http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=23199
Santa Cruz Flats Race Day 1 & 2 - Video
NMERider - 2011/09/21 00:37:09 UTC
The wind switches 180 degrees and back here. There's little that can be done. I did two launches today and they were both very good. BTW - I do have wheels. It's called a launch cart and the trick is not to leave the runway until airspeed is high enough to safely glide to a landing. It's not difficult to keep the nose down and glider on the cart until hitting 35 mph airspeed.
He's perfectly OK on the decision to launch. It's freakin' amazing how much cross and tail wind gets taken out of the equation by a Dragonfly and launch dolly.
And, like he says, there's no law that says you need to come off the cart until/unless you have airspeed to burn - although it appears that he's using a brake lever on the starboard downtube which is a pretty good way to get yourself killed in the best of circumstances.
Lack of sleep; lack of ground streamers; turbulence; and fatigue from difficult (for me) flying.
Lack of streamers...
1990/07/05 - Eric Aasletten - Hobbs, New Mexico
Jerry Forburger - 1990/10
Dust devils plowed through the launch area and were almost invisible because the terrain around the airpark is mostly dry grass. There was not a lot of dust on the ground to help mark the devils.
Doug Hildreth - 1990/09
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 (Dave Broyles) 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.
http://ozreport.com/4.010
Oz Nats - bad day in the tow paddock
Davis Straub - 2000/01/12
Mike Nooy takes off to our left, and he launches right into a dust devil. Like I said, they've been coming in every ten minutes or so, and you can't see them as the paddock is pretty green.
On static tow, if you are not pulling in quite strongly, your nose can go straight up. We've been watching this happen to all sorts of pilots around us especially in this high wind. Problem is your weaklink can snap and then you are stalled big time. Not a pleasant situation when you are low.
The best idea is to keep running, keep the nose down, and then power through the first hundred feet or so of altitude, before letting the nose out a bit. You want to tell your driver what the wind speed is before you start your tow, so they can know not to accelerate too quickly. They might have to stop or drastically slow down immediately after you get off the ground to keep the weaklink from breaking.
Mike takes off and of course his nose is high, which has been quite common today. He's yawing to the right and left very quickly back and forth as the dust devil is right under him. His glider then yaws very fast and hard to the left and immediately dives very hard into the ground from twenty or thirty feet. It is obvious as soon as the glider whips to the left that he is in very bad trouble.
I can't remember what hits first, Mike or his left wing, but it is a crushing impact. He is obviously not moving. Almost immediately Dr. James Freeman, a meet organizer and a physician, races to the lane, and gets Mike stabilized. An ambulance has also been called within less than a minute. Towing stops.
The ambulance takes about ten minutes or so to get out to the paddock from the town a ways away. James administers some shots, we log roll Mike onto the back plate, and then lift him onto the gurney and into the ambulance. He's on his way to the local hospital with James with him. He's unconscious, and has suffered extensive head injuries. His full-face helmet is broken on the right side where the jaw protector meets the head protection element. His legs are shaking.
http://ozreport.com/7.004
Death in the tow paddock
Davis Straub - 2003/01/05
Deniliquin, New South Wales
Hikobe Junko was killed today in the tow paddock after locking out during a car tow. She was on the left most car towing lane, about four lanes to the right of our aero towing lane. After locking out, she headed out of control toward our lane and almost hit Elsa Gleason who was helping Terry Presley to get ready to tow. She also almost hit Terry coming in 12 feet over him downwind.
She smashed into the ground next to our lane and could not be revived.
Car towing is relatively susceptible to lock out, but pilots who are carefully trained in the procedures know to pull the release and not try to save the tow. Save their life instead. It appears as though Hikobe did not pull her release when she got into trouble.
This kind of accident is quite rare, although getting off kilter on a car tow is not. Hitting a dust devil low has happened and I've witnessed the carnage that that can create. Pilots need to put small flags down the tow strip to check the wind.
2004/06/26 - Mike Haas - Hang Glide Chicago - Cushing Field - Sheridan, Illinois
Joe Gregor - 2004/09
The weak link broke after the glider entered a lockout attitude. Once free, the glider was reportedly too low (50-65' AGL, estimated) to recover from the unusual attitude and impacted the ground in a steep dive.
http://ozreport.com/9.179
Fatality Report
Angelo Mantas - 2005/08/30
Despite help reaching him almost instantly, attempts to revive him proved futile. Mike suffered a broken spinal cord and was probably killed instantly.
Soon after launching, the glider and tug flew through a strong thermal. This is confirmed by witnesses watching the tug, and the tug pilot's reporting a strong spike in climb rate.
Already struggling (as witnesses state), when Mike hit the thermal, a difficult situation became impossible. Mike lost control, and either locked out or stalled, leading to his dive into the ground.
How can we prevent this from happening in the future?
Wind streamers along runway. It's agreed that Mike hit a strong thermal shortly after launching. Placing streamers on both sides of the runway, at regular intervals, would help detect if a thermal is coming through the takeoff area. If all the streamers are pointing the same way, it's safe to launch. If some of the streamers start moving other directions or reversing, it's obvious some kind of turbulence is coming through. This is not a new idea, it's not expensive (wood stakes and surveyor's tape) yet I've never seen anyone do this. Maybe it's time we start.
Mike was a Hang IV pilot with over twenty years experience. He was not a "hot dog" and was very safety conscious. No one who knew Mike could believe that this happened to him. Although I feel I have a better understanding now of what happened, I can't help feeling that if this could happen to him, none of us are safe.
Yeah, maybe we should should have streamers on both sides of the runway at regular intervals. But maybe we should just keep talking after all the really good crashes about how we really should have streamers on both sides of the runway. Let's save the streamers for mountain launches - more money left over for beer and pizza that way.
On the weak break, many pilots would have piled in. The skid was the correct way to handle it. My relaxed, pre-comp landings have been fine. I haven't had to time to explain how my left knee went out during flight on day 1, and I could not stand when I came into land so it buckled.
BTW - I do have wheels. It's called a launch cart and the trick is not to leave the runway until airspeed is high enough to safely glide to a landing. It's not difficult to keep the nose down and glider on the cart until hitting 35 mph airspeed. I dislike having anything in my field of view when I'm flying other than my instrument pod. That goes for bar mitts as well as wheels. I just don't want them.
Except, of course he DIDN'T have wheels when he needed them. 'Cause he wasn't competent enough to get and STAY off the ground - even with the advantage of the cart and all that excess airspeed. And a roll is one helluva lot more correct a way to handle things than a skid - especially when you have a left knee that buckles.
But light a light weak link is about the only thing Rooney and Davis are concerned about enough to make mandatory to stack the deck in the "favour" of the pilot's safety equation. Insisting on wheels would be an intolerable infringement on the pilots' rights. And perish the thought that we should think about doing anything like that.
P.S. When I become Supreme Dictator of Planet Earth I won't force all aerotow pilots to use wheels - but they WILL all be using one and a half G weak links so I can at least eliminate all the downtube, arm, and neck breaks from the beginning of the flight.
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2011/09/28
Oops. Jonathan isn't using a brake lever on the starboard downtube. I mistook some VG pulling just after release for some swiping at a lever just before release. He's undoubtedly using a Bailey Release at his right shoulder - also a pretty good way to get yourself killed in the best of circumstances.
