HG Crash in Ohio 5/5/08

[CraginS]

Online news report http://tinyurl.com/6rkk7x
Hang Glider Plummets, Pilot Injured
By Jason Mays

ORIENT, Ohio -- The Pickaway County sheriff’s office investigated a hang-glider crash that occurred Tuesday just before 6 p.m. near 16067 London Rd. in Muhlenberg Twp., NBC 4 reported.

According to Sheriff Radcliff a male was piloting an Airweigh (sic) Mark IV hang glider when the hang glider stalled at approximately 50 feet and nose-dived to the ground. MedFlight responded to the scene and transported the pilot to OSU Medical Center where he was listed in fair condition.
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Sorry to hear about this. From the little I know about OH flying, I assume this was a scooter tow incident, but hard to tell from this sketchy report.
To our OH compadres, hope the pilot recovers fully and quickly.

[CHassan]

FYI
It was a scooter tow.
From the reports I've heard, the pilot was distracted and looked back over his shoulder as he was leaving the cart. This caused him to leave the cart in a turn. The towline tension was quickly dropped. It may have been possible to pull in, level out and fly on down the runway. However the pilot chose to release the towline. While dong this the glider stalled and there was not enough altitude for recovery.
The ended up with a broken clavicle, and a pneumothorax of the right lung. He was possibly released from the hospital yesterday.

Thank you for the kind thoughts!

[CraginS]

From the OzReport.com, links to further information and discussion. Here is Davis' post with the links.
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The towing accident in Ohio

"Motorcycle" at one end, 3000' down the runway to the end attached to the student. 39.696489,-83.111529,DARBYVILLE,+Ohio(DARBYVILLE, Ohio)

This accident first came to our attention when it was posted on the Oz Report web site using the Google news scraper that Scare set up.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/co ... ml?sid=101

More details here: http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=6740&start=6

An earlier description of the towing there here: http://ozreport.com/9.232#2

I am aware of two if not three accidents at this site with "scooter" towing using this relatively unsafe method of the operator being far away from the pilot.

One accident involved a tug pilot/hang glider pilot who launched unhooked. Too much noise for good radio communication. The operator couldn't hear the plea to stop the tow.

[jimrooney]

Sorry to be mr technicality here.

It's not scooter towing. It's winch towing.
Winch towing's been around a lot longer than "scooter towing". It uses much stronger rigs. This one also didn't use a turn around pulley which is one of the prime safety designs in the scooter tow system (the primary being low power). Different animal.

Jim

[CHassan]

Jim,
A scooter tow is a scooter tow, by all accounts they are both winches. The only reason they are called scooter tow, is they are made from a scooter.
The lack of a pulley had no impact on this accident.
As far as the low power, the student was beyond the initial low and slow training. He was launching prone from a dolly and towing to altitude.

[Gene]

I guess the gloves are coming off in this thread.
Gene

[jimrooney]

A scooter is a winch
A winch is not necessarily a scooter

That's like saying that a Pear is an Apple because they're both fruits.
I didn't say it had anything to do with the accident.
I didn't say it didn't have anything to do with the accident.
I'm just pointing out that it's not a scooter tow.

Jim

[CHassan]

A scooter is a winch
A winch is not necessarily a scooter

That's like saying that a Pear is an Apple because they're both fruits.
I didn't say it had anything to do with the accident.
I didn't say it didn't have anything to do with the accident.
I'm just pointing out that it's not a scooter tow.

Jim

I agree all scooters are winches. (already said that)
I agree all winches are not scooters. (never said otherwise)

Why is the winch unit in Ohio NOT a scooter tow?

Comparing the unit here and the one @ blue sky is comparing a Washington apple to a Granny Smith. Same fruit, but different color, size and taste.

[CHassan]

Sorry Gene, no glove dropping here. At least not on this end.

[Flying Lobster]

You both have it wrong--

all wenches are cooters.

marc

[jimrooney]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Ohio one a motorcycle, not a scooter?... hence not a "scooter" tow.
They have a Hondamatic rig in NJ... it's very much not a "scooter tow". The thing's a much stronger rig.
50cc vs 650cc + a wickedly different torque range.
Kinda apple's and bowling balls.

Jim

[jimrooney]

Yeah, no glove dropping here either

All wenches are good.
Jim

[jimrooney]

Off the Oz Report Forum...

The 250 Honda Helix based scooter winch....

So yup... scooter tow.
Sorry
Jim

[CHassan]

I feel like a big "I told you so" but I'm not that kind of guy!

Wenches happen to be my favorite tools!

[markc]

Winch wench are we talking about here?

[jimrooney]

Wendy

[Paul Tjaden]

I really think Cavanaugh should apologize for that last one. Very bad !!!

Paul