4144 Review - Sonoma Wings

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/18 07:59

Sorry for ignoring your last post, Steve.

Why? You've ignored damn near everything in my 4144 document and totally and deliberately misrepresented the tiny fragment you've bothered to skim.

Death in family has occupied my time of late.

- Sorry.

- And since you last weighed in there've been two deaths of highly experienced glider guys at organized events - the last one a week ago one of my localishes and a correspondent of mine.

I mis-wrote my earlier post...

Ditto for pretty much all of them.

...re: secondary back-up. Was referring to the Hewitt-style balanced release system using bicycle release with secondary triggered three-ring.

- His name's HewEtt.

- Hewett's never really had a release system. His Infallible Weak Link makes one totally superfluous.

- What's a "balanced" release system?

- Hewett has NEVER used a Quallaby bicycle brake lever release "system". He started out with his inaccessible and deadly Rube Goldberg two stage panic snap tangle, converted to an inaccessible three-ring at the bridle apex, and then went to Peter Birren's inaccessible miracle Linknife.

- What's used for two point aerotowing owes NOTHING to Hewett. It's more in keeping with the Brooks Bridle which made Hewett's two-to-one "center-of-mass" tangle obsolete the nanosecond it got airborne.

Being a double release system, if either end fails to release, the other will still let the tow-line go.

- Oh. Then we're not talking secondary at all. We're talking total backup.

- Right. There's a possibility that the top end will fail and a possibility that the bottom end will fail but it's mathematically impossible for...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3107
I have a tandem rating!!!

Lauren Tjaden - 2008/03/23 22:20:15 UTC

When Jim got me locked out to the right, I couldn't keep the pitch of the glider with one hand for more than a second (the pressure was a zillion pounds, more or less), but the F'ing release slid around when I tried to hit it. The barrel release wouldn't work because we had too much pressure on it.

...both ends to fail simultaneously. ('Cept in emergency simulations at altitude - never in the real deal down low.)

- And our carefully designed long thin Industry Standard bridles are totally incapable of...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=14230
pro tow set-up

Jim Rooney - 2009/11/02 18:58:13 UTC

Oh it happens.
I have, all the guys I work with have.
(Our average is 1 in 1,000 tows)

...wrapping at the tow ring - particularly...

Oh yeah... an other fun fact for ya... ya know when it's far more likely to happen? During a lockout. When we're doing lockout training, the odds go from 1 in 1,000 to over 50/50.

...in higher tension emergency situations.

I have never personally seen a "perfect" system that prevents any possibility of failure...

Nah...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32776
Can't release the tow line

Aleksey Vilkov - 2015/08/03 06:17:16 UTC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJLG3oUbkEg

Davis Straub - 2015/08/03 13:05:54 UTC

Perfect.

Totally beyond the scope of human engineering. We've had some of the best minds on the planet brainstorming this stuff for decades. But they just couldn't figure out how to engineer a device to reliably let go of one end of a string under a couple hundred pounds of tension. So they conceded defeat and went to work for NASA putting rovers on Mars. Very sad situation.

...which is why it's so important to have a "correctly sized" weak-link for each pilot and glider combination.

Goddam YES! Correctly sized to 1.5 inches or less and a single loop of Cortland 130 lb. Greenspot braided Dacron Tolling line for each pilot and glider combination - whether the motherfucker likes it or not. Ya just can't argue with a track record that long.

I am curious about why having a back-up would get one killed though.

Hard to imagine how anybody as astronomically clueless and stupid as you are could possibly be or ever have been curious about ANYTHING.

We have SO gotten this asshole right where we want him.

Thanks,
Eric

Don't mention it, Eric.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/18 07:59

I mis-wrote my earlier post re: secondary back-up. Was referring to the Hewitt-style balanced release system using bicycle release with secondary triggered three-ring. Being a double release system, if either end fails to release, the other will still let the tow-line go. I have never personally seen a "perfect" system that prevents any possibility of failure...

And I guess all these failure modes are totally unpredictable. We never see the same failure twice. We fix one problem and another one has emerged from nowhere by the next weekend. We can build entire gliders that never fail within their certified operating ranges which we all find reasonable/acceptable and glider VG and all tug release systems which never fail under any circumstances but releases for hang gliders are like controlled nuclear fusion.

So obviously every glider release system you've personally seen has either failed or has the possibility of failure and its inherent problems cannot be addressed. If they could we'd obviously have addressed them already. Right? And we've already established that a bridle wrap at a tow ring is a physical impossibility so we can throw that out of the equation and use bridles as long, thin, and crappily constructed as we feel like.

So name me just one failure mode for just one release and explain to me why it's beyond the scope of human engineering to address it.

I'll start you off...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8318769461/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8318781297/

That one killed a Norwegian national champion...



...at the Worlds on 2005/01/09. The Industry solution was to ban that type of release mechanism...

http://ozreport.com/9.009
2005 Worlds

Davis Straub - 2005/01/11

This type of release mechanism has been banned (at least for a short while) from the Worlds at Hay.

...(at least for a short while) from the Worlds at Hay - and force everyone to use weak links so safe they couldn't get any gliders off the ground. Could we not have addressed this one issue by using a mechanism that DIDN'T have a gate that tapered THICKER from its pivot point to its free end? Tell me how THIS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8306258400/


mechanism could have at least that one problem? And if that's too much of an assignment for ya I'm sure that a leading aerotow release system imperfection expert such as yourself could quickly and easily come up with another dozen or so issues.

How 'bout the three-string you referenced? It's a little sticky under zilch tension but that's pretty much a non / self correcting issue. Zillions of platform tows have been conducted with them and there's never been a single significant issue reported - barring idiots designing or configuring them as locking mechanisms. So what's so imperfect about that one?

And I've never seen a conventional three-string at a modern aerotow operation. One hundred percent of those use THIS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/8331326948/


http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21033
barrels release without any tension except weight of rope..

Bart Weghorst - 2011/02/25 19:06:26 UTC

But I've had it once where the pin had bent inside the barrel from excessive tow force. My weaklink was still intact. The tug pilot's weaklink broke so I had the rope. I had to use 2 hands to get the pin out of the barrel.
No stress because I was high.

totally moronic bent pin piece of total shit. We've got the three-string technology which WILL handle load and we know beyond any doubt whatsoever that the totally moronic bent pin piece of total shit won't so where's the evidence that the Aerotow Industry has lifted the slightest finger in the slightest effort to EVER address to the slightest degree ANY blindingly obvious deadly problem?

...which is why it's so important to have a "correctly sized" weak-link for each pilot and glider combination.

Yep. So I've heard since the beginning of time. Focal point of a safe towing system. So can you tell us exactly what a "correctly sized" weak link for a pilot and glider combination IS? I fly an HPAT 158 at 320 pounds. What critically important "correctly sized" weak link do I need to be using to keep me from getting into too much trouble when my Fallible Releases fail at low altitude? What's the sweet spot between getting into a moderate level of trouble and being overly inconvenienced - the way Zack Marzec was at Quest on 2013/02/02?

But maybe that's outta your league. I notice you had "correctly sized" in quotation marks and said nothing about Gs; percent of max flying weight; u$hPa SOPs; FAA aerotowing regs; the excellent book, Towing Aloft, by Dennis Pagen and Bill Bryden; Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey; Davis Dead-On Straub; Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney; Lauren Eminently-Qualified-Tandem-Pilot Tjaden; Dr. Trisa Tilletti's seminal fourteen page article on 130 pound Greenspot fishing line...

So could you maybe refer us to flight park website that has some information on what they're using and recommending? Shouldn't be too tall of on order given that it's so important to have a "correctly sized" weak link for each pilot and glider combination.

I am curious about why having a back-up would get one killed though.

Me too. If the top fails you pull the bottom. If the bottom fails you pull the top. But you wouldn't pull the bottom unless the top had already failed and we've already established that it's physically, mathematically impossible to have both releases fail on one flight. So I'm finding all this a bit confusing.

You referred to your bottom release as the "secondary". Why? Why does it matter which you pull first? Say a pro toad is flying with twin barrels on his shoulders. Is there a primary and secondary, a main and backup? It makes no difference which side gets pulled first. Why is it the least bit different for the top and bottom of a two point from port and starboard one point? If we watch two point aerotow operation we're seeing half of the releases from the top and half from the bottom, right?

I am curious about why having a back-up would get one killed though.

He didn't say HAVING A BACK-UP WOULD GET ONE KILLED - asshole. What he said was:

Using a secondary as a backup is a real good way to get yourself killed.

Any chance of you grasping the distinction?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks

Jim Rooney - 2013/03/05 01:32:20 UTC

Carful who you put stock in mate.
Calling blindrodie a fool? Seriously? Easily discounted?
You may not have an understanding of who you're brushing off... In lieu of some people that have been listening to the rantings of, I kid you not, a convicted pedophile. I'm willing to look past the messenger... To a point. But gimme a break... You're blowing off a tug pilot instead?

Remind we to go with the rantings of convicted pedophiles whenever there's the slightest degree of doubt.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

rcpilot - 2015/10/18 21:19

Was referring to the Hewitt-style balanced release system using bicycle release with secondary triggered three-ring.

So you're saying that ALL towing (aero, static-line, pay-out, stationary winch) should be done with a Hewitt-style balanced release system using bicycle release with secondary triggered three-ring.

I had not thought of anything close to that before.

I have never personally seen a "perfect" system that prevents any possibility of failure, which is why it's so important to have a "correctly sized" weak-link for each pilot and glider combination"

Interesting logic there, Eric. Let's write that a different way and see if it makes sense.

It is so important to have a "correctly sized" weak-link for each pilot and glider combination because Eric has never seen a "perfect" system that prevents any possibility of failure".

I fly a sport 2 155. What is the correctly sized weak link for me, Eric?

You need to give him your hook-in weight so he can calculate what strength of 130 pound Greenspot you need to use to very clearly provide protection from excessive angles of attack, high bank turns, and the like for your form of towing.

I am curious about why having a back-up would get one killed though.

I didn't say having a backup would get one killed. I said that USING a secondary as a backup is a real good way to get yourself killed.

He said it twice in the preceding two posts with a combined total of thirty-six words. If your reading comprehension capability sucks that much then just what is it that you feel makes you qualified to discredit my hundred page document?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11591
Where to put the weaklink - the HGFA rules

Rohan Holtkamp - 2008/04/21

Once again history has shown us that this thread-through system can hook up and the hang glider remains being towed by the keel only, with the bridle well out of reach of even a hook knife. I know of just one pilot to survive this type of hook-up, took him some twelve months to walk again though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC4tdHAzh_M


By the way it's Hewett, with two e's no i.

And no ability to ever see just how well his lunatic assumptions held up to reality.

It is so important to have a "correctly sized" weak-link for each pilot and glider combination because Eric has never seen a "perfect" system that prevents any possibility of failure".

So in other words... Flights are typically conducted in which the pilot has no reasonable expectation of being able to remain on tow or separate from it, as the situation may dictate, or maintain safe and effective control of the glider. There are no releases in existence which can be relied on to work when needed so we all need a "correctly sized" weak link which can inconvenience us back on our faces six times in a row in light morning conditions with the glider previously under perfect control. This pans out in the light of reality just fine when you say it but just doesn't when I do.

And how 'bout this:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

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.

Skyslime? Detailed account from one of the top ten tug pilots on the planet, totally corroborating reports from eyewitnesses on the ground, superbly reputable aerotow operation, home base of Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey, pro toad tandem aerotow instructor, equipment that's been perfected for over twenty years... Over two and two thirds years later there's not one single suggestion of one single thing that could've been done better or differently to have prevented that fatal tumble. So how can we possibly really say anything about what's safe and what isn't in this game?

Any thoughts, Eric? This topic isn't important enough to keep going at anything over a glacial pace or have you had another death in the family?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

Fred Bickford - 2015/10/23 21:21 UTC

The website link originally posted used to be called "lift" several years ago. It has lots of hg and flight related information for anyone interested enough to sort through however Joe's brain organized it.

Yeah. Notice that the only times anybody ever links to or quotes from it it's to the stuff of Tad's Joe's hosted?

Eric, I referred to child abuse because Tad apparently is an unrepentant paedophile.

- Apparently?
- No you didn't - "unrepentant paedophile" appears NOWHERE on this site. Quote something to prove otherwise.

Those were his words...

Yeah, just like:

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/27

Even so, there does not appear to be any real analysis which supports Mr. Eareckson's premise (or his "manifesto," as he calls it).

You guys are really great at telling each other what my words were without having any substance to back your statements. Had your water tested lately?

...I read on his kitestrings website a couple weeks or so before this thread was started.

You seem a bit obsessed with this issue, Fred. Kite Strings is primarily a hang gliding forum. Did you hit upon some passage here when you were doing a Google search for kiddie porn?

rcpilot, my iPad apps didn't recognize the format correctly. When I edited my first post to add kitestrings... it recognized the format and edited itself on a desktop computer just like magic.

And you didn't notice anything amiss for during the four day period prior to that.

My intention posting here was to save anyone else the hassle of reading through Tad's pdf file or his website.

Great Fred, you sure don't want any of your Sonoma dudes going through original source material in its intended format and context when you guys can just tell everybody what's being said - and turn a hang glider aerotowing thread into a child abuse discussion venue.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

rcpilot - 2015/10/24 19:15

Fred Bickford - 2015/10/23 21:21 UTC

My intention posting here was to save anyone else the hassle of reading through Tad's pdf file or his website.

Great thinking there, Fred. Always a good idea to copy then paste stuff from pdf files, and provide links to websites in order to save anyone from the hassle of reading.

PS I wonder if Zack Marzec was also "saved" from the hassle of reading stuff before he got fatally inconvenienced by his "correctly sized" weak link.

Hey fuck you, RC. Fred has undoubtedly saved scores - perhaps hundreds - of people from the hassle of reading through Tad's PDF file and website. And those people have thus been freed up to perfect their flare timing and become better and more focused pilots. Also to have more time to keep their people of varying ages from being raped and murdered as much by apparent unrepentant paedophiles.

Four individuals have participated in this thread.

- Steve and Brian have posted material that's originated from Tad and/or Kite Strings and dealt with on topic / relevant issues.

- Eric's "contributions" can best be characterized as aerotow industry standard rot and deranged contradictory ramblings.

- Fred has a whole three sentences pertaining to hang gliding - none of which are the slightest degree relevant to the topic. Pretty much all the rest of his "contributions" have to do with the apparent unrepentant paedophile problem that so plagues the sport in these uncertain times.

Fred Bickford - 2015/10/23 21:21 UTC

My intention posting here was to save anyone else the hassle of reading through Tad's pdf file or his website.

Yeah Fred? Ya know an even better way to save people the from the hassle of reading through Tad's website?

Fred Bickford - 2015/09/30 13:00

edited my first post so it's more legible and provided a link to Tad's kitestrings

Don't provide the link to it.

Fred Bickford - 2015/10/23 21:21 UTC

When I edited my first post to add kitestrings...

There've been five references to Kite Strings in this thread and four of them have been yours and the other one was a response to your references.

Also having a hard time figuring out why, if your intention posting there was to save anyone else from the hassle of reading through Tad's PDF file, you posted a couple of fairly extensive excerpts from it in one post which currently constitutes the longest post in this thread. Not only do people have to look at them every time they go through Page One, there exists the danger they'll trigger a curiosity response and tempt them to read parts of the document that you didn't select for them.

And have people either asked you to save or thanked you for saving them from the hassle of reading through Tad's PDF file or website? Hang gliding is saturated with people with attention spans capped at twelve seconds and one thing that people with twelve second attention spans are really good at is not reading posts or documents that take more than twelve seconds to read.

And if you're so fucking passionate about saving hang gliding people from hassle...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467
weak links

Jim Rooney - 2007/07/22 22:30:28 UTC

I've heard it a million times before from comp pilots insisting on towing with even doubled up weaklinks (some want no weaklink). I tell them the same thing I'm telling you... suck it up. You're not the only one on the line. I didn't ask to be a test pilot. I can live with your inconvenience.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/28 19:39:17 UTC

Weak links break for all kinds of reasons.
Some obvious, some not.

The general consensus is the age old adage... "err on the side of caution".

The frustration of a weaklink break is just that, frustration.
And it can be very frustrating for sure. Especially on a good day, which they tend to be. It seems to be a Murphy favorite. You'll be in a long tug line on a stellar day just itching to fly. The stars are all lining up when *bam*, out of nowhere your trip to happy XC land goes up in a flash. Now you've got to hike it all the way back to the back of the line and wait as the "perfect" window drifts on by.

I get it.
It can be a pisser.

But the "other side"... the not cautions one... is not one of frustration, it's one of very real danger.
Better to be frustrated than in a hospital, or worse.
No exaggeration... this is the fire that the "other side" is made of. Best not to play with it.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Davis Straub - 2011/08/28 15:26:28 UTC

Then again, Russell Brown had us double up behind him after six breaks in a row at Zapata. We couldn't figure out why we had so many breaks so quickly. Maybe just coincidence.

http://ozreport.com/16.078
The Rob Kells Meet

Davis Straub - 2012/04/18 15:02:09 UTC

Mitch Shipley (T2C 144) crashed at launch after a weak link break. He tried to stretch out the downwind leg and then drug a tip turning it around and took out his keel (at least).

How come ya never got off your stupid lazy ass and did anything about THAT bullshit situation?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

rcpilot - 2015/10/26 20:17

I'm still waiting for a reply, Eric.

Be patient, Steve. He's just had three more grandmothers die.

Eric Beckman - 2015/11/02 04:54:50 UTC

Thanks Steve. I appreciate your helpful references and information, and will add them to my own continuous learning.

How many hours has it been since you embarked on this journey of continuous learning?

Re-writing my words to suit your needs benefits neither of us...

Right, Steve. What you SHOULD be doing is just characterizing what he writes as disingenuous and fundamentally dishonest without bringing up any specific examples.

...but suit yourself.

Fear not.

If I base some of my judgements on purely empirical data...

It means you haven't ever once bothered to look into anything that you weren't specifically looking at when it happened. Using my own empirical data nobody in hang gliding has ever been hurt worse than I have.

...it is subject to flawed human observation.

Oh. When did you decide to move up to human?

i am always happy to incorporate new information into my understanding...

We'd feed you some but we're afraid the influx would fry most of what little's left of your delicate circuitry.

...and strive to continuously learn throughout life.

Well, if striving is the best you can do...

To answer your question "What is the correctly sized weak link for me, Eric?," I suggest you read the article "Tie a (Better) Weak Link" from Drs. Lisa Coletti and Tracy Tillman's "Higher Education" column in Hang Gliding & Paragliding magazine.

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that article. Do you have a publishing date to help me find it more easily?

It will help you determine what you need.

Oh! A Wrapped And Tied single loop of 130 pound Greenspot! Equally good for a min loaded Sport 2 135 at 189 pounds and a max loaded Sport 2 175 at 320 pounds. Most likely to meet our expectations of breaking as early as possible in lockout situations but being strong and reliable enough to avoid frequent breaks from turbulence. Same expectation of performance that we have for the weak links we use for towing sailplanes.

Please exercise your own judgement if you feel aero-towing presents too many risks, and do not fly hang gliders via aero-tow.

- Any way to mitigate those risks? Any advice you'd have given to Zack Marzec on the early afternoon of 2013/02/02 that could've mitigated his situation?

- Answer his goddam question - MOTHERFUCKER.

My original argument still stands...

Oh good. I was so worried that it had totally collapsed with your total inability to give any figure whatsoever as to what a correctly sized weak link for Steve would be. Thanks for the reassurance.

...regarding the approach Tad Earackson took in going straight to the FAA...

You mean after going straight to u$hPa and being totally ignored for eight months and being expelled from the sport? Call this sonuvabitch on this libelous shit. I can provide precise dates and documentation.

...with at the very least factually misleading (in my and many others' opinions) information...

Any of these unnamed many others capable of reading at a third grade level? Just kidding.

...regarding aero-towing hang gliders.

Good. I'd be sick if your original argument DIDN'T still stand regarding the approach Tad EarAckson took in going straight to the FAA with at the very least factually misleading (in your and many others' OPINIONS) information regarding aerotowing hang gliders.

The numbers...

What NUMERS? Cite ONE.

...just don't stand up to any "reasonable"...

Why do you have "reasonable" in quotation marks? Same deal as...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/12 18:00:27 UTC

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...

...Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney?

...statistical scrutiny unless we agree right up front that ALL forms of hang gliding are unsafe to the point of requiring severe restrictions...

You mean like the severe restrictions u$hPa just put on surface towing after four decades because of ONE crash precipitated by ONE megadouchebag who fucked up everything he could get his hands on for his truck tow commercial tandem thrill ride operation?

...or outright banning of the sport.

Pull your head outta your ass long enough to look what's happening to the sport right now entirely due to what the sport's been doing to itself.

There are far too many foot launch accidents, aero-towing accidents, landing accidents, and (especially this year) fatalities.

Oh. Tad's numbers just don't stand up to any "reasonable" statistical scrutiny as there are obviously far too many foot launch accidents, aerotowing accidents, landing accidents, and (especially this year) fatalities. Got it. Sorry I downplayed the seriousness of the situation. I'll try to do a better job with my next letter to the FAA.

Thanks again, Steve. I suggest you pursue answers to any further questions on this topic to others who can answer your questions satisfactorily.

Yeah, Steve. What WERE you thinking asking this shithead what a correctly sized weak link for your glider would be? I'd have just said max flying weight - 310: max towline tension, one and a half times that - 465, weak link on a two point bridle end - half 465 plus fifteen percent - 267 pounds. Or 300 if you feel like rounding off. And to have full confidence in it breaking before your glider does and no expectations whatsoever of it breaking either when it's supposed to or when you need it to.

Regards,
Eric

Go fuck yourself, Eric. Ditto for the club that tolerates you in it.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

rcpilot - 2015/11/03 17:48:10 UTC

You got any evidence to support your claim that Tad went STRAIGHT to the FAA, Eric?

Why bother with EVIDENCE when ya have such huge reserves of stuff you can pull outta your ass and present as fact?

http://www.kitestrings.org/post8605.html#p8605

Tad Eareckson - 2015/11/02 21:42:58 UTC

You mean after going straight to u$hPa and being totally ignored for eight months and being expelled from the sport? I can provide precise dates and documentation.

Also, it's Eareckson, with one a.

Hmmm... Sounds suspicious. How would one know how to spell Tad's last name unless one were actually Tad?

Eric Beckman - 2015/11/04 05:22:28 UTC

Hey Steve. Is your name really Tad?

Yeah, "Tad" is just a phonetic spelling of "Steve". In Steve the "S" is silent, the first "e" is pronounced as a short "a", and "ve" is pronounced as a "d".

Come on, come clean and admit who you really are.

Now where have I heard some astoundingly dickheaded tug driver make a charge like that before?

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/25 05:37:34 UTC

I suspect you ARE Tad.

Oh yeah. And then we have:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=25302
Interview with Davis Straub, OzReport founder

Jack Axaopoulos - 2012/02/24 15:00:21 UTC

Tad has been BANNED again.

The "Extremist 1%" is not allowed on this site. Go crawl back under your rock with Bob and the other extremists that get themselves banned from every site and group they deal with. You guys have a marvelous record of getting along with people.

Great company you're keeping there, Skyslime.

The letter to the FAA pretty much stands on its own...

Course it does. Can't imagine why anyone would bother to take a quick glance at anything in the hundred pages of supporting documentation.

...unless you want to show how it was never sent.

No, motherfucker. It was sent on 2009/10/27 - exactly like it says in the second post in this thread as quoted by your apparent unrepentant paedophile obsessed colleague Fred Bickford. NOBODY has EVER disputed that fact. But your bullshit allegation was that:

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 16:59 UTC

MY main gripe with Mr. Eareckson's "original" letter (as distinct from the dozens of subsequent letters) remains with the subjective and histrionic nature of his complaints that went directly to the FAA without trying to build traction for his efforts within the flying community first.

So now that your main gripe with Mr. Eareckson's original letter is being proven to be totally bogus you suddenly need to alter your main gripe to being Mr. Eareckson's original letter was sent after YEARS of thwarted efforts to get problems fixed within the vile flying community and by the sleazy shits constituting the currently thoroughly discredited and collapsing u$hPa and being expelled from the sport? Your main gripe is that no one outside of u$hPa should be permitted to communicate with the FAA about problems with hang gilder aerotowing, right?

I am done here...

Name some place you AREN'T done - pigfucker. Name some place that you and/or your tug driver buddy Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney can post and have a dust particle's worth of credibility.

...so you are welcome to blow your horn as you see fit.

Steve will hopefully take you up on that. I'm a big fan of kicking a "man" when he's down until his skull's smashed open and the shit he had for brains is splattered all over the sidewalk.

Cheers!

Suck my dick, cowardly piece o' shit.

And fuck you, Sonoma Wings in general, for tolerating this bullshit and not coming down on this asshole like a fatally inconvenienced Moyes Xtralite.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

Eric Beckman - 2015/11/04 05:22:28 UTC

Hey Steve. Is your name really Tad? Come on, come clean and admit who you really are.

OK Eric. You got me. My name's really Tad. I registered here on this dumpy little Bay Area site on 2009/11/09, six years ago come Monday, using the screen name "rcpilot" and signing my posts as "Steve" just so I could misrepresent who I was to you in this thread which I started 2015/09/23 05:06 UTC, a month and a half ago, after well over a hundred previous posts prior to September - all made for the purpose of obfuscating my actual identity.

So, given that I made everything public prior to and when sending the letter to the FAA in which I clearly identified myself, as I have in every post I've ever made in any and all forums since the dawn of the internet... What has my motivation been? How come I'm posting in response to every punctuation mark in this thread over on Kite Strings, calling you a pigfucker at every appropriate instance, under the screen name "Tad Eareckson"?

Am I afraid that if I use my real name over there I'll be banned? I've been banned for calling dickheads dickheads under my real name from just about every other glider forum on the web that shows up on the radar. What do you think is so special about Sonoma Wings that I should give a flying fuck - 'specially with Kite Strings so solidly on the map?

And if I am afraid of being banned from your useless inbred little dump for posting under my real name, doesn't that say a lot more about the cowardice of Sonoma Wings than the disingenuousness and utter dishonesty of Tad Eareckson?

And, come to think of it, I don't see you identifying yourself as Eric BECKMAN over there. I only know you as someone more than "Skyline" and "Eric" because of a tipoff someone sent me. So why don't you show me some discussion in which YOU are posting under YOUR real name.
---
P.S. - 2015/11/04 19:00:00 UTC

And I'm not hearing you say anything that can't be categorized as sucking u$hPa Establishment dick so you're very obviously not acting out of fear of retaliation - the way some of my supporters are and have to be.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/30 05:16 UTC

That is not to suggest that current training techniques and standards are without fault. It is imperative that we continue to pursue safety improvements in every facet of our sport...

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/30 05:16 UTC

Once again, my responses are not meant to convey an opinion of the relative safety of towing over that of foot-launching, nor to defend the practice of using only "pro-tow" barrel releases that require the pilot to let go of the control bar to actuate the release.

I would like to support his efforts to improve towing safety, but have not seen where he has made his position public.

Eric Beckman - 2015/11/02 03:54:50 UTC

There are far too many foot launch accidents, aero-towing accidents, landing accidents, and (especially this year) fatalities.

Oh, so you agree that hang gliding has problems which are killing people - including people of varying ages - completely unnecessarily. It's just that your main gripe is that I went straight to the FAA without ever once making any of my concerns public or attempting to work within the pilot community and u$hPa.

OK...

So you show me ONE u$hPa SOP that's EVER addressed and been implemented and enforced to deal with a single endemic problem in this sport. Show me where u$hPa's doing anything other than gutting previous reasonable regs to butcher accountability and creating new regs to concentrate power for commercial interests and fuck over recreational pilots and noncommercial and small-time operations.

Show me an advisory issued in response to one of our many mega catastrophes that's gotten someone to clean up his act and has reduced the probability of a rerun.

Show me a reason somebody should approach u$hPa with a genuine concern and have an expectation of getting something better than total indifference at best or expulsion at worst.

We all of course understand, given that all available main and backup releases are total crap, the critical importance of using a "correctly sized" weak link for each pilot and glider combination. So can you show me from the SOPs how a pilot such as myself, Steve, on my sport 2 155 can determine what a "correctly sized" weak link for my particular pilot and glider combination is? Or can you name me an operation which is using a "correctly sized" weak link for each pilot and glider combination? Cloud 9? Can I go to their website and find a chart prepared by Dr. Trisa Tilletti to help me get set up properly and fly in accordance with my expectations?

You say:

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 16:59 UTC

However, I do attend the USHPA Board of Directors meetings every few years (though not Spring of 2015), and make particular effort to attend the Tandem, the Towing, and the Competition Committee sessions and keep up on any developments.

Can you tell us about some of the relevant "developments" you've kept up on and tell us how they've benefited the sport? And when you brought up the concerns you have about the training techniques, standards, equipment, crashes, fatalities that you expressed above what were some of the responses you got? Can you show us the modifications and revisions to the SOPs? How 'bout notes regarding your concerns in the minutes?

Why dontchya keep talking to us? There may be some point at which I start running low on idiot contradictory bullshit to point out to readers.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://sonomawingsbb.yuku.com/topic/5825/4144-Review
4144 Review

rcpilot - 2015/11/05 03:04:00 UTC

Hey Steve. Is your name really Tad?

No. My name is really Steve. Steve Davy.

Well, cut him some slack. He's been spot on about damn near everything else in this thread.

I am done here, so you are welcome to blow your horn as you see fit.

Now that we've established that Steve is actually Steve... Am I still welcome to blow my horn as I see fit?

You mean like?:

i am always happy to incorporate new information into my understanding, and strive to continuously learn throughout life.

Give him a fuckin' break, Tad - I mean STEVE. He's already incorporated all fourteen pages worth of the new information of Dr. Trisa Tilletti's seminal weak link article from the 2012/06 issue of u$hPa's Hang Gliding magazine into his understanding... Just how much more striving to continuously learn throughout the rest of his life are you expecting him to be able to do?