http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31034
Any opinions on the USHPA cover of the April issue?
Jim Rowan - 2014/04/04 12:32:14 UTC
I liked the photo - it's dynamic and one of the better "action" shot covers I've seen in awhile. No one who isn't already flying hang gliders will know that it was the result of a lock-out and potentially extreme situation.
And no one who IS already flying hang gliders will give a flying fuck about how to prevent and safely deal with lockouts.
I'm a geezer, but not so much of one that I can't appreciate a good photo!
And I SO hope that you're the subject of a photo just like this one - 'cept about twenty feet lower.
Jim Gaar - 2014/04/04 12:37:34 UTC
I don't see the least bit of inflation on the camera side wing in the picture. Just sayin'...
So in your expert opinion what do you think WAS the issue that put him on his ear and what strength fishing line do you think he should've been using to prevent this situation?
wonderwind_flyer - 2014/04/04 13:43:48 UTC
I had concern of this discussion developing into an 'us' vs. 'them' issue so maybe we can look at it another way.
Would the Soaring Society of America put a similar photo of a sailplane in a lock-out on its cover?
I doubt it. Given that they've never published an article savaging hang gliding for the lunatic shit that it's doing I imagine they've got the same sort of pigfuckers running things that hang and para gliders do.
Would the United States Parachute Association put a photo of someone obviously having trouble opening their parachute with a view of the looming ground on their cover?
Who gives a rat's ass?
The photo is definitely an action shot and if the dangling towline were not visible in Mr. Dunn's photo I would think that it was simply a pilot banking tightly in his approach pattern.
That's exactly what he's doing. And he's also making a fast steep final...
...so there'll be no danger whatsoever of him overshooting the runway. (Paying attention here, Jonathan?)
Perhaps this is the joke that was intended when it was chosen for the cover.
Bullshit. They've never done anything like this before and there's no comment on it inside. They used it 'cause they thought it was a really cool photo.
I appreciate very much that Ben Dunn shared his story on his blog.
I'd have really appreciated it if he'd posted it on a forum, issued an advisory, and told people how to fix the problem.
The educational benefits are valuable...
Oh yeah.
Manned Kiting
The Basic Handbook of Tow Launched Hang Gliding
Daniel F. Poynter
1974
"Never take your hands off the bar." - Tom Peghiny
That message must really be taking hold now. Betchya there's gonna be another really good Higher Education article in next month's issue.
...and it is impressive that he had the skills to recover from such a serious situation.
MAG fuckin' NIFICIENT!!! And...
Just look at the way he's got his legs out of the pod ready to foot land if the glider pulls out in time! Totally righteous stuff there.
However, the cover of the magazine is an advertisement for what we do ... even the April issue.
And those motherfuckers FINALLY started getting it right with this one.
I am not grumpy, just protective.
Oh good. Just what the sport needs. One more total asshole who wants to protect the sport by keeping all the dirt swept under the rug.
I think I'll write a non-grumpy letter to the USHPA editorial staff.
You do that, pigfucker. They'll probably hire two or three analysts to make sure that another one of these depictions of reality never gets anywhere NEAR their monthly infomercial again.
Jim Rowan - 2014/04/04 14:05:57 UTC
I have to agree with whomever said that many HG pilots are grumpy old men. Controversial magazine covers tend to sell more magazines...
Really? So how do you go about buying one of these magazines?
- Going to their store gets you shot over to Amazon. The closest thing you can find to this issue is the 2010 to 2012 update disk selling for seventeen bucks - 3.4 times what it was last summer.
- At the publications button you're supposed to be able to view everything up to this month if you're a member, last month if you're not. Anybody see anything more current than 2013/06?
...(not that there would be anything controversial about the cover from the April issue to the average Joe).
And the only thing controversial about it to you stupid glider jockeys is that it's on the cover.
I remember this magazine cover from my senior year in high school. They had a faux interview with Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) who had just recently died and his response to every question they asked was a blank space. Classic!!
Wow. Exactly the same response I got from USHGA and the Towing Committee when I asked for comments on the Aerotowing SOPs and Guidelines I was asked to revise.
2014/04/04 14:17:20 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Scott MacLeod
fireforthall - 2014/04/04 15:01:35 UTC
Blackfoot, Idaho
I guess I would have to agree with some of you in that I don't see it as that bad of a picture.
Yeah, another tandem instructor getting killed except for the accident of his starting altitude.
Ben is the one that has said its OK to use it so why all the fuss?
Because we don't want evidence supporting the position of T** at K*** S****** splashed out like that for everyone to see.
I quit coming on the site for a few months both for school and all the negativity that is abundant here. I come back and it still here!
Who'da thunk?
QUIT! for gods sake give it up! I have flown for 5 years (hangliders only) and hangglider pilots are a bunch of whinny asses!
Asses BRAY. It's horses that whinny.
Yes you started the insurance, magazine, and all the awesome site that we have now a days. So what! Grow up for s*** sakes!
So what? So people lose opportunities to fly when different flavors of aviation move in and take control - asshole.
Cool picture Ben!
Yeah, Ben. Cool picture.
- Hop on a cart with the same cheap, bent pin, pro toad crap on your shoulders that's crashed countless gliders before you - a few fatally.
- Totally lose control of your glider.
- Put yourself in a position in which the only two things keeping you alive are the reaction of your Pilot In Command on the Dragonfly and a few spare feet of altitude.
- Watch the runway rushing back up at you while you wait for your glider to start flying again.
- Offer absolutely nothing in the way of a public comment on addressing the issues.
- And you're a really cool dude on the cover of the magazine.
Spend years developing, engineering, testing, refining, documenting the equipment to safely handle the situation you got into and you're poison to the sport, blacklisted from every aerotow operation in the country, pissed all over, along with your work, by every testosterone poisoned pigfucker who's ever clipped into a Condor and mushed down a training hill, called a child molester a few thousand times by pieces of shit like Bob, Davis, Rooney.
put that in your pipe and smoke it! (maybe you all will relax)
Shove it up your ass, douchebag.
2014/04/04 16:08:40 UTC - 3 thumbs up - NMERider
2014/04/04 19:41:39 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Paul Hurless
2014/04/05 08:06:59 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Heli1
Ditto to you assholes.
