The Bob Show

General discussion about the sport of hang gliding
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Tad Eareckson »

Got a bit buried (a very rare treat on Kite Strings) submitting my last post and failed to really address:
Rather than relying on the pilot understanding how the control system works...
Anybody who doesn't understand how the control system of his plane works is NOT a PILOT. Granted, that eliminates at least 99.9 percent of the people flying hang gliders but so be it.

We both flew the Comet (1) 165. Remember all that "floating crossbar", extended keel pocket, slack sidewires bullshit? Freakin' manufacturers didn't have a clue how hang gliders are controlled - thought they could get something for nothing.

Donnell Hewett and his autocorrecting / lockout proof center of mass bridle. He got that literally and precisely BACKWARDS.

Look at this guy:

27-41810
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5579/14820212815_4a9087727f_o.png
Image
Image
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3842/14633550919_57af1df255_o.png
32-42004

And he's checked off for solo aerotow? And nobody commenting on and discussing the video seems to have any significant problem with that? That's almost certainly what John Seward was doing to effect roll control on 2010/06/26 when he slammed back into Packsaddle. The only reason this guy's still alive is 'cause there was no nearby mountain to interfere with his recovery.

First day students shouldn't be allowed within fifty yards of trainers until they understand what makes them speed up, slow down, and roll left and right. But they are and within a:
- week they're sharing their opinions on The Jack Show
- month they're Lockout Mountain Flight Park Instructors
- year they're tug drivers declaring themselves Pilots In Command of our gliders
- couple years they're on the USHGA Board of Directors and stacking the Safety and Training and Towing Committees.

And I sure as hell wouldn't want anybody flying with anything I designed if he didn't understand what it was for, how it worked, how and when to use it at least just as well as I did.
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<BS>
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by <BS> »

And I sure as hell wouldn't want anybody flying with anything I designed if he didn't understand what it was for, how it worked, how and when to use it at least just as well as I did.
Yep and here we are. In the case of the spreader bar, some manufacturers may not understand it completely. When it's all said and done, Bob's gliders (at least the 510 C) have the spreader bar in the correct position and whoever's hooked in will benefit whether they understand it or not.
Steve Davy
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Steve Davy »

Think I'll remove the spreader from my Sport 2, install it on my Falcon, and see if the roll rate improves.
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<BS>
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by <BS> »

Do Falcons have king post suspension?
Steve Davy
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Steve Davy »

King post? Is that the thing sticking up on the top of my glider?

P.S. I just thought of a nickname for Tad.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Tad Eareckson »

In the case of the spreader bar, some manufacturers may not understand it completely.
This is one you either get or you don't. Like this:
Tost Flugzeuggerätebau

Weak links protect your aircraft against overloading.
one. Pass/Fail. No partial credit. Amend it with an "...and..." anything else then you flunk.
When it's all said and done, Bob's gliders (at least the 510 C) have the spreader bar in the correct position and whoever's hooked in will benefit whether they understand it or not.
Great. It's a much better design - whether or not the user understands the purpose. It's idiot proof when the target idiot is one of the total vegetables Mike's talking about and more idiot resistant when the idiot is someone like me who's not too reliable when it comes to clearing the spreader before folding the folded control frame back. (And the fact that Wills Wing replaced the plastic ended job with a solid cast aluminum one is pretty good evidence that idiots in my category are a dime a dozen).

But my issue is that when you've got somebody too fuckin' stupid to be able to read the fuckin' manual and follow the fuckin' well illustrated instructions you've got a WAY bigger problem than the havoc that could be created by a neutralized spreader. You've got someone flying a Hang Three rated glider who's in serious need...
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. - 2014/03/14
Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
06. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks

01. Set up and preflight of glider and harness, to include familiarity with owner's manual(s).
...of being busted down to a Hang Zero proficiency rating. Setup and preflight of glider and harness, to include familiarity with owner's manual(s). First goddam item on the list of things you need to do become/be a PILOT. Can't do that much what the hell other gaps can we expect to find?

Here's the second:
02. Demonstrate proper ground handling of equipment.

-a. With each flight, demonstrate method(s) of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
I think we can pretty safely bet the farm that that's gonna be one of them.

Hang gliders may be the simplest aircraft ever developed to get us monkeys off the ground BUT...
- we're integral parts of the glider and as soon as a hand comes off the basetube we're no longer certified airworthy
- our control authority and pitch stability sucks
- on tow we're very dangerously roll unstable
- we ain't got no engines to:
-- help us climb out of and/or fly away from sticky situations
-- give us extra shots at landing

And thus I'd argue that people who fly hang gliders need to be BETTER pilots than the ones who fly most conventional stuff. MORE ground school, theory, science, math; MORE demanding flight tasks; and total elimination of stupid useless dangerous stunt crap like whipstall and spot landings and whipstall spot landings.

But instead hang gliding is geared and optimized for and sold to the kinds of dregs who wouldn't be able to make the grade school cut with guns to their heads.

Just like in towing we need more sophisticated release systems but we get total crap compared to what sailplanes and our own tugs have.
Think I'll remove the spreader from my sport2, install it on my Falcon, and see if the roll rate improves.
You might also wanna slap on a pro toad bridle with a single loop of 130 pound Greenspot on one end when you go free flying. With all the increase in the safety of towing operations we've seen it yield over the decades it's a no brainer that it will work a few minor miracles in the slope launch environment.
I just thought of a nickname for Tad.
Yeah, this is Number 4850 for me.

A few days back it occurred to me that I'm probably the most prolific writer in the history of the sport. Granted, the bulk of it's redundant as hell but:
- so are all the stupid lethal problems in the sport and the pieces of shit perpetrating and perpetuating them; and
- none of it's crap - which is all you're gonna get from Dennis, Davis, Jack, Bob, Peter types
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by <BS> »

The King Post Show?
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Tad Eareckson »

Much more than I'd like but... Not really.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27494
The exciting bits
Steve Davy - 2012/04/27 01:55:17 UTC

Why did you delete my post?
Davis Straub - 2012/04/27 02:42:02 UTC

Tad's name.
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.
I have a pretty tight "No Assholes" policy here but their material is totally welcome and total grist for the mill. By contrast...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?
Kinsley Sykes - 2011/08/31 11:35:36 UTC

Well actually he didn't. But if you don't want to listen to the folks that actually know what they are talking about, go ahead.

Feel free to go the the tow park that Tad runs...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec
Kinsley Sykes - 2013/02/11 17:46:12 UTC

Because this has been beaten to death - google Tad Eareckson and try to read the mind-numbing BS. Most of the folks who have been towing for decades have worked this stuff out.

The reason for the vehemence of the response is they pile on to any AT accident, with no knowledge of the cause, and trot out the, if only he had a strong weaklink, nothing would have happened.

It's fine to want to work on better solutions to make us all safer by improving technology, it's ugly and inhuman to use the death of a really nice guy to advance your point... in case it wasn't obvious I agree with Bart and Jim, and no it's not a lack of english comprehension - he said there would have been a different outcome with a stronger weaklink.
http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=3840
[TIL] About Tad Eareckson
Doug Martens - 2013/03/11 23:12:47 UTC

In a way I feel left out for not being mentioned anywhere on Tad's forum. I am also very glad to not have been injured to where I would be mentioned there.
You won't find quotes from T** at K*** S****** - or from anyone else at K*** S****** - appearing in any mainstream forums being torn to shreds. And you most assuredly would if it were doable.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Tad Eareckson »

Sumpin' else that kinda crystallized for me after my last post...

http://www.wallaby.com/aerotow_primer.php
Aerotow Primer for Experienced Pilots
The Wallaby Ranch Aerotowing Primer for Experienced Pilots - 2014/08/18

Welcome to Wallaby Ranch, the first and largest Aerotow Hang Gliding Flight Park in the World! We're the aerotowing (or "AT") professionals; no-one knows AT like we do; it's all we do, and we do it everyday, year-round.
So for the past sixteen and a half years - which is the length of time they've been publishing this crap, no other AT operations have been able to properly decipher the mysteries involved in tying a glider to an ultralight with a loop of magic fishing line and dragging it a couple thousand feet into the sky.

- Option 1 - Wallaby's sitting on expertise that would've prevented the deaths of Jamie Alexander, Frank Spears, Mike Haas, Arlan Birkett, Jeremiah Thompson, Roy Messing, Steve Elliot, Keavy Nenninger, Lois Preston, Zack Marzec, Luis Rizo, Mark Knight. But if that were the case that would be a really great reason to NOT train with Wallaby.

- Option 2 - Wallaby's sitting on some trivial bullshit like the most efficient way to stow a two-point bridle after release. And that's not really an option 'cause they'd hafta be teaching it for it to be a reason to opt for Wallaby and then shortly thereafter EVERYBODY would know AT like they do.

- Option 3 - They're lying. And that's the only option that makes the slightest bit of sense.

But I digress a bit.

Main point is that while ALL of these operations are telling you they're the best of the best ZERO of them are saying ANYTHING about how crappy Brand X is. And, trust me, ALL of these operations have closets so bulging with skeletons that it's totally pointless to make a pretense of trying to conceal them. So there's no shortage whatsoever of ammunition. But, of course, it's a Mutually Assured Destruction situation. "OK, ya wanna start talkin' 'bout some of MY skeletons? Fine. Now let's start talkin' 'bout some of YOUR skeletons." Bad for business all around - 'specially when you consider that Wallaby probably gets more business from Maryland than it would if Highland Aerosports were crippled or ceased to exist.

So there's this unwritten code. Nobody can advance equipment and procedures 'cause doing so would be an admission of prior incompetence which has absolutely definitely crashed lotsa people at all substantial operations, occasionally fatally. And 'cause of the Mutually Assured Destruction thing there's zilch incentive to do things right anyway.

So moving on to:

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.
If you actually give a rat's ass about the sport and you actually know or believe that someone's poison to it the LAST thing you wanna do is order and enforce a news blackout on them. (Notice any governments - sane or otherwise - ordering anyone to not discuss ISIS?) You want as many posts about them as possible - particularly ones from supporters - so you can very publicly and definitively cut them to SHREDS.

This is EXACTLY what Team Kite Strings did to Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and his friends and groupies right after one of his buddies got fatally inconvenienced by his magic Industry Standard fishing line. He was the single most toxic motherfucker this sport has ever seen and we reduced him to one notch above road kill - a major embarrassment even to his fellow motherfuckers.

The language of the sport has been permanently altered. It went from:

http://ozreport.com/12.081
Weaklinks - the HGFA rules
Davis Straub - 2008/04/22 14:47:00 UTC
Pilots must use weaklinks provided by the meet organizers and in a manner approved by the meet organizers. All weaklinks will be checked and use of inappropriate weaklinks will require the pilot to go to the end of the launch line to change the weaklink.

Weaklinks will consist of a single loop of Cortland 130 lb. Greenspot braided Dacron Tolling line and should be placed at one end of a shoulder bridle.
to:

http://ozreport.com/rules.php
2014 Big Spring Nationals Rules
2014 Big Spring Nationals at Big Spring, Texas

2.0 EQUIPMENT

Weaklinks

Pilots must use weaklinks provided by the meet organizers and in a manner approved by the meet organizers. All weaklinks will be checked and use of inappropriate weaklinks will require the pilot to go to the end of the launch line to change the weaklink.

Weaklinks should be placed at one end of a shoulder bridle. The tow forces on the weaklink will be roughly divided in half by this placement. Pilots will be shown how to tie the weaklink so that it more likely breaks at its rating breaking strength.
We probably did NOTHING to get the single loop of Cortland 130 lb. Greenspot braided Dacron Tolling line out of circulation. In fact I'm almost certain that the fatality and subsequent epic battle resulted in Morningside deciding they weren't all that happy with their new accepted standard two hundred pound weak link after all and close ranks...

05-0704
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7367/14111450924_7a92327e68_o.png
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...with their fellow cartel members. But I predict that you will NEVER again hear crap like:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec
Kinsley Sykes - 2013/02/11 17:46:12 UTC

Because this has been beaten to death - google Tad Eareckson and try to read the mind-numbing BS. Most of the folks who have been towing for decades have worked this stuff out.

The reason for the vehemence of the response is they pile on to any AT accident, with no knowledge of the cause, and trot out the, if only he had a strong weaklink, nothing would have happened.
from ANYBODY.

This is a dog that people are really hoping is sleeping and they don't wanna do ANYTHING that might disturb him and get his attention.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: The Bob Show

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1582
Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders
Scott C. Wise - 2014/10/01 19:11:59 UTC

I guess it is okay to analyze reported accidents here in your blog.
Don't ask Rick. He has no more control over anything there than any other serf. Ask your Dictator for life.
In searching around a bit I also found details about Joe Julik having just bought the new "topless" glider the afternoon/evening before. As a pilot with 20 years experience you'd think he'd be cautious and keep his speed up.
Bullshit. I'd think that his primary foci would be stopping it on his feet and perfecting his flare timing.
But my best guess, last night, given the "odd" descriptions of what happened was that at ~ 100 ft AGL...
MSL.
...he rotated up...
Why? Why did he need to do that?
- perhaps by grabbing one down tube first -
As opposed to totally letting go of the bar with both hands and grabbing the downtubes.
...that caused the glider to pitch up, stall...
Since when did a stall become an issue on The Bob Show?
...but also drop off (side slip) to one side. The glider is said to have violently flipped over after going into the dive, as if it tucked before(?) hitting ground.
BULL FUCKING...

http://www.startribune.com/local/277600661.html
Hang-gliding accident in southern Wisconsin kills Minnesota man | Star Tribune
Authorities say 57-year-old of Joseph Julik of Taylors Falls, Minnesota, was hang gliding at an airport north of Whitewater on Monday when his glider caught a wind shear, which caused it to pitch to one side and nosedive about 100 feet.

Jefferson County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jeff Parker says the wingtip of Julik's glider struck another glider that was tethered to the ground, causing the aircraft to flip over.
...SHIT
This is some radical...
Fictional.
...behavior! Mainly it is hard for me to imagine a 20 year veteran hang glider pilot allowing so many things to go wrong. But then, that's the process that makes accidents bad - one mistake after the other, each magnifying the last.
1. How does this qualify as an accident?

2. Bullshit.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27086
Steve Pearson on landings
Steve Pearson - 2012/03/28 23:26:05 UTC

I can't control the glider in strong air with my hands at shoulder or ear height and I'd rather land on my belly with my hands on the basetube than get turned downwind.
Name some people who can control the glider in strong air with their hands at shoulder or ear height. Not flying the glider at a critical stage of the flight is the only mistake ANYONE needs to make.
There are times when it has been medically proven (later) that odd landing situations (crashes) similar to this were initially triggered by the pilot actually having a medical emergency (heart attack, let's say) while flying.
Yeah, right.
But in this case there is also the "new glider" complication.
Why should it matter? As long as you're stalling there's no possible way to get hurt - regardless of the wing you're flying.
Being his first flight on the glider Joe was doing a high altitude flight. He would VERY likely have been better off doing a few training hill runs. Better to find that the glider's CG is off to some degree (if it is) while your gliding at 10 feet than when you're at 100 ft.
Bullshit. He almost certainly towed up to a couple grand. Don't you think he'd have noticed if there were something significantly wrong with the glider before he got back down to a hundred?
There's also some mention about weather conditions being "pre-frontal" in that area on Monday.
Landing, hands off the control bar, prefrontal conditions... What could possibly go wrong?
I'd also mention that while the pilot was from Minnesota, the accident occurred in Whitewater Wisconsin. The newpaper article I found is also confusing in that they mention Cold Spring (Wisconsin). If anyone is interested in looking over the location in Google Earth the co-ords = Lat 42 degrees 51' 12", Long 88 degrees 45' 36" .

Looks like very flat land. Could be thermal turbulence could be caused by local farm fields, or, . . . (?) Looks like nothing significant to cause lee side rotor.
Or maybe an invisible dust devel.
Rick Masters - 2014/10/01 23:27:03 UTC
Scott C. Wise - 2014/10/01 19:11:59 UTC

I guess it is okay to analyze reported accidents here in your blog.
Of course. The best we can do is nail it. The worst is to discuss other actions that could lead to the same result. If it's a HG accident, it's probably the pilot's fault.*
Then it's not an accident.
If it's a PG accident, it's probably the paraglider that killed the poor guy.
That's not an accident either.
There's no whining here because the politically correct babies aren't allowed in.
That in your FAQs, Bob? Or do you just let the politically correct babies in and find some excuse for sabotaging, restricting, banning them when they start exercising free speech that doesn't meet with your approval?
They have to go to the other forums. You won't hear "Let's all wait for the investigation" here. You won't hear "He died doing what he loved" here. You won't hear "Out of respect for the family" here.
That's politically correct speech? Thanks for clueing me in.
Real pilots who are still alive need to review their potential for error immediately to avoid the fate of the poor guy in question.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25656
The young girl who died hang gliding solo
Jim Rooney - 2012/03/06 18:34:14 UTC

ND's onto it.

No one ever wants to wait for the accident investigation... they want to know "NOW DAMNIT!" and there's always a lot of self-serving arguments surrounding it.

And it's always the same.
The same damn arguments get drug up every time. And they're all just as pointless every time.

We have a system in place.
It works.
Let it work.

Our procedures are well established at this point in time and there are no gaping hidden holes that need to be addressed immediately.

RR asked what the status was.
ND's provided the answer (thank you).

Please take a deep breath. And wait.
Accident investigations involving fatalities take a long time. And by long, I mean they can take years.
(yes, years, I'm not kidding)

The sky is not falling.
That's what's important. Humans on soaring parachutes need to wake up and find an airframe before they are killed at random. If our speculations are proved right or wrong, so what?
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec
Jim Rooney - 2013/02/09 18:30:26 UTC

Because it's one of those crusty old debates that HGs love to go round and round with.
It's like uttering the word "wheels"... the conversation instantly turns into the great wheel debate.

Sorry for the interruption.
Please continue with the speculation.
I'll be over here, doing something productive.
Jim Rooney - 2013/02/12 18:00:27 UTC

Your second statement is why.
I just buried my friend and you want me to have a nice little discussion about pure speculation about his accident so that some dude that's got a pet project wants to push his theories?

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.

AT isn't new. This stuff's been worked on and worked over for years and thousands upon thousands of tows. I love all these egomaniacs that jump up and decide that they're going to "fix" things, as if no one else has ever thought of this stuff?

But back to the root of my anger... speculation.
Much like confirmation bias, he's come here to shoehorn his pet little project into a discussion. Please take your snake oil and go elsewhere.

Tune him up?
Yeah, sorry... no.
Jim Rooney - 2013/02/28 01:17:55 UTC

Well said Billo
I'm a bit sick of all the armchair experts telling me how my friend died.

Ah but hg'ers get so uppity when you tell them not to speculate.
Jim Rooney - 2013/03/07 18:24:58 UTC

You're the one advocating change here, not me.
I'm fine.

These are only questions if you're advocating change. Which I'm not. You are.

You're the one speculating on Zack's death... not me.
Hell, you've even already come to your conclusions... you've made up your mind and you "know" what happened and what to do about.
It's disgusting and you need to stop.
You weren't there. You don't know.
All you have is the tug pilot report, who himself says he doesn't know... and HE WAS THERE... and he doesn't know.

Ever heard of "Confirmation Bias"?
Because you're a textbook example.
You were out looking for data to support your preconceived conclusion, rather than looking at the data and seeing what it tells you... which is why this is the first time we've heard from you and your gang.

Go back to Tad's hole in the ground.
While you're there, ask him why he was banned from every east coast flying site.
At least we were thinking about consequences and examining realities or potential realities instead of shoving it under the rug or falsely blaming a helpless, falling human, as those soaring parachutists are so wont to do.
You won't be speculating on anything when Bob gets Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney over there.
*A lot of you guys love towing. I hate it.
That's OK, Rick. Tons of other stupid California dickheads who've never towed do too.
It kills a disproportionate number of good pilots.
Name one - motherfucker. Never once in the history of modern hang glider towing has a good pilot been seriously fucked up because he was towing. Shit equipment, procedures, operators, policies, conditions. Shit conditions don't care much whether your towing up or coming off a slope. The rest of the issues are fixable but pieces of shit like your buddy Bob do everything they possibly can to make sure it won't happen.

And I notice you sitting on your useless ass doing and saying NOTHING while Bob and Bill are insanely babbling about how harmless Rooney Links and the stalls they produce are.
And it's often used when it's not necessary.
1. Tell me when flying hang gliders is NECESSARY.

2. Assuming flying hang gliders is NECESSARY what are all the people who live in states that don't have shit in the way of soarable mountains supposed to do?

Arrogant fucking asshole.

Birrenators, Rooney Links, Dragonfly tow mast breakaways and their protectors, tug drivers who can fix whatever's going on back there by giving us the rope, releases within easy reach do exactly the same thing to people who wanna fly hang gliders in the vast stretches of the planet in which towing is NECESSARY what collapsing paragliders do. And if you actually gave a rat's ass about the safety of recreational soaring pilots you'd help us with the fixes instead of telling us how much you hate something that you're too stupid to understand or appreciate.
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