Kite Strings

Three launches at the Fort today, somehow I managed to be hooked to my glider on all of them. I don't have any Bells attached to my carabiner, I didn't do any hang checks and I don't use the Aussie method.

But I did start my day off right with a GOOD cup of coffee and a SOLID breakfast.

Dude! Think how many times you could've launched hooked in after TWO good cups of coffee and a BIGGER solid breakfast!

Me... I've noticed that I almost never launch unhooked after getting really drunk the night before and waking up with a bad hangover.

Perhaps we could best optimize our success rate with a combination of the strategies.

In a bad situation the pilot or tow operator may release near the ground.

- A tow situation is only bad if it's near the ground. Anything else is just an inconvenience.

- Bad:
-- dolly and platform launch situations involving halfway competent pilots are so rare as to be virtually nonexistent
-- tow situations WAY more often than not require that the glider remain on tow

- In a bad tow situation:

-- in which release is appropriate it can almost never be effected by anyone at either end in time to prevent a catastrophic crash.

-- - foot, dolly, platform - the pilot ALWAYS comes down head first and is usually killed. It makes absolutely no difference if his feet are in or out of a cocoon or pod.

- Here's a glider diver and 130 pound Greenspot induced mildly unpleasant tow situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb4nUTAJXTk
Aerotow Incident
Sparkozoid - 2009/12/01
dead

The safety margin of the recovery is NOT enhanced by the diver going upright and landing on his feet.

No, but I'm not crazy about coming down prone on pavement.

- I'm not crazy about coming down on pavement - PERIOD. Whenever I was faced with choice between maybe coming down on the taxiway and definitely coming down in the pond or trees I'd take one of the latter options every time. I watched one of the chicks who flew there try to land on her feet and slide to a stop on the pavement on her belly. Wasn't pretty.

- Platform is a nonissue.

- In dolly aero you're only worried about coming off tow.

- With the stuff you have on your glider you're only worried about the front end weak link.

- *IF* you have a window of vulnerability it's extremely short. Generally speaking, the moment after you lift off you're holding the glider down for the benefit of the tug and would probably have little trouble making it to the grass with speed to spare.

- If you stay on the cart a little longer you can make the window a lot shorter.

- And don't forget that very often the people who spend the most damaging prone time on the surface are the ones who spend the least prone time in the seconds prior to arriving on the surface.

Summary...

- Don't worry about it.

- Do it once and you'll realize you don't NEED to worry about it.

All but once when I hit it running down a training hill at Lookout and nearly tripped.

OK. But this is the only one I've heard about - and you didn't trip.

Back when it used to actually rain in the summer...

Is this climate change stuff great or what! Shorter walks to the beach, safer landings, faster warmup times for the tugs... Hard to keep track of all the unanticipated blessings.

I would not feel comfortable wheel landing in that with the small wheels I have.

There's a pretty narrow range of surfaces on which I'd feel great wheel landing with the small wheels you have. A lot better than nothing and everything's a tradeoff but - even as dragphobic as I am - my pneumatic Finsterwalders never bothered me too much.

...care to elaborate?

First, to give credit where it's due...

I think her parachutes are probably very good, you're not gonna blow out of one of her harnesses at terminal, and - although parachute clinics are misdirected massive wastes of time, energy, and resources - she generously runs good parachute clinics.

Now, to elaborate... Where to begin? How much time do you have?

After consulting with Dennis Pagen who acts as dealer I decide on a Racer pod and start corresponding with Betty about details and options.

When I finally reach go mode I do measurements.

You know how anal I am. I kill the better part of a day doing all the called for measurements to quarter inch accuracy half a dozen times over to make sure I haven't made any mistakes.

Dennis is in northern Pennsylvania, I'm in central Maryland, so when I get the harness I'm the only one available to check it out. I've never flown a pod before and I just assume that The Great Betty Pfeiffer has properly built it to my specs.

I start flying it and notice tremendous pressure on my shoulders. I don't wanna admit how long and how many times I flew it in absolute AGONY before it finally dawned on me that - although the lateral fit was perfectly OK - she made the goddam thing a foot and a half too short.

My shoulders were being smashed, my toes were pointed and crammed into the extremity of the streamlined boot - which is supposed to have a lot of empty space in front if it in which to stow a glider bag, and my spine was being compressed. I'd zip up but every few minutes I'd have to unzip to drop my knees down into the air to decompress and take a break from the agony.

When my brain finally kicked in and I realized that this empress was naked as a jaybird...

- Anaheim, we have a problem.
- Well, I could modify it - but I'm worried about the CG being thrown way off.
- Me too. I think I need one built properly from the ground up.
- I agree. What's your credit card number and expiration date?
- I've already paid you for a harness I was supposed to be able to use.
- Yes, but you've had and flown this one for several months now.
- It took that long for me to realize that you'd totally screwed the pooch on this order.
- You should've had it checked out by the dealer when you received it.
- The dealer's six hours away.
- What's your credit card number and expiration date?

The piece o' crap not only didn't fit me - it doesn't fit any human being anywhere. By the time you find someone short enough it's a foot too wide. I left it on consignment at Kitty Hawk Kites maybe fifteen years ago and never saw or heard anything about it again.

The replacement was a proper fit and safe but is poorly engineered and I've spent zillions of hours with a needle and thread modifying it.

A short time before shipping I had sent her a checklist of details and options to verify and about half of them obviously hadn't registered. Make that - She obviously hadn't bothered to look at the checklist any more than she'd bothered to look the original options list.

Her harness bags are crap which fall apart at the seams.

I gave her length and every-three-feet circumference measurements for a snug fitting custom XC glider bag and got a fucking four man tent which would beat itself to death on the roof of the car whenever the speed exceeded fifteen miles per hour. And the handles were stitched on measuring from the tail instead of the nose end so the balance left just a wee bit to be desired.

I ordered a batten bag to accommodate a quiver with an 82 inch arc length and she sent me one exactly 82 inches long. If you do the math you'll realize that that makes it just a little hard to close.

I guess others have had better luck and I wouldn't have any problem jumping out of a plane with one of her stock parachutes, but... She can't follow instructions or think worth shit, damn near everything I've ever gotten from her has been majorly fucked up, and there's no way in hell I'd ever order anything custom from her again.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21474
fatal accident in Israel

Channing Kilgore - 2012/02/09 07:58:31 UTC
Whitwell, Tennessee

i always do at least 2 hang checks...one where i set the glider up..won't move from where i've set up until i hang check...then i walk the glider to the ramp, and hang check again...if i unhook for any reason, i start all over....i never unhook on launch for any reason..i'll back off to some safe, clear area...unhook, do whatever i need to do, rehook in before i even move the glider, hang check before i move the glider, then proceed back to the ramp for another hang check...and i always ask my wired crew or someone else to look me over...people behind me can just wait another minute or so to fly behind me..safety over risk..

i always do at least 2 hang checks...

I always get a keyboard with at least one working shift key before I start typing so I don't look any more brain damaged than I actually am.

...one where i set the glider up..won't move from where i've set up until i hang check...

Super!
- Then you'll have a pretty good idea you're connected to your glider where you set it up!
- And it'll be a whole lot easier for you to find if it gets carried away by a dust devil!

then i walk the glider to the ramp, and hang check again...

Super! Then you'll have a pretty good idea you're connected to your glider when you arrive at the ramp! In fact you'll be DOUBLY sure 'cause you've done TWO hang checks by this point. If only we could get EVERYBODY to do extra hang checks between the setup area and the ramp.

Christian Williams - 2011/10/25 03:59:58 UTC

What's more, I believe that all hooked-in checks prior to the last one before takeoff are a waste of time, not to say dangerous, because they build a sense of security which should not be built more than one instant before commitment to flight.

Have you ever considered using the halfway point between the setup area and the ramp to take a breather and do an ADDITIONAL hang check? I'm pretty sure the reward you'd derive in terms of your sense of security would more than offset the extra hassle.

if i unhook for any reason, i start all over....i never unhook on launch for any reason..

- Dude, you have about fifteen seconds to clear the ramp before that gust front hits.

- I'm sorry, but I NEVER unhook on launch for ANY reason. I wanna be able to assume that any time I'm in a harness on launch I'm connected to a glider. So I'm afraid I simply can't do that.

...i'll back off to some safe, clear area...unhook...

- Now if I could get a couple of people for my nose and right wing while I back up to the back of the ramp and back down the steps I'd really appreciate it.

...do whatever i need to do...

Yeah, untwist your suspension. It would've been absolutely insane to have somebody take ten seconds to unhook your carabiner, flip it around, and reconnect when you can waste your crew's time and force all the gliders in line to back up and make room for you to proceed to some safe, clear area where you can safely unclip, route your suspension properly, reconnect, and check it - like you were supposed to do before you left the setup area twenty minutes ago.

rehook in before i even move the glider, hang check before i move the glider, then proceed back to the ramp for another hang check...

- WOW!!! That would make FOUR hang checks before you get to launch position!!! Hard to imagine anybody in the area not remembering having seen you do at least two! Hard to even CONCEIVE of the sense of security THAT would build for you, your crew, and anybody within sight of launch in the final seconds before you commit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T19GtqUnXDo


- And of course there's NO POSSIBILITY WHATSOEVER that all that stupid bullshit would itself be a distraction and INCREASE the probability of you making a critical mistake.

- How many times do you load test your sidewires? After you've backed off to some safe clear area, unhooked, done whatever you needed to, rehooked and hang checked before you've even moved the glider, proceeded back to the ramp, and done another hang check how do you remember your phone number and mother's maiden name - let alone whether or not you've checked your sidewires?

and i always ask my wired crew or someone else to look me over...

- I prefer my crew not to be excessively wired when I'm moving onto the ramp, getting set, and launching. I like them relaxed, in tune with what's going on, and having a minimal sense of security regarding my hook-in status.

- What kinds of problems do you expect them to find which:
-- you're not capable of identifying yourself?
-- wouldn't be blindingly obvious to a ten year old kid who's never seen a glider before?

- So I guess self launching is pretty much off the board for you, right?

- How 'bout self landing? Do you need somebody on the radio to make sure you get your VG properly set and make your turns at the right speeds, positions, and altitudes?

people behind me can just wait another minute or so to fly behind me..

Sorry but... FUCK YOU!

- When one pilot with his shit together is behind twenty assholes who think the ramp is their personal preflight inspection platform to use for a minute or two to do what they were SUPPOSED TO have taken care of before ever leaving the setup area he's been screwed out of thirty minutes of soaring window.

- And that's before you add in the time he's gets screwed out of by assholes who want their gliders preflighted on the ramp while he's interrupting his setup and his own check procedures to serve crew duty.

- The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.:

Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
06. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating (H-1)
-B. Beginner Rating - Required Witnessed Tasks

01. Setup and preflight of glider and harness, to include familiarity with owner's manual(s).

That's the FIRST requirement for the First bunny hill rating that USHGA offers - and it ain't rocket science. If that's too goddam complex and demanding for you to handle IN THE SETUP AREA and ON YOUR OWN then you've got no goddam business flying off a ramp rated Hang One or better.

- In all the time and times you've been dicking around on the ramp, tying up crew, and wasting the time of the REAL pilots behind you who were ready to go an hour ago, how many times have you or somebody doing your job for you found a problem with your configuration that would've mattered a rat's ass's worth if you had launched with it? I'd say if the answer is a lot more than once you should be seriously considering other hobbies. We're all human but there's a limit to the humanity this game tolerates.

..safety over risk..

Sorry - asshole.

- Increasing the exposure time of yourself, your glider, and your crew on the edge of a cliff performing inspections you were supposed to have taken care of safely back from the cliff diminishes safety and increases risk - especially if the air is doing anything.

- Everybody - pilot, crew, observers - should be looking for problems as preparations for launch are being made but the glider must be assumed to be airworthy and have been preflighted before that stage - doing otherwise and slowing the operation without a good reason makes it more dangerous. You don't check your Cessna's fuel for water at the downwind end of the runway and you don't pull nose cones or load test sidewires on the ramp - especially when you have other planes behind you.

- Using preflight inspection procedures prior to the time of launch to reassure yourself that you'll be hooked in at the instant of launch is certifiably insane.

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

- You've never once in your idiot flying career done a hook-in check to make sure you have your leg loops and are connected to your glider at the ONLY time it matters.

- And you've never once in your idiot flying career made sure that anyone for whom you've crewed has done a hook-in check to make sure HE has his leg loops and is connected to his glider at the ONLY time it matters.

- And there's not the slightest indication in your idiot post that you have the slightest concern for anybody but YOURSELF - quite the contrary in fact.

- Gee, I wonder what the odds are that you got your "training" and ratings at Lookout.

- You know what happened on 2005/10/01 at the ramp overlooking your hometown and why?

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1167
The way it outa be

Steve Kinsley - 2005/10/04 14:04:25 UTC

One last attempt.

We have now rounded up all the usual suspects and promised renewed vigilance, nine page checklists, hang checks every six feet, et cetera. Bob Gillisse redux.

A hang check is part of preflighting your equipment. You do it in the setup area - not on the launch or the ramp. When you get in line you are hooked in and ready to go. No going down for a hang check cum hook in check.

Boy did Steve have your number.

Jack Ass - 2009/06/18 11:38:03 UTC

The final pull up and tug check is not enough. People have done this, thought they felt the tug on their leg straps, and launched unhooked anyway.

I probably do 5-6 hang checks before I launch. A sit down check, a laydown check, a pullthrough check, a sitdown check at launch, another laydown check at launch if someone is there, and a final pull up and tug the leg straps check, then launch.

That still wont save you 100%. Humans make errors. They can do 6 hang checks, get distracted, unhook for a moment, then have it in their minds they still did 6 hang checks and then launch unhooked.

The best you can do it build habits that give you the most opportunity to catch your error. (with lots of hang checks)

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12536

Aw, cut him some slack, Steve...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1153
Hooking In

Steve Kinsley - 2005/10/02 02:45:48 UTC

I already see where the anger and grief take us. We need to do hang checks, double hang checks. And who was on Bill's wire crew? How could they let that happen?

When Bob Gillisse got hurt I suggested that our local institution of the hang check is more the problem than the solution. I still believe that. It subverts the pilot's responsibility to perform a hook-in check. I often do not see pilots doing a hook-in check. Why should they? They just did a hang check and they are surrounded by friends who will make sure this box is checked.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25550
Failure to hook in.

Christian Williams - 2011/10/25 03:59:58 UTC

What's more, I believe that all hooked-in checks prior to the last one before takeoff are a waste of time, not to say dangerous, because they build a sense of security which should not be built more than one instant before commitment to flight.

The more stupid shit Ass Jack does more than one instant before commitment to flight to wear out himself and his crew, cause distractions, create opportunities to fuck something up, and build in a sense of security the happier I am and the better off hang gliding and the gene pool is likely to be.

And here's the immediately preceding and first post in that Jack Show thread...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12536
standard operating procedures

Tad Eareckson - 2009/06/18 11:26:57 UTC

axo,

Whilst googling gliders to add to the weak link table I blundered across this from an evaluation by Dennis Pagen in the 1991/07 edition Hang Gliding magazine of the then new UP TRX:

Bille Floyd - "I was ready to quit flying 'weight shift' for good. Now that I've flown this 'plastic glider,' I've changed my mind. It's the best handling glider I've ever flown."

And then, sixteen years later, from the Oz Report Forum we get:

http://ozreport.com/11.209
Launched unhooked

Doug Koch - 2007/10/24 00:37:48 UTC

A longtime pilot from Southern California and recently Las Vegas named Bille Floyd was seriously injured in a hang gliding accident last week. He launched unhooked while towing at a dry lakebed in Vegas.

Bille fell about twenty to thirty feet from his glider and hit the dirt so hard that he broke both feet at the ankles and drove his shin bones out the bottom of his feet. He also broke his hips and nose, along with other more minor injuries. He is currently in ICU for a few more days and then on to a regular hospital room for a while then to rehabilitation.

I am currently working on an accident report that will examine the causes of his accident and that will hopefully answer all the questions that naturally arise in a situation like this.

And, of course, we NEVER hafta wait for the accident report to know EXACTLY the cause (singular) of this disaster, all the countless ones like it before, and all the ones like it we'll continue to have as long as hang gliding exists. (And - no - it wasn't the introduction of the TRX 160 or a distraction caused by a problem with a camera, radio, or glider itself.)

We're hang glider pilots, we love our freedom, we hate requirements and regulations, and we interpret and/or disregard entirely the rules as it suits us.

The REQUIREMENT says:

With each flight, demonstrates method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

which the smart people in this sport (1-2%) understand means that THE VERY LAST THING you do AFTER you've reached launch position and picked up the glider and immediately before you say "Clear!" is verify that you are, in fact, currently connected to the only thing that will shortly be keeping you alive.

There are lotsa ways to perform this verification but the easiest and most effective for most people is to lift the glider until you feel your leg straps tighten. Even an idiot such as myself can quickly and easily train himself to do this to the point that it becomes a Pavlovian / muscle memory sorta thing.

But we, as a culture, refuse to do this. We Aussie into our harnesses and/or do hang checks at the back of the ramp or launch line then run off the cliff under the ASSUMPTION that we're as hooked in now as we remember being fifteen seconds or minutes ago - and we're just about always right.

Some of our rules suck - stand up and spot landings, releases within "easy reach", weak links with no bottom limit - but there are a lot of REALLY GOOD ones. READ them, follow them unless you've got a half decent reason not to, and compare/contrast them to what your instructors with thirty years experience are telling you.

Even if the odds are pretty long that doing things right will have any bearing on your own health, by setting an example you may influence a few of your friends enough to prevent one of them from having to have HIS legs amputated.

And if you click in the post's lower right corner on that little red button - mostly used by Jack Show caliber douchebags who have neither the attention spans nor intellects required to have a freakin' clue what an issue is about but just like pissing all over people who are trying to have rational conversations to make positive changes - this is what you get:

2009/06/18 15:55:04 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Scott C. Wise
2009/06/19 19:52:59 UTC - 3 thumbs up - handgliderguy
2009/06/18 13:36:58 UTC - Sink This! -- Chris Valley
2009/06/19 16:03:49 UTC - Sink This! -- Allen Sparks

Also got a little:

2009/06/21 13:24:00 UTC - Sink This! -- Allen Sparks

piss for my 2009/06/21 13:13:16 UTC post near the end of that thread.

But then after Oscar assumes he's hooked in at launch one too many times...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JFe7rUCnc


...at (fortunately for him) Dockweiler, you get:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18876
Hang glider Crash

Allen Sparks - 2010/09/07 01:03:18 UTC
Evergreen, Colorado

Oscar,

I'm very happy you weren't injured.

Helen,

Thanks for the Tad 'lift and tug' reminder.

I have launched unhooked and experienced the horror of hanging by my fingers over jagged rocks ... and the surreal result - i.e. not being significantly injured.

I am a firm believer in 'lift and tug' and the mindset of assuming I am not hooked in. It is motivated by the recurring memory of my own experience ... and the tragic deaths and life-altering injuries of good friends.

and a brief glimmer of hope.

But then when you go to see if what he's DOING:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58YFXjwXn8
Becoming Airborne
Allen Sparks - 2010/08/12
dead

matches up with what he's SAYING you're right back at BULLSHIT.

And then after Yossi gets killed by following the example set by Allen and untold tens of thousands of other wastes of space you gotta listen to this shift keyless:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21474
fatal accident in Israel‎

Allen Sparks - 2011/04/10 13:23:17 UTC

as someone who has survived launching unhooked and lost a friend who launched unhooked and has a friend who is seriously disabled from launching unhooked ...

sad news indeed

may he rest in peace

and may his family and friends find peace

'Spark

crap.

So welcome to Kite Strings, Allen. But I'm hoping to attract more of the sorts of people who wanna learn, solve problems, set good examples, reach out, and slow the kill rate a little bit and fewer of the total assholes who sabotage the discussions and suppress the messages then offer cheap, useless condolences to family and friends two seconds or more after the damage has been done - and STILL say and do nothing to help prevent the next one.

I instinctively lean towards giving people the benefit of the doubt despite the number of times your sort have provided overwhelming evidence of what a monumentally bad idea that is - but I'd be absolutely thrilled if you stun me with a tiny degree of evidence to the contrary.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12536
standard operating procedures

Jack Axaopoulos - 2009/06/18 11:38:03 UTC

The final pull up and tug check is not enough.

Right, asshole. There's a whole bunch of shit ya gotta do and check if ya wanna land in good enough shape to be able to move the glider off the field, pack it up, and use it again next weekend before the final pull up and tug check. That's why they call it the FINAL pull up and tug check - rather than the five-or-ten-minute-before-you-run-off-the-ramp pull up and tug check.

You have to put pins in basetube/downtube junctions, insert and tension battens, make sure that most of the bolts have nuts on the threaded ends, and check that at least four or five of your flying wires will be good for another hour or two.

You also have to get in your harness, make sure you're through your leg loops, and properly connect to your hang loop.

- We're assuming you've done your fuckin' job in the setup area - like you're supposed to have.

Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
06. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating (H-1)
-B. Beginner Rating - Required Witnessed Tasks

01. Setup and preflight of glider and harness, to include familiarity with owner's manual(s).

- We're also assuming you've learned and remember how to fly a fuckin' glider.

- But we're assuming you're NOT hooked in - even though at this point we've done everything possible to maximize the chances that you are.

People have done this, thought they felt the tug on their leg straps, and launched unhooked anyway.

Yeah, asshole?
- So you have people who:
-- aren't connected to their gliders because they:
--- skipped the hook-in AND preflight; or
--- hooked in but subsequently unhooked and forgot
-- remembered to do the hook-in check but have no recollection of failing to hook in and preflight or unhooking
-- lift the glider and imagine feeling tugs on BOTH legs - AND
-- perceive that glider stops going up the instant they imagine feeling tugs on both legs.

- And of course:
-- there's no one around to notice that they're not hooked in before they go off
-- they're functional enough in the setup area to get the glider together in good enough shape that nobody ever notices anything wrong with it

- And all these incidents have consequences so trivial that there've never been any accessible reports in the magazine or any discussion groups - and I've researched this issue at least twenty or thirty times as thoroughly as any halfway sane person would ever dream of doing.

- How many people on the planet are practicing lift and tug? Think it's up into double digits? And there's a significant enough percentage of them with the requisite psychosis for this to happen?

- What do these people do in the air when they DON'T launch unhooked?

I probably do 5-6 hang checks before I launch. A sit down check, a laydown check, a pullthrough check, a sitdown check at launch, another laydown check at launch if someone is there, and a final pull up and tug the leg straps check, then launch.

Ya know, Jack...

I was a dune instructor. I spent A LOT of time ground handling and floating all kinds of gliders in in all kinds of conditions in harnesses but unhooked and - funny thing - I NEVER felt the leg loops tug - or a glider stop - when lifting or floating. I was either connected or I wasn't - and there was never THE LEAST question.

You're so incredibly full o' shit. It's astonishing that you and Bob ever had a falling out and parting of ways.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12536
standard operating procedures

Jack Axaopoulos - 2009/06/18 11:38:03 UTC

I probably do 5-6 hang checks before I launch. A sit down check, a laydown check, a pullthrough check, a sitdown check at launch, another laydown check at launch if someone is there, and a final pull up and tug the leg straps check, then launch.

Of course you do, Jack.

Rob Kells - 2005/12

Always lift the glider vertically and feel the tug on the leg straps when the harness mains go tight, just before you start your launch run. I always use this test.

My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above. Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.

There's an inverse relationship between the number of hang checks a person does prior to each launch and his intelligence and competence.

The number of hang checks Rob, Steve, Mike, and I do is zero.

In all that idiot bullshit you're doing how many times has it revealed:
- that you weren't connected?
- a dangerous or potentially dangerous issue?
- a problem which would've made the flight uncomfortable enough to cut the flight short?
- an inconsequential issue like a twist that you probably wouldn't even have noticed?

If the answer to any of the above is greater than zero, what have you discovered which you couldn't have found as or more easily and effectively by doing a walk-through and turning your head at the back of the ramp twenty seconds before launch?

Me...

If it's safe and convenient I connect my harness to the glider before I get into it. Makes it easier to make the connection and preflight it and the suspension.

Otherwise I suit up, hook in, do a walk-through, and turn my head.

When I make the connection - carabiner or speed link - I preflight it. That means looking at it for an extra half second after I've engaged.

I did a partial with the carabiner one time in high winds on the dunes when I was nervous and the trauma of seeing that carabiner nose resting on the midpoint of the webbing was all I needed to get my head wired right.

I'm not the least bit worried about ever doing another partial 'cause I'm scared shitless of doing another partial.

When I get in my harness I look at and/or touch the leg loops - so they're preflighted at that point.

On the ramp the preflighting of my connection, suspension, wires, and anything else that halfway matters has been DONE - but/and I'm assuming at all times that I'm NOT hooked in.

So just before I commit to launch I lift the glider - assuming it's not floating in the wind already - to confirm that I'm connected and have my leg loops. If the glider stops I'm good - PERIOD. The preflight's over and I'm as competent to have taken care of the important items as I am to run off the ramp and land - and nothing else matters at that point just before my foot moves.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=24633
FTHI

David Boggs - 2012/02/15 16:55:47 UTC
Beaumont, California

No matter how much this is brought up and discussed...
No matter how many lists, signs, or gizmos are created...
One or more pilots will launch unhooked this year...
Just the way it is, some things will never change.

- Lists, signs, and gizmos are ALL worse than useless.

- No PILOTS will launch unhooked this year.

- Lotsa assholes will launch unhooked this year but most unhooked launches will occur in scooter tow and on bunny hills and we'll never hear about most of them.

- The US is way overdue for a kill. Kunio was the last one on 2008/08/30.

- The problem is NOT that a few people are launching unhooked and someone gets killed or majorly fucked up every once in a while. Those incidents are just a symptom of the REAL problem.

- The REAL problem is that virtually NOBODY EVER...

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

...demonstrates a method of establishing that he is hooked in JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.

- And the route of THAT problem is that NONE of the motherfuckers with Instructor tickets are teaching or requiring that students, with each flight, demonstrate a method of establishing that they're hooked in just prior to launch.

- And I'll tell ya sumpin' else, Dave... The few people who make the slightest effort to comply with that requirement will NOT be figuring into the statistics.

- We could EASILY change the landscape and virtually eliminate these incidents - trivial, serious, and tragic.

- But people who say that this issue will never change - AND NEVER DO OR LOOK FOR HOOK-IN CHECKS THEMSELVES - just make the problem a lot harder.