http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47013
Electric tape
Davis Straub - 2016/03/15 12:18:44 UTC
Won't hold you connected to your glider
From the Vermont Hang Gliding Forum
jafcmx5 - 2016/03/15 19:22
VHGA
I awoke to the sound of rain. The forecast had not been promising either but it turned out to be just a shower. At breakfast we decided to head out later at 11 to give the heating more time to develop. When we got to launch it was blowing straight in and stronger than the past 2 days. There were Cus out front and patches of blue sky.
Having worked out the turn in my glider and figured out the right number of layers to stay warm I was rigged quickly and ready to go before the rest of the crew. A local pilot was already on launch when I stepped up for a hang check from Damian. After the check I observed the wind was crossing from the back. We both waited and then the local pilot stepped back and rotated his glider tail to launch. I was about to do the same when the wind switched and started blowing up the front. I carried over to launch, set the glider down for a moment, the wind was still up the front so I picked up and ran off.
I headed left to the house thermal, put a few turns in broken lift and then started heading down the spine. I connected with a weak climb that got me up over launch and convinced the local pilot to launch. This fizzled so I pushed out front a short distance and connected and started turning again. Portro launched to join us.
I started zipping up and banged my helmet on the control bar, odd. Then I realized I was hanging lower than I should be. I put in a few more turns and then decided something was wrong so I radioed to Damian that I had an issues and was heading to the LZ to land and figure it out.
10 or 15 seconds later my hang strap tension dropped to zero and I was hanging by my armpits with my elbows over the control bar. As I swung back and forth I tried to get one hand to my parachute bridle but then slipped so I was hanging from the control bar with my arms over head. I let go with my left hand and grabbed my parachute bridle and started ripping it open when I lost my grip with my right hand. I fell facing up, ripped open my chute pocket and hucked upward. I didn't see the chute open but I was yanked hard and was now hanging by the hang strap again, head up and leaning slightly forward. I radioed that I had deployed successfully.
I came down on a steep wooded slope, crashed through a tree, banged the outside of my left thigh on a branch and came to rest on the ground.
My radio antenna runs up my harness mains and deploying had ripped through the coax cable so I had to get out my rubber ducky to respond that I was on the ground and essentially unhurt. I didn't see it happen but the glider came down about 100' from me.
About 10 people came to help get the glider and my parachute out of the trees and hike it all down to the Piano LZ.
The failure to remain connected to the glider was the result of using a hang strap extender. The previous pilot had wrapped electrical tape around the extender, presumably to make it more aerodynamic. As pilot in command I failed on 2 accounts. I should have removed the tape to determine exactly how the extender was attached (or not) to the hang strap. I also should have gotten another extender to act as a secondary. The extender appeared to be doubled over so that there were 2 loops to hook your carabineer through. It is possible I missed one but I highly doubt it. I knew I had to hook into 2 and was conscious of doing so. It seems more likely that the extender had remained in place due to friction and all that tape. Up to this point I had flown the glider 8 hours in this configuration. The glider was intact except an approximately 2' tear along the #6 batten on the top surface. The extender was in the carabineer and the carabineer was locked. The harness mains and secondaries and parachute bridles were intact.
Needless to say I am taking tomorrow off to inspect my gear, see how my bruised leg really feels and talk with Heather.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47013
Electric tape
Davis Straub - 2016/03/15 12:18:44 UTC
Won't hold you connected to your glider
It actually WILL, dickhead. Try reading the account. There's a whole bunch o' shit that hang glider morons have found will hold them connected to their gliders...
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22079
Hanging from velcro.........
Sometimes all the way to the old Frisbee in the middle of the LZ, sometimes not. I myself did just fine for a whole flight à la:
Which is why the idiot fucking hang check does NOTHING but INCREASE the probability of a plummet - sometimes fatal, sometimes not.
jafcmx5 - 2016/03/15 19:22
VHGA
I awoke to the sound of rain. The forecast had not been promising either but it turned out to be just a shower. At breakfast...
So much for...
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21474
fatal accident in Israel
Fred Wilson - 2012/02/08 15:32:33 UTC
Start your day off right, with a good cup of coffee and a solid breakfast.
...that idea as well.
...we decided to head out later at 11 to give the heating more time to develop. When we got to launch it was blowing straight in and stronger than the past 2 days. There were Cus out front and patches of blue sky.
Having worked out the turn in my glider and figured out the right number of layers to stay warm I was rigged quickly and ready to go before the rest of the crew. A local pilot was already on launch when I stepped up for a hang check from Damian.
Joe Greblo's Four or Five Cs.
After the check I observed the wind was crossing from the back. We both waited and then the local pilot stepped back and rotated his glider tail to launch. I was about to do the same when the wind switched and started blowing up the front. I carried over to launch, set the glider down for a moment, the wind was still up the front so I picked up and ran off.
Confident that you were safely connected to your glider - 'specially as you started feeling your suspension tensioning.
I started zipping up and banged my helmet on the control bar, odd.
Fuck. The hang check doesn't even work to make sure your clearance stays proper.
Then I realized I was hanging lower than I should be.
Reminds me a bit of:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7570/15661252749_7fcfe6445a_o.jpg
I put in a few more turns and then decided something was wrong so I radioed to Damian that I had an issues and was heading to the LZ to land and figure it out.
What did you need to figure out that required parking in the LZ? You should've done one of two things THE INSTANT you became aware you were hanging lower. The bulletproof but messy one would've been to toss your chute. If you're feeling lucky climb up in your control frame and monkey bar your way to the LZ. With the benefit of hindsight you'd have had no problem pulling that off for this one.
10 or 15 seconds later my hang strap tension dropped to zero...
...for the first time since my fifth step into my launch run...
...and I was hanging by my armpits with my elbows over the control bar. As I swung back and forth I tried to get one hand to my parachute bridle...
Try getting one hand to your deployment handle next time.
...but then slipped so I was hanging from the control bar with my arms over head. I let go with my left hand and grabbed my parachute bridle and started ripping it open when I lost my grip with my right hand.
I'd have been reluctant to start ripping my parachute bridle open at that point.
I fell facing up, ripped open my chute pocket and hucked upward. I didn't see the chute open but I was yanked hard and was now hanging by the hang strap again...
No you weren't. The hang strap was flying safely away with your glider.
...head up and leaning slightly forward. I radioed that I had deployed successfully.
Good to see you got something right that day.
As pilot in command...
I think you're using that term a bit too freely.
I failed on 2 accounts. I should have removed the tape to determine exactly how the extender was attached (or not) to the hang strap.
Well enough to hold you connected to your glider - contrary to Davis Dead-On Straub's only comment on this incident.
I also should have gotten another extender to act as a secondary.
Or you could've just taken a length of eighth inch leechline and done a bunch of coils through your (unextended) hang strap and tied the ends. You'd have been good regardless of any horrors electrical tape might conceal. But on this one there were no horrors.
The extender appeared to be doubled over so that there were 2 loops to hook your carabineer through.
Oh look, Davis! He spells "carabiner" the same way you do. And launches without making sure he's actually connected to his glider. TWO things you have in common.
It is possible I missed one but I highly doubt it.
You missed one.
I knew I had to hook into 2 and was conscious of doing so. It seems more likely that the extender had remained in place due to friction and all that tape. Up to this point I had flown the glider 8 hours in this configuration.
Boy that electrical tape sure was doing the job well. Eight hours with no detectable elongation.
The glider was intact except an approximately 2' tear along the #6 batten on the top surface. The extender was in the carabineer...
If you'd hooked into both loops it wouldn't/couldn't have been. You only hooked into one loop. That's consistent with you're having been fine for 8 hours of previous airtime and your slow elongation shortly after launch on the last one.
...and the carabineer was locked.
Good thing you had that carabiner locked. Might have lost the extender otherwise.
The harness mains and secondaries and parachute bridles were intact.
And glad to see that you had at least one parachute bridle backup.
Care to say anything about hang checks and false senses of security, Tom (Galvin)? Just kidding.
1991/11/03 - Leonard Rabbitz - 55 - Elizabethville, Pennsylvania - Intermediate - Several years - UP Comet I
1997/04/04 - Tom Sapienza - Mount Tom, Coburg Hills, Oregon
But let's keep tying up two people to run hang checks while we keep having zero people looking at the suspension.
We know all this and it has been proven by dead friends that a proper hang strap set up is a must.
