http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1802
Jean Lake
Bill Cummings - 2015/05/01 01:17:01 UTC
This is pretty much what I expected would happen with USHPA sending someone up to analyze the crash site at Jean Lake.
A thread that works it's way to the bottom of the page from lack of information to post and bump it to the top of the page except for my artificial bump post here.
That sentence doesn't make sense. That sentence isn't actually a sentence.
In the mean time the sport will continue to tow pilots up without the benefit of an in depth accident report that could point out new errors of our ways of doing things or the disregard of following lessons already learned in the past.
Bull fucking shit. You name me a solid Doug Hildreth era - near a decade and a half - fatality report that ever did a goddam thing to fix a systemic problem.
Plea after plea after plea for lift and tug hook-in check after fatality after fatality after fatality. Name me one instructor who's taught one student to do one hook-in check - EVER. Name me one flyer who ever did one hook-in check in response to any of those pleas.
Doug Hildreth - 1991/06
Pilot with some tow experience was towing on a new glider which was a little small for him. Good launch, but at about fifty feet the glider nosed up, stalled, and the pilot released by letting go of the basetube with right hand. Glider did a wingover to the left and crashed into a field next to the tow road. Amazingly, there were minimal injuries.
Comment: This scenario has been reported numerous times. Obviously, the primary problem is the lack of pilot skill and experience in avoiding low-level, post-launch, nose-high stalls. The emphasis by countless reporters that the pilot lets go of the glider with his right hand to activate the release seems to indicate that we need a better hands-on way to release.
I know, I know, "If they would just do it right. Our current system is really okay." I'm just telling you what's going on in the real world. They are not doing it right and it's up to us to fix the problem. Think about it.
There's your Kelly/Arys. You didn't do shit about it then, you didn't do shit about it in response to Bob Buxton, you wouldn't do shit about if we shot Mitch and Tim and posted this video. You still have your magic fishing line. Got a problem on tow? Radio your driver and tell him to floor it. Instant hands free release.
Doug Hildreth - 1990/09
1990/07/05 - Eric Aasletten - 24 - Intermediate - 2-3 years - UP Axis - Hobbs, New Mexico - Platform tow - 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 tow line from the pilot, who completed a hammerhead stall and dove into the ground. Observer felt that a dust devil, invisible on the runway, contributed to 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.
The reporter was certain he saw a dust devil begin on the edge of the runway in a location that would support an invisible dust devil on the runway crossing the path of the truck and glider.
Recommendation of the reporter: If towing is done in gusty, turbulent or thermal conditions, a row of wind flags should be on each side of the runway at 50-75 foot intervals to warn of invisible turbulence. 1) Pilots should attach their release line in such a way that there will not be an auto release. 2) Weak links should be strong enough so that breaks right after launch will not occur.
That was the last time coming off tow - as a consequence of a Birrenator, Infallible Weak Link, or bad pin man making a good decision in the interest of anyone's safety - was ever a factor in a crash. Subsequent to that one Birrenators got deliberately introduced into the equation, Infallible Weak Links got so Infallible that people needed to double them up to get off the ground, and the worst pin man in the history of aviation was deified as the Patron Saint of Towing.
It took Zack Marzec killing his stupid pro toad ass with the focal point of his safe towing system to end a couple decades of Standard Aerotow Weak Link HELL. And that wasn't because the equivalent of a dangerously frayed towline was the least bit dangerous. It was because the Davis crowd pigfuckers became happy with something slightly stronger.
All in the realm of Insurance Company Risk Mitigation.
Things used to be different.
Yeah. We had hundreds of solid, honest, detailed, quality crash and fatality reports with solid recommendations...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25321
Stop the Stupids at the USHPA BOD meeting
Mark G. Forbes - 2011/09/29 02:26:23 UTC
We can establish rules which we think will improve pilot safety, but our attorney is right. USHPA is not in the business of keeping pilots "safe" and it can't be. Stepping into that morass is a recipe for extinction of our association. I wish it were not so, but it is. We don't sell equipment, we don't offer instruction, and we don't assure pilots that they'll be safe. Even so, we get sued periodically by people who say we "shoulda, coulda, woulda" done something that would have averted their accident.
It's not just concern for meet directors and policy makers...it's about our continued existence as an association. It's about minimizing the chance of our getting sued out of existence. We're one lawsuit away from that, all the time, and we think hard about it.
...and we were never one lawsuit away from getting sued out of existence.
Be aware that you have to be safe on your own since putting anything in print would hurt an insurance companies bottom line. Pilot safety doesn’t seem to be the top priority any more.
It never was - as far as USHGA was concerned anyway. The top priority was always absolving the instructor, operation, school, instructional system of any responsibility.
But thank god for insurance right?
Dose it look to you that insurance might be putting us at risk or is it just me?
Vic Powell, who was the founder of the Capitol Hang Glider Association and the Kitty Hawk Hang Gliding Spectacular and an early USHGA President, came out damn near alone violently against the USHGA Waiver, as a deep pockets issue, when it was being pushed through. I was club secretary at the time and Skip Brown - the club's volunteer (financially disinterested) attorney advised us to support the waiver and that the deep pockets issue was not an issue.
So we, Yours Truly prominently included, went along with USHGA. Beginning of the end. Also the end of Vic's participation in the sport. Sorry Vic. You and a few confederates were right and all the rest of us were dead wrong. You actually didn't have any fuckin' clue just how right you were.
Bob Kuczewski - 2015/05/01 01:43:39 UTC
Not just you!
One of the reasons listed for my expulsion was testifying in a case that cost our insurance carrier money. Rather than fix the problems causing the accident...
...by making it mandatory to wear a helmet at all times while hooked into a glider...
...and rewarding those who've been calling for oversight, USHPA did the exact opposite.
What did they do? Declare you to be an unrepentant child molester and threat to people of varying ages to justify expelling you?
The tail is wagging the dog.
Welcome to the club, Bob.
Scott C. Wise - 2015/05/01 03:51:36 UTC
Same here, Bill. It's not just you.
I've found legal info that places the u$hPa's insurance company in a position of liability.
Sounds funny doesn't it. They provide (third party) liability insurance and, in the way they do it, place themselves in a bad legal position. I won't go into details YET.
But I may speculate a bit -
What's happening is the u$hPa is in an incestuous relationship with their insurance company. Result = Problems with Inbreeding. Inbreeding in this case takes the form of premium fixation over member pilot safety concerns. And this leads to the "Association" violating its own Mission Statement - among a number of things.
Really touching to see your deep concern...
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/faq.php
Frequently Asked Questions
What will keep the US Hawks from becoming another USHPA or HGAA?
You will ... hopefully. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Everyone has to do their part once in a while. If you see something that's not being done correctly, then it's your duty to speak out. One big difference between the US Hawks and other organizations is that the US Hawks really does honor the free speech of its members.
...over mission statements, Scott.
And let's not forget about the "Association's" legal counsel. He's responsible for vetting accident info and then NOT releasing certain (safety related) information to the membership.
Instead of using the Bob Show's...
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1081
Platform towing /risk mitigation / accident
Sam Kellner - 2012/07/03 02:25:58 UTC
No, you don't get an accident report.
...sterling protocols.
Sounds like a serious Downward Spiral, if you ask me. Unfortunately, the u$hPa has lost sight of the ground and thinks they are climbing in a pleasant thermal.
Versus The Bob Show - which entered into the spiral pattern five hundred feet below u$hPa.
FINALLY lit. And it was staring me in the face back at:
