landing

General discussion about the sport of hang gliding
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37786
Joe on plowing
Fausto - 2014/06/16 22:36:59 UTC

Hi Joe, my son had a similar but softer crash landing with only a broken left spar to regret from last weekend (we fly Andean mountains and land 2500 mts asl). He transitioned recently to a WW U2. In this case and in yours seems that a few details came together for you both to end crashing in with the control bar:
In Joe's case the details that came together were:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaScVhk3Xxw
Don't land in rotor
George Adams - 2014/06/04 11:00

Through the video I said out loud... slow... slow... too slow... way too slow!
- slow...
- slow...
- too slow...
- way too slow!
Thermally or changing wind conditions and specially low (on the side of slow) final turn that left my son and you with no time to level out and correct speed to try a good push out or a run in case the wind was from the back.
It wasn't.
I always insist to beginner and intermediate pilots that unless extremely necessary not to turn too low on final. There is wind gradient, thermally conditions and just no altitude to correct speed to try the best landing possible.
With enough speed you can do damn near anything.
Good to know you are ok, and thanks for sharing your experience with all pilots.
And with self appointed experts on everything like Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney who don't stand snowballs' chances in hell of ever becoming pilots.
Isn't ANYBODY gonna gut that motherfucker? He's left himself SO wide open.
Ditto for his comments on John Dullahan.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9161
Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC

Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37786
Joe on plowing
Tom Lyon - 2014/06/17 05:11:18 UTC

I know the extent of the rotor varies with wind strength, the height of the obstacle, wind direction, etc., but how does one gauge how far downwind of the obstacle is safe to land?
The distance is inversely proportional to your airspeed. If you come in at half a mile per hour over stall the rotor coming off a treeline like that in the wind he was dealing with can make it unsafe to land within a range of twenty miles or more.
I'm thinking...
No you're not. That's not really your thing.
...of cross country flying (which I haven't done yet) where my best-looking field might have a treeline or barn or something on the upwind side of it.
Just take a cyanide capsule. Get it over with quickly.

01-0001
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See that green strip extending away from the base of Joe's harness suspension and running parallel to the treeline?
- Extend it all the way to the SSE and make it an identical treeline.
- Leave the strip in between the treelines as it is.
- Replace the airport and the rest of the soybean field with forest such that the strip is his only landing option.
- Identical condtions.
- Replace the Joe we're looking at with the one who's finally figured out what he did wrong - or Niki.

The landing's a no brainer.

The ONLY reason we're hearing all this bullshit about rotors and bad decisions from Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and the assholes who listen to him is because Joe had the option of coming down in clean air in the middle of this Nebraska sized field and didn't use it.

Make this an XC flight with the modifications we just made and that landing option would've been a godsend and the glider wouldn't have gotten any more kicked around low on final than we saw it get kicked in the video.
Perhaps there isn't a guideline, but I'd feel better if I was thinking something like I needed to come to a stop at least ??? yards downwind of an obstacle in a 10 mph wind, etc.
THERE IS NO ROTOR OFF OF *ANYTHING* IN A TEN MILE PER HOUR WIND.
One thing that is very humbling to me as I transition over from flying sailplanes is just how susceptible hang gliders are to micro-meteorology.
Especially the ones flown by total morons at half a mile per hour over stall speed.
My previous flying was in a sailplane that weighed about 1,000 lbs with me in it, and I would fly the landing pattern at about 60 mph. HUGE difference between that and my Falcon, and I already made one pretty serious landing mistake with my Falcon that fortunately just ended up being a learning experience.
What was it? Too much airspeed? Lemme guess... You weren't proned out and on the basetube at the time.
I definitely understand when some say that a pilot is almost better off NOT coming to hang gliding from general aviation.
Yeah, there's so much solid theory that you hafta unlearn to make room for the moronic opinion crap douchebags like Dr. Trisa Tilletti and Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney pull outta their asses and establish in training programs and as policy.
I have made a few mistakes now that are purely the result of thinking...
No. Mistakes are ALWAYS purely the result of NOT thinking. And you've been getting better and better at not thinking with each passing month.
...I understood a situation because it was familiar to me from flying a sailplane.
Try flying the fucking hang glider like you would the fucking sailplane and seeing if things don't start working out better for you. Or, conversely, try landing a sailplane like THIS:

http://forum.hanggliding.org/download/file.php?id=18967
Image

and seeing if you don't start having success rates comparable to what we see in hang gliding.
Graeme Henderson - 2014/06/17 06:09:41 UTC

Wind shadow
Why are you titling your post "Wind shadow" in a thread all about a glider that crashed in a rotor?
When growing trees for windbreaks on farms the rule of thumb was that the benefit was ten times the height of the hedge.
1. Wow! That's ten times the good rule of thumb for hang glider weak links!

2. What was the rule of thumb for rotors? Should've been pretty easy to figure out. Line of stakes with streamers, see which ones are blowing backwards.
Now that varies from a flying point of view as wind speed and lapse rate have quite dramatic impacts on the density of the wind.
WHAT?!?! Tell me how the density of air in motion varies from air not in motion.
Also the density of the tree line. However it is a good place to start, closer than ten times the height and you have to start calculating things.
Yes. You need to get very precise numbers to see how close to stall you can get away with flying your descent.
You might try balloons and or soap bubbles and or smoke at a site to give you an indicator of what it looks like in reality.
Or you could just pull the fucking bar back...

40-12926
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/14066740384_ee857f9f87_o.png
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...and land the goddam thing.
You will also get an idea just walking around with a wind indicator on a stick.
Yeah. It always amazes me whenever I see people just pulling the fucking bar back and landing the goddam thing without having first just walked around with wind indicators on sticks.
And then you could consult the Dennis Pagen books...
In conjunction, of course, with Leviticus and Revelations.
...his advice and sketches on things like this kept many of us from learning...
His advice and sketches on things like this have kept tens of thousands of you from learning for decades. Try reading the "Joe on plowing" thread and the crap Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney's getting away with if you don't believe me.
...the hard way.
ANY way. EVER.
Good luck.
Sure. That's about all anyone in hang gliding is ever gonna have going for him anyway.

Joe says:
I think that you guys are right. It had nothing to do with rotor...

I was in wind shadow and I did not have enough airspeed after I made my ninety degree turn. WOW. It seems so obvious now!!!! I basically stalled and hit the ground.
Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney says:
I'm not sure I understand this or where it's coming from.
It had everything to do with rotor.
You say NOTHING about that stupid little piece of shit and this bogus rotor issue and tell us to blow bubbles, run around with wind indicators on sticks, and read Pagen.

This guy seriously slammed in SOLELY because - like he finally figured out with way less than zero help from the douchebag professionals from Ridgely - he didn't have any airspeed.

PRECISELY sixteen months prior to Joe's crash, probably to the hour, at one of the Ridgely clones in Florida, a tandem aerotow instructor even more seriously slammed in because he even more didn't have any airspeed. The reason he even more didn't have any airspeed was because, as a consequence of using a dangerous tow bridle advised and sketched by Dennis Pagen, he couldn't get any to begin with and then, at the worst possible time, when he was climbing hard in a near stall situation, the focal point of his safe towing system very clearly provide protection from an excessive angle of attack.

In short the motherfucker got killed because of the ABSOLUTE ROT that asshole packed his book with. And you didn't have ONE SINGLE COMMENT on that one. But just go ahead and feel perfectly free to recommend Dennis Excellent-Book Pagen to this bozo.

Go fuck yourself, Graeme.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9161
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/18.107
Joe plows
Davis Straub - 2014/06/03 12:00:46 UTC

See the story behind this video in yesterday's Oz Report
Oops. Didn't do my homework very well. Missed a biggie.

http://ozreport.com/18.106
2014 East Coast Championship
Davis Straub - 2014/06/02 22:39:55 UTC

Day 2, we stop the task due to poor launch conditions (Highland Aerosports, Ridgely, Maryland, USA)
With the crap you pigfuckers use for tow equipment and the assholes you have driving tugs you have NOTHING BUT poor launch conditions. I wouldn't go NEAR a cart with any of it.
The forecast was for good lift - 700-800 fpm, like the first day, but even less likelihood of cu's, and strong winds - 12 knots...
14 mph.
...out of the south southwest. And other than the fact that we didn't find much lift, the forecast was pretty much right on. No cu's, and a wind 9 to 12 mph out of the south.
Or averaging 24 percent UNDER the right on forecast and closer to the seven to ten estimate of Joe's than the fifteen plus bullshit Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney was spewing.
The problem is that there is no good location to launch in a south wind.
Big fuckin' deal. Do it anyway. You've got the equipment to handle it...

Image
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Almost as good as what Ollie uses.
We set up to launch to the west with a strong cross wind.
West. That's a lot like south. You couldn't figure out a direction to get it any MORE cross?
The first launches looked fine, but the conditions up above were not exciting with no cu's, lots of wind, and numerous pilots landing after short flights. Only Dave Proctor was able to stay up at first.
Good for Dave Proctor. Fuck you, Dave Proctor.
Image

Red shows the launch direction. The runway is at 300 degrees.
How much trouble did people have tracking on the curves? You couldn't have just said straight west and leave it to the reader to figure out?
Then we spotted Joe Schmucker, who had dribbled north out of the airport and was now low in the next field and attempting to head back and make it to the airfield.
So now we know that this couldn't possibly have been much more than an extended sled and that he was landing at pretty much the same time and in the same conditions in which he took off - Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney's fifteen plus.
With all of us watching we tried to determine if he could get over the thin line of low trees on the north side of the runway. It could go either way.

Joe kept going toward us and the trees.
So everybody's watching this from about as close a perspective as possible.
I asked him later and he wasn't even thinking about the fact that he was pushing into a head wind.
And wouldn't be thinking for another two weeks that this didn't have shit to do with any nonexistent rotor - that he just mushed down into gradient and shadow.
He didn't see that there was a problem.
Did you look at the video and check out his bar position? I'm thinking he wasn't flying the best speed to be covering ground moving upwind.
As he got closer to the trees he finally realized that he wasn't going to make it.
Oh. He FINALLY realized it. While all you GOOD pilots back on the ground had realized it LONG before.
He turned and was rotored into the ground.
OBVIOUSLY. With the glider under full control all the way to the surface and Joe experiencing and reporting nothing out of the ordinary beyond a fast descent rate he was ROTORED into the ground. And now we know why so many people are hanging onto the rotor story like grim death. Davis Dead-On Straub hath pronounced it to have been a rotor crash and Davis Dead-On Straub has never been wrong about ANYTHING EVER.
The glider was pancaked with Joe still on the base tube.
The implication being that he SHOULD have been upright and on the downtubes. Why would anybody in his right mind NOT still be on the basetube?
A broken keel to go along with the down tubes and base bar. There is a nice video and I hope that he posts it.
He did and I've got it. So it's gonna be a bit difficult to erase the evidence - the way you did with Robin Strid.
After Joe was pulled out from under his glider with a face full of mud, we lined up to get launched. I had a bit of trouble getting off the cart despite the high angle on the cart. Greg and Jim Messina said later that they also had problems launching.
Well, just keep launching anyway - at least until somebody crashes.
I was pulled right to a thermal and with another pilot got right up to 2,700'. When that quit I chased the thermal down wind and got back to 2,500' with three other pilots.
I didn't realize there were any PILOTS flying that day. Who were they?
We were two kilometers down wind. Bruce was way down below us. We were working zero lift at 2,500' and quickly drifting away from the airfield.
No shit. Who'da thunk.
I saw Bruce heading back (or what looked like it) and headed back to see if there were any pilots who got towed up behind us (including Greg) thermaling. Turns out there weren't any and soon we all found ourselves landing. We lined up to go again.

As we waited there John Claytor...
John Claytor - Virginia - 67393 - H4 - 2007/01/08 - Steve Wendt - AT FL PL ST RLF TUR XC - Wills Wing Talon 160
...launched and crashed as his upwind wing came up and spun him around.
Whoa! Must've been using one of those Tad-O-Links!!! One like the one that almost killed Paul Tjaden and Russell Brown!

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467
weak links
John Claytor - 2007/05/25 12:03:13 UTC

here is some raw statistics: I am about 215, loaded up harness 40 and fly a glider that weighs 85, 340 pounds total. I use the same weak link material as every body else, towing off of the shoulders with a weak link on both sides, equaling four starnds.
Yep, that was the equivalent of a Tad-O-Link. Four strands of 130 with the knot hidden from the main tension in the link - 520 pounds / 1.53 Gs. Not a good rule of thumb to be weak enough so that it will break before the pressure of the towline reaches a level that compromises the handling of the glider.
I break a weak link about once every two years. a little frayed is better in my way of thinking because I like my weak links weak.
And my crosswinds strong.
If you are in the moderate range and breaking weak links all of the time, I am sorr friend but the evidence would point to technique, not inferior link material. If you are breaking these all of the time, you probably owe your health and safety to the system thay you may feel is failing.
And you were using excellent technique to keep them from breaking.
Here is a concept:
When you are preparing to tow, sit on the cart on the runway ready in the position you are going to begin your role in. Now instruct the tug pilot to give you nothing less that full throttle. tell the person launching (who is really here to check your gear and communicate to the tug) not to push you into the role. Now the weak link will take its highest load during the flight and you are barely rolling on terra firma.
Sometimes it sees loads higher than that before you get to the end of normal takeoff distance.
If it breaks you are safe.
Of course you are. Whoever heard of anything bad happening...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRrpHNa68iY/UQ6Pv9gRZyI/AAAAAAAAjTg/Hc22bx5122Q/s2048/20943781_BG1.jpg
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...right after anybody came off of a tow?
Just push out if you are rolling faster than you like. If it doesn't break than you are likely not to load up the link any more during the entire flight.
Yeah, well not every flight looks, progresses, ends like the ones illustrated in the excellent book, Towing Aloft, by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden.
Actually I like the weak link a little frayed.
Which weak link? You have two? What happens to pop point when one of them's weaker than the other?
And all of us should be ready for the weak link break during every second of every tow.
Yes John, we all SHOULD be - especially those of us who were trained and certified by Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt. We are all taught that there's nothing that Mother Nature can throw at us while we're on, being blown off, just off tow at under a hundred feet that we can't handle using the bent pin crap that the assholes who've just told us this have sold us.

So... How come:

- Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt says on his scooter towing video:
Wills Wing / Blue Sky / Steve Wendt / Ryan Voight Productions - 2007/03

NEVER CUT THE POWER...

Image

Reduce Gradually
Increase Gradually
How come he's so fuckin' worried about that issue he's teaching everyone and his dog is a mere inconvenience that all of us should be ready for every second of every tow?

- when Marc Fink tells us that...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?
Marc Fink - 2011/08/28 21:11:09 UTC

I once locked out on an early laminarST aerotowing. went past vertical and past 45 degrees to the line of pull-- and the load forces were increasing dramatically. The weaklink blew and the glider stalled--needed every bit of the 250 ft agl to speed up and pull out. I'm alive because I didn't use a stronger one.
...if what happened to him at 250 feet had happened to him at 240 feet he'd have been totally fucked nobody says anything?

- nobody teaches anybody that they'll be able to handle anything and everything thrown at them at a hundred feet or under when they're free flying?
Its part of the launch.
Yeah, well we just saw how yours went. And it didn't seem to follow the party line very well.

Anyway, Davis...

Fuckin' Tad-O-Links don't break when they're supposed to and you can get into a lot of trouble! Right?

http://ozreport.com/9.177
Another bad launch off the cart
Davis Straub - 2005/08/28

And another good outcome that we can learn from.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meaneyman/sets/788578/
Bad launch good recovery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meaneyman/35642942/
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/meaneyman/35642828/
Tim Meaney has published a series of photos which show a poor launch by an Exxtacy pilot at the 2005 Big Spring Open. The Exxtacy's right wing has come up while the pilot is still on the cart. In addition, the right wing has come up so high that the right side of the control frame has also come off the cart and isn't being held horizontal. This means that the spoileron on the right side isn't deployed, or deployed as much as it would be if the pilot had held (or been able to hold) the control frame onto the cart. If the spoileron had been deployed, the right wing would have had a tendency to come back down. In this case, it didn't.

In the second frame the left wing is dragging on the runway and the weaklink has broken. This is a good thing. The pilot is in trouble and you want that weaklink broken so that he isn't dragged down the runway. Notice that he hasn't moved his hands at all, and doesn't throughout this sequence of photos. The weak weaklink does the heavy lifting for him. Use a properly sized weaklink!
So how come you're not using John Claytor to promote your properly sized weak link or...

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...appropriate bridles?
Two of the safety committee members (Greg (Dinauer) and Jim (Messina))...
1. Just TWO of the safety committee members? How come they didn't use all twelve?

2. You mean the same safety committee that OKed launching on an impromptu runway with a strong ninety cross and continued operations while some of the advanced rated comp pilots were having problems getting airborne?
...got together and recommended that launch be suspended.
SUSPEND LAUNCH! Let's not go totally nuts here! Just get those damned Tad-O-Links out of circulation and make doubly sure that nobody gets behind a tug without a properly sized weak link!
I then got together with Greg and Jim Messina (Felix was a few hundred yards away) and they decided to spot the task. It was one hour after the first start time, so the day counted. But it didn't count for much.
Oh, you have no fuckin' clue just how wrong you are, Davis Dead-On Straub - as usual.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9161
Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC

Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/18.106
2014 East Coast Championship
Davis Straub - 2014/06/02 22:39:55 UTC

Day 2, we stop the task due to poor launch conditions (Highland Aerosports, Ridgely, Maryland, USA)
Fuck you, Davis. "WE" didn't stop the task due to poor launch conditions (Highland Aerosports, Ridgely, Maryland, USA). We started the task in extremely dangerous launch conditions which were constant through the entire relevant period and...
As we waited there John Claytor launched and crashed as his upwind wing came up and spun him around.
...ONLY stopped it after we almost killed a seven year Hang 4 pro toad trained and certified by Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt.
Two of the safety committee members (Greg and Jim) got together and recommended that launch be suspended.
No shit.

- Oh. They got together? Discussed it for a while? Weighed the pros and cons? Finally, reluctantly came to the conclusion that continuing the task might not be the be the greatest idea and might, in fact, tarnish the reputations of some of the members of the Safety Committee?

- Following their recommendation how much discussion was there amongst the other members of the Safety Committee and other concerned parties?

- So name the other total fucking douchebags on this "Safety Committee" who thought it would be a good idea to launch anybody and everybody with Hang Three, AT, Turbulence. and XC signoffs who'd plopped down the entry and towing fees from an improvised takeoff strip in a 90 cross that was generating rotors beyond the adjacent treeline?

- What were their qualifications? Which one of you incompetent total fucking douchebags appointed them? What were the qualifications of the total fucking douchebags who appointed them?

- Was the issue of John's muppetness considered? I mean, do ya wanna shut down a whole task just because some bozo who hadn't been at an around all this plenty long enough to understand what's what and who's who couldn't keep his wings level on the fuckin' launch cart?

- Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney says:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks
Jim Rooney - 2013/03/05 01:32:20 UTC

Btw, it's nothing to do with you "counting" on the weaklink breaking... Its about me not trusting you to hit the release.
If it were only about what you want, then you could use what you like.
You want the strongest weaklink you can have.
I want you to have the weakest one practical.. I don't care how much it inconveniences you.
I don't trust you as a rule. You Trust you , but I don't and shouldn't.
...that he doesn't trust us muppets to hit the release - and this so obviously proved him right. So is it a good idea to be towing these unqualified dregs who can't even be trusted to hit the releases in emergencies like this? Shouldn't there be release hitting clinics and an RH signoff and shouldn't one be mandatory to compete in these things so's you don't hafta shut the whole day down on account of it's weakest link?

- Did you check to see if he was using an...

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...appropriate bridle? Are you sure he wasn't using some funky shit like THIS:

25-32016
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5548/14306846174_185f09082e_o.png
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http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5530/14120804830_2aabd74d25_o.png
09-10817

that doesn't work in reality 'cause if it did everybody would already be using it everywhere?

- Did you check to make sure he had his appropriate standard aerotow inconveniencer? How was he able to be spun around and crashed unless he was using a Tad-O-Link?

- Did you open the rest of the afternoon up to free flyers?

- Great to see that the Highland Aerosports staffers were one hundred percent on board with the Safety Committee when the go decision was made. Ditto on the tug pilots and competitors. Not ONE SINGLE VOICE OF DISSENSION on the go call. Not ONE SINGLE VOICE OF DISSENSION on calling the day either. Amazing. Reminds me a lot of the Zack Marzec fatality... Everybody was totally cool with pro toad bridles and Rooney Links before he got splatted, everybody was totally cool with pro toad bridles and Rooney Links after he got splatted.

- So who were the tug pilots driving that day? We know Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney was one of them and that rated drivers and Highland Aerosports owners Sunny Venesky and Adam Elchin at least owned and controlled two of them. Aren't you gonna list their names and thank them for the great jobs they did?

- Who was driving the tug that pulled John into a lockout right off the cart? How come we only tend to hear the names of tuggies when they PREVENT people from slamming in - virtually always by keeping them on tow, easing the power, and moving in front of them?

Oh, this is so much fun! Haven't even scratched the surface yet. So many assholes who've painted themselves into so many corners, so little time.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9161
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

DAMN! Just found this one. Motherfucker almost gets killed on launch and the post title is:
2014 East Coast Championship
so, big surprise, I think it's just Davis describing every bank angle of every turn of every climb he made on the latest four hour task.

http://ozreport.com/18.115
2014 East Coast Championship
John Claytor - 2014/06/13 16:42:43 UTC

To start with I have to mention that it is my opinion that when we start out on a line, whether it is surfing a wave, starting the roll down a trail on a mountain bike or launching a hang glider on a dolly, the start of the movement lacks good control until some speed is gathered to gain that control. At that point, the surfer, rider or pilot has the control to "fix" the track, make a correction and things work out fine. This was not the case on that day.

There are a couple of things that could have been changed and in hindsight; these may have avoided this incident. I felt that my angle of attack was too high, but thought that the powerful tug would pull me through the vulnerable phase of the roll without incident. Secondly, I should have waited for a wind cycle that was lesser in velocity and more from the direction that we were towing toward. Competitions don't really afford the time for a pilot to select a launch cycle or wait for conditions to improve.

At the instant that the roll commenced a gust of wind from the left occurred and lifted my left wing. I still had hold of the tubing in the cart as the left front wheel lifted. The dolly was going to the right. I must have released my hold on the left tubing to settle the cart level. At that point in time, my speed bar shifted to the right at about a 20 degree angle settling the inner portion of the speed bar onto the right chock and increasing the bank angle to the right as I was accelerating. The lowered position of my feet may have restricted my input of shifting my legs to the left to counteract the banking to the right. I pushed out to release myself and the glider from the cart. At this point the angle was increasing and the right wing tip hit the ground. My head was at about chest high, accelerating in what could be described as a low level lock-out, with no good control. I saw that I was going to hit the ground nearly head first and balled-up for impact. I hit hard, the weak-link broke and I broke the left down tube and the glider rolled on the right leading edge transitioning to the left leading edge before coming to rest kind of backward.

I impacted the ground on the right side of my helmet and right shoulder simultaneously, then sliding on my left side to a stop. I had pain in my right shoulder and collar bone, lower neck, left scapula and center of my back. I elected to just take it easy for a few days and I flew again the following Friday (2014/06/06). I had intended to fly the task, but once I was in the air, it became apparent that I would not be fit for flight after up to three hours. I landed at the airport after 30 minutes. The next day (Saturday (2014/06/07)) I flew for about 40 minutes before the competition pilots would launch. Still pretty sore. The following Tuesday (6/10/14 (2014/06/10)) I serious pain in my back at work and decided to go to the hospital for some test. At the hospital I had several x-rays and then a CT scan. They found that I did not have any fractures but I was complaining of the symptoms commensurate with a compressed or damaged disk. They prescribed muscle relaxer, opiate pain reliever and a steroid to reduce swelling. So far so good. I feel that this incident could have had a more serious outcome and I am glad that I was not injured any more than I was.
To start with I have to mention that it is my opinion that when we start out on a line, whether it is surfing a wave, starting the roll down a trail on a mountain bike or launching a hang glider on a dolly, the start of the movement lacks good control until some speed is gathered to gain that control. At that point, the surfer, rider or pilot has the control to "fix" the track, make a correction and things work out fine.
Oh. So you think it's a good idea to have some airspeed to control a fixed wing aircraft. And that's your OPINION. But you're totally open to the points of view of assholes like Sam Kellner and Bob Kuczewski. Good. That way you wouldn't be labeled as a know-it-all and you'll always be welcome in friendly hang gliding communities. Great job Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt.
This was not the case on that day.
Do ya think?
There are a couple of things that could have been changed and in hindsight; these may have avoided this incident.
One of the things that could've been changed and, in hindsight, WAS that could've avoided this incident, was to scrub the task and shut down launch. Any thoughts on that one?
I felt that my angle of attack was too high, but thought that the powerful tug would pull me through the vulnerable phase of the roll without incident.
What did your cart monkey think?

http://ozreport.com/12.081
Weaklinks - the HGFA rules
Davis Straub - 2008/04/22 14:47:00 UTC

It was required that pilots be able to be connected to the tow line quickly both in order to be fair to all pilots and get them in the air in time to compete with each other, as well as to promote safety. It is safer to have a simple uniform release/bridle system that the ground crew is familiar with and can determine if there is a problem. The simpler and more uniform the safer, system wide.

Getting pilots into the air quickly is also safer as it reduces the stress that pilots feel on the ground and keeps them focused on their job which is to launch safely and without hassling the ground crew or themselves. When we look at safety we have to look at the whole system, not just one component of that system. One pilot may feel that one component is unsafe from his point of view and desire a different approach, but accommodating one pilot can reduce the overall safety of the system.
You had an appropriate bridle and weak link so you were good to go? There were too many highly qualified people on the Safety Committee so's they didn't have enough left over for good cart monkeys? They just looked to see that they could snap the hardware store keychain carabiner they'd spent twenty years perfecting as a tow ring onto your bridle in two seconds or less and gave you the green?
Secondly, I should have waited for a wind cycle that was lesser in velocity and more from the direction that we were towing toward.
What should your tug driver have done? What was the weather like where he was 250 feet to the west? Was he aware that he was taking off with a glider behind him? Or was it OK for him to just gas it because...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3600
Weak link question
Jim Rooney - 2008/11/24 05:18:15 UTC

Well, I'm assuming there was some guff about the tug pilot's right of refusal?
Gee, didn't think we'd have to delve into "pilot in command"... I figured that one's pretty well understood in a flying community.

It's quite simple.
The tug is a certified aircraft... the glider is an unpowered ultralight vehicle. The tug pilot is the pilot in command. You are a passenger. You have the same rights and responsibilities as a skydiver.
It's a bitter pill I'm sure, but there you have it.
...he's flying a certified aircraft, you're an unpowered ultralight vehicle, and thus he's the Pilot In Command? You're just a passenger, he's good to go, if you don't like it you can go fuck yourself?
Competitions don't really afford the time for a pilot to select a launch cycle or wait for conditions to improve.
But they've obviously got plenty of time for digging competitors out of soybean fields, calling in ambulances for stunt landers at goal, calling in choppers for people who've had oscillation problems on approach, and removing wreckage from the runway before calling the day.
At the instant that the roll commenced a gust of wind from the left occurred and lifted my left wing.
So you just made the easy reach for the bent pin piece of crap posing as a release on your appropriate bridle and aborted the tow, right?
I still had hold of the tubing in the cart as the left front wheel lifted.
Oh. Both your hands were busy doing other stuff. Right. Sorry, I wasn't thinking.
The dolly was going to the right.
'Cause you had a glider at a mush angle of attack, a strong ninety left wind, and a gust on top to deal with? Who'da thunk.
I must have released my hold on the left tubing to settle the cart level.
Sounds like you could really have used four hands to deal with that situation. Do they allow tandems to compete?
At that point in time, my speed bar shifted to the right at about a 20 degree angle settling the inner portion of the speed bar onto the right chock and increasing the bank angle to the right as I was accelerating.
But you thought you could fix a bad thing and didn't want to start over. So you just decided to go for it anyway. Silly boy!
The lowered position of my feet may have restricted my input of shifting my legs to the left to counteract the banking to the right.
Sounds like a dolly design issue to me.
I pushed out to release myself...
Really? I just do something like THIS:

01-1225
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7436/13700570583_049b5b7ded_o.png
Image
02-1302
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7117/13700891354_b31d51ed74_o.png
Image
03-1304
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2938/13700558193_0e0946218e_o.png
Image

to release myself. What are you using for a release? Something like this:

Image
1990/03/29 - Brad Anderson - 24 - Novice - Flight Designs Javelin - platform tow - McMinnville, Oregon - head injury, ruptured thoracic aorta

"Strong novice" pilot with a lot of flying and some truck tow experience. With instructors present launched and rose to fifty feet over truck. Pushed out hard enough to release. Whip stalled and dove into the ground. Died instantly.
1990/07/05 - Eric Aasletten - 24 - Intermediate - 2-3 years - UP Axis - platform tow - Hobbs, New Mexico - fatal / head

Reasonably proficient intermediate with over a year of platform tow experience was launching during tow meet. Homemade ATOL copy with winch on the front of the truck. Immediately after launch, the glider pitched up sharply with nose very high. Apparently the angle caused an "auto release" of the towline from the pilot, who completed a hammerhead stall and dove into the ground. Observer felt that a dust devil, invisible on the runway, contributed or caused the relatively radical nose-up attitude. Also of concern was the presumed auto release which, if it had not occurred, might have prevented the accident. Severe head injury with unsuccessful CPR.
Brad Anderson / Eric Aasletten Special?
...and the glider from the cart.
Oh. You meant from the CART. Sorry, forgot you had no fuckin' way to release yourself from the TOW.
At this point the angle was increasing and the right wing tip hit the ground.
So what was your tug driver doing all this time? I was under the impression that these guys could...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467
weak links
Jim Rooney - 2007/08/01 13:47:23 UTC

Whatever's going on back there, I can fix it by giving you the rope.
...fix whatever was going on back there by giving you the rope. Oh well, that probably just means when...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3600
Weak link question
Danny Brotto - 2008/11/04 12:49:44 UTC

I had the Axis on the cart with the AOA a bit high, launching to the west, with a moderate 90 degree cross from the left. I came out of the cart rolled and yawed to the right with the upwind wing flying and the downwind wing stalled. It was rather dramatic. If I had released or if the weak link had broken, the downwind wing would have further stalled and I would have cartwheeled into terra firma in an unpleasant fashion. I held on tight gaining airspeed until the downwind wing began flying, got in behind the tug, and continued the flight.

Sunny later told be he was about to give me the rope and I thanked him to no end that he didn't.
...you DON'T want them to.
My head was at about chest high, accelerating in what could be described as a low level lock-out, with no good control.
No. It can't be described as a low level lockout. Don't you think that if low level lockouts were possible in aerotowing that Ridgely, the Safety Committee, Davis Dead-On Straub, Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney would make sure you were equipped to deal with low level lockouts? You just had one of those just-froze / made-no-effort-to-release episodes.
I saw that I was going to hit the ground nearly head first and balled-up for impact.
Really? How come you didn't rotate upright, put both hands on the right downtube, and use your glider as a crush zone?
I hit hard, the weak-link broke...
Oh! NOW it breaks! AFTER you've gotten into too much trouble. Fuckin' Tad-O-Link! Lucky you weren't dragged!
...and I broke the left down tube and the glider rolled on the right leading edge transitioning to the left leading edge before coming to rest kind of backward.
If you'd used an APPROPRIATE weak link it would've provided a safe limit on the tow force - such that when you failed to maintain the correct tow position (centered, with the wheels of the tug on the horizon) it would've broken before you could've got into too much trouble.
I impacted the ground on the right side of my helmet and right shoulder simultaneously, then sliding on my left side to a stop. I had pain in my right shoulder and collar bone, lower neck, left scapula and center of my back. I elected to just take it easy for a few days and I flew again the following Friday. I had intended to fly the task, but once I was in the air, it became apparent that I would not be fit for flight after up to three hours. I landed at the airport after 30 minutes. The next day (Saturday) I flew for about 40 minutes before the competition pilots would launch. Still pretty sore. The following Tuesday (6/10/14) I serious pain in my back at work and decided to go to the hospital for some test.
Might as well. Since you were just a passenger and your Pilot In Command's responsibility he's covering all the medical and repair costs, right? And, of course, Ridgely refunded your entry and tow fees fees, right?

Or is this "Pilot In Command" bullshit all privileges and zero responsibilities?
At the hospital I had several x-rays and then a CT scan. They found that I did not have any fractures but I was complaining of the symptoms commensurate with a compressed or damaged disk.
Talk to NMERider. He knows all about that sort of thing from his experience in learning to land gliders more safely.
They prescribed muscle relaxer, opiate pain reliever and a steroid to reduce swelling.
And you've never once even heard of any of the technology that's been developed and used in Eastern Europe and right there at Ridgely - including stuff I've personally shown you - that could've arrested that situation before it got started.

And Steve Kinsley has said nothing.

And the scum running Ridgely has had no input/comment on this one whatsoever.

Used to read a fair amount of reports about fringers who'd pick up obsolete gliders at garage sales and run ropes between the gliders and the trailer hitches on the pickup trucks. Tell me how what you, Ridgely, Rooney, Davis, the Safety Committee did is ANY BETTER than that? The most important thing that's happened with hang glider towing since I first went up on a winch with a control frame bridle on 1980/11/14 is that fringing has become totally mainstream.
So far so good. I feel that this incident could have had a more serious outcome and I am glad that I was not injured any more than I was.
Like what? You think maybe getting quaded or killed? Think those are out of the range of possibilities?

You think that this one's getting the ink commensurate with the seriousness?

Steve Elliot had one very similar to this, broke his neck, and died. THIS:

http://ozreport.com/13.003
Davis Straub - 2009/01/03 21:50:24 UTC

Forbes, day one, task one

The final incident had greater consequences. Steve Elliot came off the cart crooked and things went from bad to worse as he augured in. He was helicoptered to Orange and eventually to Sydney where the prognosis is not good. I'll update as I find out more.
Davis Straub - 2009/01/04 10:23:14 UTC

Forbes, day two, task two

The prognosis for Steve Elliot (Missy) is still not good.
Davis Straub - 2009/01/05 11:09:11 UTC

Forbes, day three, task three

The news about Steve Elliot was not good. He didn't survive his accident. I want to express my condolences to his family and friends for their loss.

I read the accident report and Steve did not fly off the cart. His left wing started going down (this indicates that the wing is stalled and that the angle of the glider on the cart is too high) and Steve didn't initiate any actions to correct the problem.

The left wing went down further with the other wing rising, still no corrective action on Steve's part. His left wing contacted the ground and the glider "cartwheeled" in. The glider did not suffer any damage but Steve was fatally wounded.

This is an accident that didn't have to happen. All tow pilots need to check their angle on the cart. I have been raising the rear cradle on all the carts that I have used here. Pilots are responsible for checking their tow angle by getting on the cart and letting go of the base bar. If the base tube is in front of the trim position they need to raise the back cradle.

Pilots can also pull in when the cart starts to raise the keel above the cradle. But this is a trickier maneuver.

I will emphasize this issue (and other towing issues) at the next pilot meeting.
is pretty much the entirety of the attention/discussion he got.

Compare/Contrast with Joe Schmucker for example. Not a single syllable from...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16265
weaklinks
Kinsley Sykes - 2010/03/18 19:42:19 UTC

In the old threads there was a lot of info from a guy named Tad. Tad had a very strong opinion on weak link strength and it was a lot higher than most folks care for. I'd focus carefully on what folks who tow a lot have to say. Or Jim Rooney who is an excellent tug pilot. I tow with the "park provided" weak links. I think they are 130 pound Greenspot.
...Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney - even though it happened where he started hang gliding and tug driving and becoming the world's leading authority on everything. Where he's working right now - and as a driver for that comp.

Was he the asshole who pulled you into the crosswind, lockout, and ground?

If not, who was? And why hasn't he said a single public syllable on this one?

What a total shit heap of a sport and culture. Thanks bigtime for extending its track record.
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37685
Joe plows
Jim Rooney - 2014/06/05 15:13:16 UTC

Sorry, I'm going to be "that guy" for a second. Mainly because watching sketchy sh(t and bad decisions.. over and over.. gets a bit irritating.

The "best" prevention for pounding in is not to land behind treelines when it's blowing 15+
The "best" way to avoid being in that situation is not to try and squeak in over the treeline for a relight.
Sorry, I love Joe, but a bad decision is a bad decision.
This wan't a matter of "pulling in" to "pull it off"... this was a matter of "don't play with the dragon".

Why am I on a rant?... because the very next day!!!! An other guy did the exact same nonsense move... he fortunately/unfortunately got away with it (barely).
THE NEXT DAY!

Sadly, one of the side effects of competition flying is that it brings out the worst in decision making.
Yesterday, John pounded in while attempting a landing approach that I wouldn't try on a calm day with a beginner glider... and why?... convenience! WTF Over?
He had gigantic fields to land in with so many unobstructed paths to victory, but chose to thread the needle between a bunch of solid objects and failed... so he could be closer to the launch line?

Guys really... quit pounding into the earth, please.
I realize it's a competition.
I realize that you want to win... but please realize the extra risks you're taking on.

I'm sick and tired of calling the ambulance.
BIG mistake.

I know how that twisted accumulation of shit you maintain as a brain works, Mister Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney.

All this crap about competition pressures, rotors, landing for convenience. All of it total rot.

Very conspicuously nothing about Dan Lukaszewicz and his broken arm running the task 'cause:
- he got rated by His Royal Majesty Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt
- that one doesn't fit any convenient story lines

But ASTOUNDINGLY CONSPICUOUSLY nothing about...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22660
What can be learned from this "scooter" towing accident?
Mitch Shipley - 2011/01/31 15:22:59 UTC

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.
...John Claytor who came reasonably close to getting killed within an hour or two of Joe Schmucker going down "in a rotor".

You're screaming your lungs out about Joe Schmucker, John Dullahan, and Richard Milla - who pulled it off with a bit o' daylight to spare - in an extremely counterproductive effort to draw attention away from John Claytor.

John Claytor is...

http://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/HG_ORG_Mission_Statement
HangGliding.Org Rules and Policies
No posts or links about Bob K, Scott C Wise, Tad Eareckson and related people, or their material. ALL SUCH POSTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED. These people are poison to this sport and are permanently banned from this site in every possible way imaginable.
...total poison to the sport. ANYTHING you say about that one blows up in your face.

You can't call him a muppet 'cause:
- he's:
-- a seven year Hang Four with all the merit badges - all certified by Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt
-- a pro toad Rooney Linker with an appropriate bridle with bent pin releases which allow you to close over a heavy rope with no weak link
-- well liked
-- still alive - worst of all - and able to say you're totally full of shit if you try to pull your usual "Rookie Mistake" bullshit
- everyone and his dog knows he'd be just as fucked in those circumstances with the same Industry crap for equipment
- a tossed grenade also takes out:
-- the tug driver (quite possibly YOU)
-- the cart monkey
-- Ridgely
-- Davis
-- the Safety Committee
-- Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey
-- the Industry...

You can't call him an asshole for flying in conditions like those 'cause... Need I elaborate on this one?

The problem is that by VERY conspicuously saying NOTHING about John Claytor you have - in effect / by default - said that he was doing EVERYTHING ONE HUNDRED PERCENT RIGHT and was still almost killed. And that:
- scares the crap outta people
- undermines all the crap you - the Industry - have been feeding everyone for decades

And it's too late to try to come up with some quasi-palatable spin on the story. There's no fuckin' way you can account for the fact that you didn't address it at the time and instead spent your time screaming about flying into rotors and fuel tanks - issues which worry NO ONE.

This is a major emperor-has-no-clothes moment on par with Zack Marzec - in many ways even better. And, in combination...

What'll this change? Not a whole helluva lot. But it'll make it virtually impossible for you assholes to say anything and present yourselves as anything other than the totally incompetent frauds and snake oil salesmen you are.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/18.118
Israeli National team pilot dies in Portugal
Luis Emauz - 2014/06/18 15:25:11 UTC

During the first task of the Portuguese National Championships - Open "Serra da Gardunha 2014", an Israeli Pilot, from the National Israeli team had an accident...
A what? Maybe there's a Hebrew/English language problem.
...on final, at the landing field, hitting a tree and crashing thirty feet below. Although the medical teams assisting tried to revive him, they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead an hour later.

He was an experienced pilot, flying since 1995, and competing in the Israeli league in the last 10~12 years...
In what? Spot landing contests?
...with no major accidents on record and a very cool guy.
But, strangely, he:
- has no name
- flew into a tree on final
The meet direction and the event organizers, in agreement with all pilots, decided to cancel the event.
Outrageous! Where's Davis when you really need him?
We will celebrate him by continuing to fly...
How ya gonna do that? The meet was just cancelled.
...cherishing the memories and remembering, our departed brother fondly.
Yeah, when has there ever been a violent termination of a career in this sport when the response hasn't been to celebrate our departed brother by continuing to fly, cherishing the memories, and remembering him fondly.

Any thoughts on why this happened?
The Ledger - 2009/11/17
Jeremy Maready

Vermont Man Dies in Davenport Hang Glider Crash - Volunteer firefighter was gliding near Davenport Sunday (2009/11/15) when he hit tree, police say.

Anthony Ameo, 59, of Sheffield, Vermont was trying to land when he struck a pine tree and fell nearly 25 feet, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office and officials at Wallaby Ranch, a facility that caters to hang gliders.

Ameo was flown to Lakeland Regional Medical Center where he died during surgery.

A friend said Ameo began hang gliding about three years ago and was practicing for his intermediate rating. He had passed a written test and was practicing for his flying test, which would measure his ability to set up a proper approach and flare the glider at the appropriate time to land on his feet.

"The transition (from flaring the glider to landing) takes a lot of eye-to-hand coordination," said Eugene Pettinato, Ameo's friend and flying partner. "That was his weakest area, I think."
Any ideas on what he was prioritizing when he flew into the fuckin' tree on final? Was there an orange traffic cone in the middle of the LZ?

How 'bout celebrating his goddam memory by taking a good look into why this happened, publishing every last goddam relevant detail about the incident, and making SOME EFFORT to reduce the frequency of bullshit crashes like this?

Fuck all you guys.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37786
Joe on plowing
Brad Barkley - 2014/06/18 03:02:40 UTC

Thanks so much for posting the video, and I'm glad you weren't seriously injured.
1. He, for all intents and purposes, wasn't injured at all.
2. Any chance we could get your takes on:
- 2014/06/01 - Dan Lukaszewicz - blown foot landing - broken humerus
- 2014/06/02 - John Claytor - lockout on launch - neck disk damage
- 2014/06/03 - John Dullahan - crash into obstruction on approach - broken neck, scapula, rib
Not to armchair quarterback...
Fuck this armchair quarterback/pilot bullshit. It's just another flavor of:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks
Jim Rooney - 2013/03/05 19:42:58 UTC

My god my head hurts.

Wow...
So you know what happened then?
OMG... thank you for your expert accident analysis. You better fly down to FL and let them know. I'm sure they'll be very thankful to have such a crack expert mind on the case analyzing an accident that you know nothing about. Far better data than the people that were actually there. In short... get fucked.
If I gotta pick one sight unseen I'll take the armchair quarterback over the incompetent, ass covering, lying fuckups who were there any day of the week. Took Joe two weeks to figure out what the armchair quarterbacks with functional brains had figured out by about twelve seconds into their first viewings of the video.

Take a look at the historical record and see where you're getting the takes best and worst lined up with reality.
...but I am honestly curious about what seems to me the most obvious question, though I don't think anyone has asked it yet: Why did you land so close to the trees when you had that giant, wide-open field in front of you?
HONESTLY CURIOUS. Just not honestly curiusly enough to have read...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaScVhk3Xxw
Don't land in rotor
Joe Schmucker - 2014/06/02

I thought I could make it over the tree line.
...the first ten words of his comment on his video post - as if just looking at the fucking video wasn't making things obvious enough.

So maybe you can refer us to some of your posts in which you were being DIShonestly curious. Just kidding - I'm totally swamped with those.
Thanks. Brad
No. Thank YOU Brad! I can't begin to tell you how happy it makes me to have assholes like you and the assholes who've signed you off on stuff solidly in the enemy camp.
Joe Schmucker - 2014/06/18 03:05:24 UTC

I thought I would clear the tree line.
Here, Joe, lemme quote you your first ten words of comment on your video post:
I thought I could make it over the tree line.
So which is it? You thought you:
- could make it over the tree line?
or
- would clear the tree line?

Time to knock off the bullshit and get consistent on what was going on with your head concerning why you landed so close to the trees when you had that giant, wide-open field in front of - or, at the no-go decision point - behind you.
I waited too long to abandon the goal and land in the field.
And name somebody who's had a Two for more than three or four weekends who hasn't done something similar.
Just made a bad call is all.
One mediocre one and one bad one.
The mind is a terrible thing.
Well, at least we all know that you've got one capable of improving in function over time. Not a whole lot of those in this sport.
Davis Straub - 2014/06/18 15:24:51 UTC
Speaking of which...
He wanted to get back to the airfield so that he could be towed up again for another try.
Thanks for clarifying Joe's numerous and inconsistent statements on that issue, Davis. Your comments are, as always...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/4633
Weaklinks and aerotowing (ONLY)
Steve Kroop - 2005/02/10 04:50:59 UTC

Davis,

Your weak link comments are dead on.
...dead on. Even when you flip-flop 180 degrees whenever it's convenient - 'cause anybody who starts pointing out those inconsistencies gets banned.

Wanna take this opportunity to set everybody straight on the rotor issue? Just kidding. Send my regard to the great guys running Ridgely and the Safety Committee for all their tireless efforts towards making this a much better sport than I remember from the early Eighties.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

Ya know, Brad...

On the morning of 2008/04/10 in dead air Ridgely's then reigning XC champ, a carrier jet and airline pilot, with all the time in the world and the whole fuckin' airport to chose from flew into a taxiway sign and broke both arms (two more than Joe Schmucker did) and trashed a Combat L on its maiden non factory/dealer flight solely because he couldn't begin to conceive of doing anything other than stopping on his fucking feet as close as possible to a fucking traffic cone dead center in the middle of the fucking primary.

Absolutely ZERO questioning - save from Yours Truly - of the decision making and priorities that went into that one.

There was a HUGE payoff/incentive for Joe clearing the treeline and making it into the airport versus landing ANYWHERE in the goddam soybean field - 'specially in the middle of it which would've been a two day hike-out. What was the incentive for idiot fucking John Simon to stop on his feet as close as possible to a traffic cone?

Any comment?
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: landing

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37786
Joe on plowing
Dan Lukaszewicz - 2014/06/11 17:57:31 UTC

You weren't the only one fooled by the direction of the windmill. I also noted it and circled to check for drift before landing and was still fooled when the wing changed directions when I was low. I guess it's just the nature of variable wind days. I'm recovering from a broken arm but plan to return to the sport. My mishap was near the goal field and I had help immediately and absolutely needed it to get up, unhook, and carefully remove my harness. I wouldn't have been able to do that had I been alone.
So what would happen, Dan, if...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=30929
Doh! My worst landing ever, caught on tape.
Dan Lukaszewicz - 2014/03/18 11:47:43 UTC

At the risk of piling on... If you feel your landing approach going to hell don't hesitate to pull in some speed and bring it in on the wheels.
...whether or not you FEEL your landing approach or any other aspect of getting it stopped on the ground is the least bit questionable, you just pulled in some speed and brought it in on the wheels?

You didn't know your landing was going to hell until it was too late to take the safe option.

You think Allen had the slightest fucking clue at this point:

07-00509
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3924/14216927220_d54e91bd87_o.png
Image

that he was two seconds away from ripping his shoulder apart and wiping out just about all of his 2011 season? You think ANY of the people who've been stretchered out of enormous Happy Acres putting greens...

Image

...anticipated anything bad happening...

Image

...two seconds before it did?

Where would you be right now if for every single flight landing of your career you'd assumed your approach was going to hell - or would be the instant the wind shifted - and pulled in some speed and brought it in on the wheels?

Just like the only people who've ever launched unhooked were assuming best case scenarios. Two seconds before - you're fine. Two seconds after - you no longer have the option and you're irreversibly fucked.

Make it a point to only practice your narrow-dry-riverbed-with-large-rocks-strewn-all-over-the-place landings when you're actually landing in narrow dry riverbeds with large rocks strewn all over the place. I one hundred percent guarantee you that your trips to the emergency room will go way the fuck down and your annual airtime totals will go way the fuck up.

P.S. Thanks bigtime, Dan. Can't tell ya just how much fun it is stumbling across old posts like that one on down the road sometimes.
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