Weak link question
Jim Rooney - 2008/11/22 22:31:35 UTC
Nail on the head Brian!
The simple fact is this. The only reason anyone even gives Tad the time of day is that they want to believe him. Why? Because they don't like to be inconvenienced by a weaklink break. That's it.
Sure, everyone digs around for other reasons to believe, but at the heart of it, it's convenience.
No one is actually scared to fly with a standard weaklink. They may say they are, but deep down inside, they're not. BTW, this weaklink as a lifeline comment... any tow pilot that takes you over something you can't get out from should be shot. It is one of the cardinal rules of towing. Again, "I wana believe" rationalization.
Tad loves to speak of himself as a scientifically minded person. Yet he ignores a data pool that is at minimum three orders of magnitude higher than his. It is thus that I ignore him.
- So what's a "standard" weak link?No one is actually scared to fly with a standard weaklink.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks
Didn't the definition of a standard weak link change the nanosecond Morningside decided that they were happy with two hundred?Jim Rooney - 2013/03/04 19:31:36 UTC
The accepted standards and practices changed.
Morningside decided that they were happy with 200lb weaklink.
- Sounds to me like Lauren Eminently-Qualified-Tandem-Pilot Tjaden...
...is scared to fly with standard weak links. Sounds to me like the stupid bitch...Lauren Tjaden - 2003/12/14
This fall at Ridgely, I had a weak link break at maybe fifty feet. I thought I was going to have to land in the soybeans - the very tall soybeans - when I looked at my angle. But, my glider stalled quite dramatically almost instantly (hard not to stall when you have a break), and dove towards the ground (a bit disconcerting from so low).
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24534
It's a wrap
...is really happy to have them not function and is taking actions to reduce that probability...Lauren Tjaden - 2011/08/01 02:01:06 UTC
For whomever asked about the function of a weak link, it is to release the glider and plane from each other when the tow forces become greater than desirable -- whether that is due to a lockout or a malfunction of equipment or whatever. This can save a glider, a tow pilot, or more often, a hang glider pilot who does not get off of tow when he or she gets too far out of whack.
I rarely break weak links -- in fact, I believe the last one was some two years ago, and I have never broken one on a tandem (probably because I am light and also because I change them whenever they show any signs of wear).
...despite the fact that they're a good thing to have!They are a good thing to have, though!!
Sounds to me like she says she's not but deep down inside she really is. And Lauren, as we all agree...They may say they are, but deep down inside, they're not.
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3218
rules
Lauren Tjaden - 2008/05/04 20:12:07 UTC
Yeesh. Tad is right on one count. I DO wish I had never posted. I was just so happy about getting my tandem rating and being able to share my love of flying with the general public.
Some pilots recently wrote me and told me that Tad was trying get my ratings and Dustin's revoked because of my post. They said he was trying to stir up support on another forum for this cause (because I have not filed an incident report).
...is an exceptional pilot - on par with Dustin Martin (who was checking her out for her tandem rating at the time).Jim Rooney - 2008/05/04 22:34:14 UTC
The arrogance of this makes me sick. You've got to be kidding me.
Tad, you're on notice.
This is normal training. Just because you don't agree with it does not give you any right.
Trying to tear down two exceptional pilots in the name of your petty crusade... vile. Just vile.
We don't need it.
http://ozreport.com/17.114
Apology to Lauren Tjaden
- The purpose of the weak link increase the safety of the towing operation...Davis Straub - 2013/06/07 13:40:06 UTC
Quest Air
Paul Tjaden said he would appreciate an apology from me for calling his wife the weak link at Quest Air. I apologize.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?
...PERIOD. Right? No other function, right? And there's no downside whatsoever to using a really light one, right? Just...Jim Rooney - 2011/08/26 02:44:10 UTC
The "purpose" of a weaklink is to increase the safety of the towing operation. PERIOD.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks
...a bit of inconvenience...Davis Straub - 2013/03/06 18:29:05 UTC
You know, after all this discussion I'm now convinced that it is a very good idea to treat the weaklink as a release, that that is exactly what we do when we have a weaklink on one side of a pro tow bridle. That that is exactly what has happened to me in a number of situations and that the whole business about a weaklink only for the glider not breaking isn't really the case nor a good idea for hang gliding.
I'm happy to have a relatively weak weaklink, and have never had a serious problem with the Greenspot 130, just an inconvenience now and then.
027-03123
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053-03828
...every now and then. So the only possible reason any competent responsible individual...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec
...could have for being happy with one weak link over another is that it's a more effective safety device, right? Apparently a lot of people are happier with Tad-O-Links than they are with Rooney Links. In other words, they decided they were unhappy with 130. And when you're unhappy with a safety device that means you're afraid of it, right? You're afraid of it because it's dangerous, right?Jim Rooney - 2013/02/15 06:48:18 UTC
Davis has been at an around all this plenty long enough to understand what's what and who's who.
Like if somebody died after his parachute blew apart you'd expect many of us to decide we'd be happier with something with a higher capacity, more robust. Right?
06-05924BTW, this weaklink as a lifeline comment... any tow pilot that takes you over something you can't get out from should be shot.
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Hey, I'm all for shooting a lot of tug drivers - particularly Dragonfly jockeys - but how are we defining "can't get out from"? Alive? Uninjured? Without crashing?
This fuckin' Dragonfly douchebag towed Thomas - knowing goddam well he was using a Rooney Link that can blow at any time with the glider straight and level - over a situation he couldn't get out of without crashing. Any chance we can shoot him?
How 'bout...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec
Mark Frutiger - 2013/02/08 19:12:21 UTC
Zack hit the lift a few seconds after I did. He was high and to the right of the tug and was out of my mirror when the weak ling broke. The load on the tug was not excessive as with a lockout, but I was not surprised when the weak link broke. I was still in the thermal when I caught sight of Zack again. I did not see the entry to the tumble, but I did see two revolutions of a forward tumble before kicking the tug around to land. The thermal was still active in the area that I had just launched from so I did a go round and landed on a runway 90 degrees cross to the direction we were towing in.
...Mark Frutiger? He knew he was towing Zack on known total shit equipment into really dangerous air that Zack wasn't gonna get out of alive enough to matter.Mark Frutiger - 2013/02/09 02:31:37 UTC
The turbulance level was strong, among the strongest thermal activity I've felt leaving the field. I've encountered stronger mechanical mixing, but the vertical velocity this time was very strong.
Joel Froehlich? He tows Benn Dunn up on the same shit equipment into the same unstable air that had just killed Zack Marzec but he doesn't get a fifty dollar fine because Ben Dunn...
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Ek9_lFeSII/UZ4KuB0MUSI/AAAAAAAAGyU/eWfhGo4QeqY/s1024/GOPR5278.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xh_NfnOcUns/UZ4Lm0HvXnI/AAAAAAAAGyk/0PlgrHfc__M/s1024/GOPR5279.JPG
...manages to pull out just in time?
How 'bout the asshole who towed John Claytor into a fifteen plus / ninety cross at Ridgely on 2014/06/02? He couldn't get out of that one without getting his neck severely bent. And his career has been on hold at minimum ever since. (And not one of you Ridgely / Capitol Club motherfuckers have breathed a syllable of his name since shortly after impact.)
Danny Drag-'N-Fly Lange who towed into air he himself wouldn't fly in if he could see it Joe Julik who was killed instantly as a consequence?
How 'bout the Dragonfly asshole who towed Shannon Moon up for the last flight of her hang gliding career at Quest on 2010/05/09? Because Quest had done its usual shit job of qualifying her to land she couldn't get out of that field without a chopper...
...without two broken and permanently damaged arms.
The anonymous Forbes Dragonfly jockey who just three quarters killed new student Steven Tinoson and isn't talking to ANYBODY about it?
But all these people had Industry Standard "releases" and Rooney Link instant hands free releases for situations which required them to release. And that's where the tug pilot's concern for the safety of his passenger begins and ends.
P.S. Care to talk about shooting tandem thrill ride pilots who don't hook themselves in and dangle from basetubes while diving their passengers into powerlines?