply involved in aerotowing in the US.
...Ben Dunn. It's quite obvious that when Ben looks between his feet at the sky that it's staying exactly where it's supposed to be. I think what we should really be focusing on is the ground rushing up issue.
This information would also be very helpful in convicing the USHPA and others to take your complaint seriously.
Do you think if I got all my ducks in a row that USHGA could get Paul Voight to make a video on Rooney Links? Maybe get a clip of his kid showing us how to use 130 pound Greenspot as an instant hands free release?
Most of the individuals who serve on the USHPA Towing Committe have most of the credentials listed above...
Do any of them have the credentials it takes to be able to spell "Committee"? Oh well, I guess as long as they fully understand and appreciate the value of...
This article was peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the USHPA Towing Committee.
...130 pound Greenspot as the ideal one-size-fits-all aerotow lockout and stall protector nothing else really matters.
...so it will be great for you to let them know about your similar credentials and depth of experience, too.
Larry Jorgensen - 2011/02/17 13:37:47 UTC
Air Adventures NW
Spanaway, Washington
It did not come from the FAA, it came from a USHPA Towing Committee made up of three large aerotow operations that do tandems for hire.
Appalling.
Way out of my league.
If you do not have those credentials, it will be a simple matter for the USHPA Tow Committee to respond to the FAA to discount your complaint, so it will be very important for you to present this information in your letter to the FAA and to others now.
I'm sure it will - especially if no other tandem aerotow instructors get dumped off of tow by front end weak pops and dive into the ground with their students or by back end Rooney Link pops and get tumbled into the ground solo by invisible dust devils.
The best way to make change is to get involved, and join the Tow Committee at its meetings.
Or, if you just wait long enough, some tandem aerotow instructor pro toad will hit a monster thermal coming out of Quest, his Rooney Link will dump him into a fatal tumble, and lotsa people will suddenly develop lotsa interest in two hundred pound fishing line.
That's what people who really care do to make change. Such is the nature of the great opportunities we have to make a difference in the US (although it means having to spend time, money, and effort, compared to the ease of just sitting in front of a computer.)
Look how much change Zack Marzec made just by posting a couple of cute hang gliding videos then coughing up twenty bucks to get hauled up into a monster thermal. Name me one instance from the past forty years of hang gliding of one individual inspiring and catalyzing so much positive change in the sport - globally. And lemme tell ya dude... What he did was about a hundred thousand times easier, faster, more effective than just sitting in front of a computer...
Good luck with your endeavor, and regards,
Dr. Tracy Tillman
USHPA Director, Region 7
FAA Detroit FSDO FAAST Aviation Safety Counselor
Good luck with my next letter to the FAA concerning your suitability as an FAA Detroit FSDO FAAST Aviation Safety Counselor - you stupid, lying, incompetent, pin bending sack of shit. I'm pretty sure I'd rather be dead than have my name at the top of that weak link article you two assholes and your stacked committee perpetrated on the sport last year.
...
Dan Lukaszewicz - 2013/07/25 10:09:05 UTC
Alexandria, Virginia
The limited experience I have with competitions has been overwhelmingly positive but it is conceivable that comps have a dark side.
With assholes like Bill Moyes, Bobby Bailey, David Glover, Davis Straub, Belinda Boulter, Jim Rooney involved? Do ya think?
I know several skilled pilots that are interested in competition flying but have been scared off by the stories.
I know several skilled pilots who were interested in competition flying but WEREN'T scared off by the stories and consequently ain't around no more.
Let's give a forum to these cautionary tales so that others may make an informed decision.
Why? If it starts identifying the real problems Jack will lock it down and ban the extremist one percent who were identifying the real problems.
Please cite specific examples from first hand experience.
Great. Let's have a discussion about the dark sides of competitions and start by tossing out all discussion of fatalities. And along with that...
Holly Korzilius - 2006/09
I have no recollection of the accident itself.
Second hand stories have a way of getting distorted... fish stories.
And first hand stories don't 'cause hang gliding people are all such spectacularly honest and decent individuals.
Please, let's have the conversation without a flame war.
Yeah, let's make some positive changes in hang gliding without calling total morons, liars, sleazebags, and serial killers total morons, liars, sleazebags, and serial killers.
Here's video from OK Price, son of legendary early hang glider pilot Chris Price who along with the Wills Brothers, innovated many advancements in the early years.
One of which was not an attachment for the nose wires which prevented them from disconnecting during a platform launch and leaving the pilot permanently crippled.
I haven't seen Chris for years, but being in his son's presence provides a vivid genetic reminder.
The kid's attitude and understanding of engineering would hafta improve tenfold before getting to the point at which they just totally sucked. The sport's already paid a price for his participation in it. Doesn't speak all that well for his dad.
The video shows Mike Bilyk with some radical RC helicopter moves, BJ on landing, and one of OK first tows and flights here at the WRE.
Fuckin' Darwin material. Zack Marzec configuration...
- pro toad bridle, bar half stuffed just to stay level with the goddam Dragonfly
- twin bent pin "releases"
- twice as many Rooney Links as Zack had - probably to double the towline tension limit
Can't be absolutely positive they're Rooney Links but...
- That's my bet.
- He hasn't told us anything different.
- Whatever they are they're whatever he was handed and he has no more of a fuckin' clue what their purpose is than does the asshole who handed them to him and let him go up pro toad with bent pin barrel releases.
- He won't take anything home to run through his ten kiloNewton tensile strength tester and scanning electron microscope - he has neither the interest nor the attention span.
I was talking to Steve Pearson a few weeks ago about my killer new custom Falcon I'll be ordering, and he said that this (too much wing) is arguably the biggest problem he sees in our sport.
There is another article on the WW site (from Mike, I believe) that says the average pilot is flying one wing higher than is appropriate for their skill level.
Do those include Wills Wing gliders?
If so wouldn't that mean that Wills Wing authorized dealers are selling the vast majority of Wills Wing customers wings one level higher than is appropriate for their skill levels?
So cite me one single example of Wills Wing:
- putting out a general advisory
- reprimanding or sanctioning one of their dealers/schools for putting one of their customers/students before or after he got seriously fucked up or killed as a consequence of being on too much wing
Who's more likely to get seriously fucked up in the Lookout - Golden LZ?
- a 35 year Hang 4 like Allen Sparks trying to foot land a Falcon 2 225
- a ten month Hang 2.5 bring a T2C in on the wheels
Ya know what I see as the biggest single problem in "our" sport?
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."
So I just came back from flying in Austria (awesome place btw). Stark difference I noticed is a large chunk of pilots choose to fly with skids instead of wheels. Conversations I had with pilots they say they actually work better in certain situations as they don't get plugged up like smaller wheels. Even larger heavier Atosses were all flying with skids. I was curious why they consistently chose to land on skids on those expensive machines and they were saying that it's just not worth the risk of a mistimed flare or wing hitting the ground... And those are all carbon frames etc.
Bullshit standup landings in the Happy Acres putting greens in which we park 99.99 percent of the time.
What did Steve and Mike think about Zack Marzec's bent pin barrel release, pro toad bridle, and appropriate weak link of 1.5 inches or less?
How come public statements on safety issues and policy from...
All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made...
sometimes we just are not on are game, i think we all know what to do, sometimes we just don't do what we know to do, it scares me when i find myself airborn and then realize that i didn't go through all the launch checks
And that tells me with one hundred percent certainty that you NEVER do the single most critical check anyone can before he finds himself airborne - with or without his glider.
If you do and understand hook-in checks...
Rob Kells - 2005/12
Each of us agrees that it is the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
...you are scared BEFORE you find yourself airborne because you're assuming you're not hooked in. And that fear causes you to verify that you are at the critical instant and tends to trigger a quick reconsideration of all the other shit that matters.
how is my AoA, is the wind coming straight in, walk , jog, run, keep the AoA and run till my feet leave the ground
Toldyaso.
i just walk up to launch and go for it
Of course you don't do that. You stop at the staging area and do a careful hang check which always includes the Five Cs. And so far you've never launched with a dangling carabiner of a fluttering chinstrap. And why mess with that kind of success.
this kind of thing can happen to anyone, i have watched Ryan Voight launch several times, you can tell he goes through the mental process every time though he has done it very often
Which is at about the limit of Ryan's mental processes. (Next time you see the little shit ask him what he thought of Zack Marzec's instant hands free release and the published results of all that testing of new flavors of fishing line Mark You-Have-No-Idea-What-Happened Knight and Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney did about three months later.)
go through the mental process every launch or it will bite you someday, everyone knows the spill just do it !
And if you do nothing else make sure you hold that AoA until your feet leave the ground or ramp - and that you've got a good plan for what to do if the glider starts floating a little higher than usual before you feel your suspension being tensioned.
I reach to hit the release and accidently push the release on the outside of the down tube "shit" at this point i was at a bank angle of about 75 dg still high up on the left (thank god for secondary). When i pulled the secondary the glider was at 90dg , i kept the bar pulled in and followed through the turn loosing 350 ft almost instantly.. (glad i had the altitude).
