Another one bites the dust...
Weighing in late on this one primarily 'cause lately during every spare
minute I've been learning way more about the Photoshop pen tool than I ever wanted
to know and didn't log on for over a week.
John's way down near the bottom of the list of people to whom I'd like to see
this happen but...
Assuming there was enough open east end runway for a Dragonfly to trail a tow
line the decision to turn the glider back into the wind was the sort of thing
that lets you get to pick first in the Double Jeopardy round. When that low
the bank angle (Rob Kells will back me up on this) is a lot more important
than the wind direction and, for all practical purposes relevant to this
situation, speed.
Close your eyes as long as possible so you don't get freaked out by the
ground speed, be comforted in the thought that the wind gradient will be working to
your advantage for a change, when the glider starts to settle flare the hell
out of it, and be ready to start running twelve or fifteen miles per hour if
your timing was any good.
Next (here we go again) if you're flying with silk and and a release for
which you have to reach - your priorities are seriously misplaced (loopers
excepted).
IF YOU'RE NOT INCORPORATING STEVE'S RELEASE IN EITHER A ONE OR TWO POINT
CONFIGURATION YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!!
(Yeah, that's one helluva long enemies list). How's that for proselytizing?
I have just finished posting a couple of dozen photos of what an aerotow
release system should look like at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/
(thanks, Scott) for the benefit of anyone who has ever managed to avoid one
of my assaults at Ridgely through stealth or absence. Click on the Primary and
Secondary Components sets to access (the individual shots ended up in
something of a jumble).
My main low level lockout insurance is a four-string version of Steve's
invention. The force step-down is such that you could comfortably break ten weak
links simultaneously and perhaps - in theory - rip the tail off the Dragonfly.
There is no way your dentist is going to get pissed off.
I have extensive text documentation on this system for which I hope to soon
find a home on the web but can, for the time being, send it out as a pdf file
upon request. Bits of it are worth reading for anyone not entirely sure he or
she has this aerotowing thing down pat (and if you have to reach for your
release there's a good chance you don't have this aerotowing thing down pat).
As Steve said - this is a NO BRAINER. We've had two local folk broken in the
past three quarters of a year in accidents which would have almost certainly
have been prevented by the adoption of proper and relatively inexpensive
safety equipment. We're about due to have somebody killed.
John (if you're still speaking to me) - How nice to have somebody alive and
with his memory intact. Maybe for once I can find out what kind of release
actuation mechanism was involved. Brake lever on the port/starboard downtube?
Glad you weren't hurt worse but more sorry that this happened at all.
$15 pacifiers
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
$15 pacifiers
Hi Tad,
?
I'm sure your release is excellent and might help in many potential emergencies but in John's case, I really doubt it would have made any difference. John banked up so quickly and the weak link broke so immediately that only someone with cat like reflexes could have been off tow more quickly (even just opening his mouth).
?
As to landing downwind, we were launching with our tails VERY close to?a pine forest to the east. This area also slopes down hill towards the forest. Had John not attempted to turn back upwind he would probably have continued down hill and downwind until he stopped?very abruptly with his head stuck into a large tree. I might question John's decision to launch when he did, but his piloting skills that saved his neck were excellent.
?
Paul T.
?
I'm sure your release is excellent and might help in many potential emergencies but in John's case, I really doubt it would have made any difference. John banked up so quickly and the weak link broke so immediately that only someone with cat like reflexes could have been off tow more quickly (even just opening his mouth).
?
As to landing downwind, we were launching with our tails VERY close to?a pine forest to the east. This area also slopes down hill towards the forest. Had John not attempted to turn back upwind he would probably have continued down hill and downwind until he stopped?very abruptly with his head stuck into a large tree. I might question John's decision to launch when he did, but his piloting skills that saved his neck were excellent.
?
Paul T.
-
Tad Eareckson
- Posts: 304
- Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2005 8:50 am
$15 pacifiers
Lessee...
Downwind, downhill, tree line... Yeah, do the 360 and move on to Final
Jeopardy.
Never been to that neck of 'gator country. Used to taking of from the middle
of a long flat wide open runway.
Can't fault John's launch decision since checking streamers behind me has
hitherto never been part of my routine. Don't know who the tug driver was but
don't imagine (s)he was a total idiot either.
And, despite the loss of wind from my sales, yeah, if one gets slammed so
violently that the weak link snaps virtually instantly maybe nothing much matters
but the four-string does give one more edge than anything out there.
(Change your story a little and I'll send you a complementary copy.)
Thanks yet again for the data.
Downwind, downhill, tree line... Yeah, do the 360 and move on to Final
Jeopardy.
Never been to that neck of 'gator country. Used to taking of from the middle
of a long flat wide open runway.
Can't fault John's launch decision since checking streamers behind me has
hitherto never been part of my routine. Don't know who the tug driver was but
don't imagine (s)he was a total idiot either.
And, despite the loss of wind from my sales, yeah, if one gets slammed so
violently that the weak link snaps virtually instantly maybe nothing much matters
but the four-string does give one more edge than anything out there.
(Change your story a little and I'll send you a complementary copy.)
Thanks yet again for the data.
-
Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
From Bart Doets on the OZ Forum:
"A friend of mine is at this moment putting together a remote control aerotow release for training purposes (it might as well be used for winch towing).
We were discussing the possibilities. In fact, we all know about some grave accidents in aerotowing that might have been avoided if somebody on the ground could have flipped a switch to release the pilot before things got irreversible. But those were experienced pilots, who would not launch with an RC release even if there would have been one for them. Accidents might be avoided in some cases if the tug pilot would release them, but just in the critical instant of launch he may have other things on his mind then watching the mirror to see if the hangglider on tow is still tracking.
So, how about an RC release on the tug side?
I know about a number of accidents that might have been avoided, or might have been just minor crashes, if such a device would have been installed on the tug. OK, those accidents happen only once every X-hundred launches, but still, they happen.
Is it a nonsense idea, what do you think?
Bart"
marc
"A friend of mine is at this moment putting together a remote control aerotow release for training purposes (it might as well be used for winch towing).
We were discussing the possibilities. In fact, we all know about some grave accidents in aerotowing that might have been avoided if somebody on the ground could have flipped a switch to release the pilot before things got irreversible. But those were experienced pilots, who would not launch with an RC release even if there would have been one for them. Accidents might be avoided in some cases if the tug pilot would release them, but just in the critical instant of launch he may have other things on his mind then watching the mirror to see if the hangglider on tow is still tracking.
So, how about an RC release on the tug side?
I know about a number of accidents that might have been avoided, or might have been just minor crashes, if such a device would have been installed on the tug. OK, those accidents happen only once every X-hundred launches, but still, they happen.
Is it a nonsense idea, what do you think?
Bart"
marc
Great Googly-moo!
-
John Dullahan
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 7:43 pm
Tad,
It's good to hear from you - even if it's an oblique reference and not a very joyous occasion.
I endorse Paul's assertion that my only option was to complete the turn to the left after I came off the cart (at the point of weak link break the glider was in a very-high banked turn to the left) then, due to the downslope, parked gliders in front of me, and trees behind them, to do a 180 turn back into the wind. (The suddeness and intensity of the wing-lift and subsequent lock-out far exceeded anything I have ever experienced at any altitude on tow).
Possibly your system with a bite-down/release might have enabled me to release before the wing got high, but since it happened so quickly I am not so sure.
I have a Wallaby - type motorcycle release on the downtube with a barrel -type back up near my right shoulder. (The weak link broke just as I hit the downtube release.) My tow line comes off the shoulders, goes through the tug O link, and leads to the release (attached to the biner), which hooks into the weak link.
I had not considered assessing conditions behind me (downwind), through the individuals on either side of my glider. Perhaps had I asked them to do so, they would have seen pilots attempting to anchor their bucking gliders, and advised me to wait for a while. (All three of us were looking to the front and did not observe any unusual wind sock or streamer behavior).
Although it may not happen very often, I recommend that, in addition to the pilot's check to the front and sides, people at the cart check downwind for thermal activity prior to launch, and if they observe such thermal activity, say within 100 meters, that they delay the launch until conditions are more favorable.
John D.
It's good to hear from you - even if it's an oblique reference and not a very joyous occasion.
I endorse Paul's assertion that my only option was to complete the turn to the left after I came off the cart (at the point of weak link break the glider was in a very-high banked turn to the left) then, due to the downslope, parked gliders in front of me, and trees behind them, to do a 180 turn back into the wind. (The suddeness and intensity of the wing-lift and subsequent lock-out far exceeded anything I have ever experienced at any altitude on tow).
Possibly your system with a bite-down/release might have enabled me to release before the wing got high, but since it happened so quickly I am not so sure.
I have a Wallaby - type motorcycle release on the downtube with a barrel -type back up near my right shoulder. (The weak link broke just as I hit the downtube release.) My tow line comes off the shoulders, goes through the tug O link, and leads to the release (attached to the biner), which hooks into the weak link.
I had not considered assessing conditions behind me (downwind), through the individuals on either side of my glider. Perhaps had I asked them to do so, they would have seen pilots attempting to anchor their bucking gliders, and advised me to wait for a while. (All three of us were looking to the front and did not observe any unusual wind sock or streamer behavior).
Although it may not happen very often, I recommend that, in addition to the pilot's check to the front and sides, people at the cart check downwind for thermal activity prior to launch, and if they observe such thermal activity, say within 100 meters, that they delay the launch until conditions are more favorable.
John D.
John Dullahan