4144 Review - Sonoma Wings

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/26 21:49

I do, however, find Tad Eareckson's rant disingenuous at best and in general utterly dishonest when looked at in the light of serious intellectual discussion.

Which you will now proceed to deliver to us all by yourself. Too bad you had to go to the trouble. One would've thunk that after a half a dozen years you could've just posted some links to some of the serious intellectual discussions debunking Tad's lunacy and disingenuous and utterly dishonest rants. Go figure.

Begin serious intellectual discussion:

While aero-towing a hang glider has risks and skill requirements different from those associated with purely foot-launched flight, the actual record of aero-toewing contradicts one of his first premises in the following: "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." This just doesn't pan out in the light of reality.

Most hang gliding competitions in the U.S. are now being conducted via aero-tow with hundreds of successful launches in the strongest conditions of the day. Yes, accidents still happen just like they do in typical foot-launch competitions, but not in any statistically different numbers or with any greater level of injury or fatality. OK, maybe using competitions as the benchmark is unfair, since pilots will be assumed to have higher skills as a base-line.

Serious intellectual discussion concluded. Thanks bigtime, Skyvine. If it weren't for you and you alone we'd have never had this serious intellectual discussion. I sure pray that nothing bad ever happens to you lest we be totally and permanently fucked with regard to serious intellectual discussion.

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

So in other words, there COULD BE some real analysis which supports Mr. Eareckson's premise (or his "manifesto," as he calls it). Every punctuation mark in Mr. Eareckson's premise (or his "manifesto," as he calls it) might be spot on. And here I was thinking that his rant had been shown to be disingenuous at best and in general utterly dishonest when looked at in the light of the serious intellectual discussion you just provided - while jerking off with your other hand.

Thankfully, freedom of speech gives Mr. Eareckson the opportunity to rant all he wants in any venue he chooses to exploit.

Didn't you just say that Mr. Eareckson could be one hundred percent spot on with every punctuation mark? So how come you're spewing this rot about ranting and exploitation if you actually don't have a fuckin' clue which way is up?

Let's hope it leads to some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve free flight safety in general and especially in regards to aero-towing.

OK, I'm starting to hope now. Any idea about how long I'll need to hope for this honest level-headed discussion and analysis to begin and these safety issues to be addressed? And to whom should we be looking to initiate this honest level-headed discussion? Obviously not you 'cause you've already announced that all you're gonna do is sit on your fat ass and hope. And I'm out 'cause I'm apparently disingenuous and utterly dishonest in the light of your serious intellectual discussion.

Suck my dick, Skyvine. The last thing that ever emerged on any significant scale on the positive side of the equation as a consequence of a serious intellectual discussion was the fuckin' Brooks Bridle over three and a half decades ago. And that got killed and buried about a half hour later by Donnell's lunatic Skyting Bridle and all the bells and whistles that got packaged along with it.

This sport is pretty much the same idiot colony it was three decades ago and if you hopped in a time machine and went back things wouldn't look all that different from what they do today. And much has gotten worse - upright only training harnesses and pro toad aerotow bridles come to mind. And damn near ALL of the few positive changes and innovations we've had have come about through the efforts of individuals working in isolation or collaborating in pairs.

Wanna know what happens when you start increasing the number of cooks?

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929
Training Manual Comments / Contribution

Bob Kuczewski - 2012/01/07 17:59:55 UTC

I'm looking for people who can work together to build an on-line training manual for hang gliding. Yes, that does require a certain amount of agreeability and willingness to compromise. The only Training Manual that Tad can build is the one where he has 100% control.

NOTHING - *AT BEST*. At worst Davis Dead-On Straub and Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney.

P.S.

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

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/25 04:55:25 UTC

It always amazes to hear know it all pilots arguing with the professional pilots.
I mean seriously, this is our job.
We do more tows in a day than they do in a month (year for most).

We *might* have an idea of how this stuff works.
They *might* do well to listen.
Not that they will, mind you... cuz they *know*.

I mean seriously... ridgerodent's going to inform me as to what Kroop has to say on this? Seriously? Steve's a good friend of mine. I've worked at Quest with him. We've had this discussion ... IN PERSON. And many other ones that get misunderstood by the general public. It's laughable.

Don't even get me started on Tad. That obnoxious blow hard has gotten himself banned from every flying site that he used to visit... he doesn't fly anymore... because he has no where to fly. His theories were annoying at best and downright dangerous most of the time. Good riddance.

So, argue all you like.
I don't care.
I've been through all these arguments a million times... this is my job.
I could be more political about it, but screw it... I'm not in the mood to put up with tender sensibilities... Some weekend warrior isn't about to inform me about jack sh*t when it comes to towing. I've got thousands upon thousands of tows under my belt. I don't know everything, but I'll wager the house that I've got it sussed a bit better than an armchair warrior.

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/30 02:16:16 UTC

They're not here cuz they don't feel like arguing all the time.
Most of the other people "in the business" don't come here cuz it turns into a shouting match too often.

Look how uppity people got when I even termed people "in the business" "professional pilots".
It's accurate, but some got all offended. They couldn't stand that someone doesn't see their uninformed opinion as holding as much weight as an informed one.

I know a lot of regular joes that do the same... for the same reason. There's a lot of lurkers here that really really do not care to get sucked into the mud.

I can't blame them, I avoid this place on a regular basis.
It's a shame too, cuz there's a lot of really really nice people in HG. Most are.
And all this sewing circle, drama queen bullshit keeps a lot of very informed people away... ya'll miss out on a lot.
The actual "insider" discussions, that you never see, are so much better.

But man oh man, do people not feel the need to even be civil here sometimes.
Have a think about that next time you're off on a tirade.

Any "thoughts" on these serious intellectual discussions on Cortland 130 pound Greenspot fishing line that we muppets aren't privy to, wouldn't be able to understand if we were, and can't be dumbed down enough to be explained to us?

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/29 21:16

Hi Steve - check the link in Fred's post:

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html

There is another link to more "manifesto" writings, and I may have mistakenly attributed the manifesto to the wrong writings of his. My sincere apologies for any confusion.

Hi Brian -

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.

I assume this was written without any disingenuous intentions by the author, but I still find it fundamentally dishonest in its appraisal of aero-towing.

Aero-towing does present additional risk and complexity to hang glider flight, but to say that I have no reasonable expectation to remain on tow or separate from it is just fundamentally wrong given my own empirical experience and the actual numbers of aero-tow flights conducted annually worldwide. If the statement was even remotely true, no one would aero-tow. 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, but sensationalized rants only cloud the real issues and turn opportunities for change into battles of opinion and position.

Hi Fred - I am confused about the connection with child abuse and aero-towing that appears to be the trending content of this thread, and wonder if these topics shouldn't be separated. While child abuse is a critical social issue in need of attention, it does seem outside the scope and intent of a hang gliding forum.

Thanks,
Eric

Hi Steve - check the link in Fred's post:

http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html

He doesn't NEED to check the link in Fred's post - asshole. It constitutes the entirety of the first post in the thread - which is Steve's.

There is another link to more "manifesto" writings...

1. "MORE" "manifesto" writings? Sorry, I missed the part where we established that the document under discussion was a "manifesto" writing.
2. Yeah? Where? Too much trouble to provide it?

...and I may have mistakenly attributed the manifesto to the wrong writings of his.

1. Oh. You MAY have?
2. What were the right writings of his that fell into the manifesto category?
3. *YOU* *FUCKED* *UP* - PERIOD.

My sincere apologies for any confusion.

1. What confusion? See above. If you wanna apologize for something apologize for being a disingenuous dishonest dickhead.

2. Your sincere apologies to whom?

3. What are you apologizing for? You haven't said or done anything wrong. If people are "CONFUSED" then how is that your fault? Shouldn't they be apologizing to you for being confused?

Hi Brian -

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.

I assume this was written without any disingenuous intentions by the author, but I still find it fundamentally dishonest in its appraisal of aero-towing.

1. In other words, you find that it was written with disingenuous intentions by the author.

2. As opposed to being written without any disingenuous intentions by someone who WASN'T the author - possibly a Venezuelan offshore oil drilling rig maintenance supervisor.

Aero-towing does present additional risk and complexity to hang glider flight...

How much additional risk? To date this year we've had ten fatal crashes none of which had a goddam thing to do with aerotowing. I've gotta go back to a year plus a week to Steven Tinoson to find somebody so much as scratched or better aerotowing. And that was a new student being flown by some negligent motherfuckers and not the sorta thing anyone who knows how to fly need worry about.

...but to say that I have no reasonable expectation to remain on tow...

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.

Lemme ask ya sumpin', motherfucker... Do you launch with your pod zipped or un?

...or separate from it...

Dennis Pagen - 2005/01

By the time we gained about sixty feet I could no longer hold the glider centered - I was probably at a twenty degree bank - so I quickly released before the lockout to the side progressed. The glider instantly whipped to the side in a wingover maneuver.

Lemme ask ya some other stuff, motherfucker...

- What do you use for a:
-- release and how easily reachable is it?
-- weak link and what's its purpose?

- When you're flying front end what are the strengths of your tow mast breakaway and tow mast breakaway protector, why are you using those strengths, and why is there nothing analogous on a sailplane tug?

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

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

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.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=16384
Tow Release Malfunction

Jim Rooney - 2010/03/26 20:54:43 UTC

Dude, quit bogarting that stuff
How's it go? Never say never.

Bent pin releases are indeed very very reliable. But 100%? Nope. It's exceptionally rare, but they jam. All mechanical things do.

If they were perfection, everyone would be using them.

...is just fundamentally wrong given my own empirical experience...

1. Which is WHAT?

2. Fuck your own empirical experience. In my own empirical experience I could've spent my entire AT career flying a five hundred pound week link and a hook knife as my release and come through smelling like a rose with zero inconveniences. As it was I had one really hard crash that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Ridgley’s standard safety device and their cart basetube brackets which wouldn't accommodate my eight inch Finsterwalders.

...and the actual numbers of aero-tow flights conducted annually worldwide.

What ARE the actual numbers of aerotow flights conducted annually worldwide? (Get fucked.)

If the statement was even remotely true, no one would aero-tow.

Oh really...

Gil Dodgen - 1995/01

All of this reminds me of a comment Mike Meier made when he was learning to fly sailplanes. He mentioned how easy it was to land a sailplane (with spoilers for glide-path control and wheels), and then said, "If other aircraft were as difficult to land as hang gliders no one would fly them."

And I guess that if it were even remotely true that cigarettes cause lung cancer nobody would smoke them.

That is not to suggest that current training techniques and standards are without fault.

1, But your EQUIPMENT is PERFECT.

2. Why? We've had over a quarter century of Dragonfly aerotowing to get things right and we still can't seem to figure out what a weak link's supposed to do or build gliders with built in releases comparable to what we have on damn near all aerotowed gliders for VG systems. How much more time do we need to make things noticeably different from what the did on Day Two? We killed Tad's proposed AT SOPs revision without even looking at it so that innovation wouldn't be stifled? What's the holdup?

3. Here's a standard that we've had since the beginning of time:

A release must be placed at the hang glider end of the tow line within easy reach of the pilot. This release shall be operational with zero tow line force up to twice the rated breaking strength of the weak link.

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.

Anyhow, the tandem can indeed perform big wingovers, as I demonstrated when I finally got separated from the tug.

Tell me when the slightest effort has been made to comply with a fraction of it.

4. Do your current "standards" make the slightest effort to comply with FAA aerotow regulations? When you pull a tandem does its weak link meet the legal minimum? And is your weak link on the end of the towline and does it exceed the glider's? Or is it built into your tow mast and designed to snap before the tandem gets up to the legal minimum?

It is imperative that we continue to pursue safety improvements in every facet of our sport...

It is? Name some successes we've scored in the course of the past quarter century, preferably the ones in which you've had a hand. Try to keep the list down to five pages or less.

And when you can't do that then point to some evidence that shows we're not moving deliberately backwards.

...but sensationalized rants...

Suck my dick, Eric.

- You quote something from within that hundred page document that qualifies as a rant of any description or degree.

- Furthermore... Sensationalization is, by definition, a form of dishonesty. You've said that you "assume this was written without any disingenuous intentions by the author" and have now twice contradicted yourself accusing me of disingenuousness. Pretty fuckin' obvious which one of us is lying his ass off.

...only cloud the real issues...

Which are WHAT? You haven't identified any. How can I ever hope to cloud real issues if have no idea what they are? Just give me ONE real issue to cloud with one of my sensationalized rants so I can destroy one of your efforts to pursue a safety improvement in just one facet of our sport. Is that unreasonable? Am I asking too much?

...and turn opportunities for change into battles of opinion and position.

Like these?:



Team Kite Strings used sensationalized rants to turn the opportunity for getting a good handle on what a weak link was into battles of opinion and position so that now there isn't a single AT operation or comp in the country that will reveal what standard it's using for a weak link?

Hi Fred - I am confused about the connection with child abuse and aero-towing...

I dunno... The Lois Preston murder doesn't qualify? And if we don't limit the discussion to aero then it seems that Arys Moorhead is a no brainer.

...that appears to be the trending content of this thread, and wonder if these topics shouldn't be separated.

Why? His posts have a few thousand times the substance of yours. Might as well do SOMETHING productive with this thread.

While child abuse is a critical social issue in need of attention...

I think you should get on it. If you're a tenth as effective dealing with manifestos and sensationalized rants in this field as you have been in aerotowing the global child abuse issue should be history by the weekend.

...it does seem outside the scope and intent of a hang gliding forum.

Like all the total crap you've contributed to this thread?

Thanks,
Eric

Lying sack o' shit.

OK, our buddy has been stupid enough to engage in the discussion and admit that:
- current training techniques and standards are not without fault
- there real issues in need of change

If we can get him to NAME ONE we can really do a number on him. And if he WON'T name one we can really do a number on him. Must be total hell being a hang glider tug driver - if you say ANYTHING you're immediately, totally, and permanently fucked. Guess Bobby really is a fucking genius at least on that score and as far as print is concerned.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

P.S.

You establishment motherfuckers pack so much bullshit on so many levels and into so many dimensions into your posts that it's pretty much impossible to deal with it in fewer than two or three extensive passes even for the short stuff.

Brian presented you with pretty goddam solid statements and evidence strongly supporting the validity of the concerns in Mr. Eareckson's "manifesto", as he calls it, which you proceeded to totally ignore - exactly the way you totally ignored all of the granite solid documentation in Mr. Eareckson's "manifesto". And then you proceeded to blather on about your own empirical experience and the actual numbers of aerotow flights conducted annually worldwide in your jerk-off of an honest level-headed continuation of the discussion.

So the "substance" of that is that you're calling both of us liars and finding nothing the least problematic with the total crap perpetrated in the Official Flight Training Manual of the U. S. Hang Gliding Association.

Some more questions for your sleazy ass...

- What, in your empirical experience, have the solo gliders who've hooked up behind you been using as the focal points of your safe towing systems?

- At what tow pressures do these focal points increase the safety of the towing operation - one and two point bridles?

- Where do these pressures fall inside the FAA legal range?

- How many lives do you typically see them saving in a typical flying weekend?

- What was the ratio of inconveniences to lives saved and what was the average number of downtubes trashed in the course of these inconveniences?

- What's your opinion on whether or not the inconvenience Zack Marzec experienced in the course of his 2015/02/02 tow was a reasonable price to pay for the degree to which it increased the safety of that particular towing operation?

No, wait. That last one would be an opinion and position which would start a battle which would only cloud the real issue and destroy an opportunity for change. Please ignore it and continue to blather on about your own empirical experience and the actual numbers of aerotow flights conducted annually worldwide.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Fred Bickford - 2015/09/30 13:00

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

Thank you, Fred. Keep moving in that direction and maybe we can get something positive outta this.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

P.S.

It's not really "Tad's" Kite Strings. It wasn't founded and was never intended to be as such - and certainly nothing that I want. It was and is intended to be a forum belonging to anyone and everyone who wants to participate in transforming hang gliding from being the wacko religious cult it always has been into a competent branch of aviation - as outlined in the first two posts (in "Welcome").

And a participant can be a poster, registered lurker, or un registered member of the public. It's a public resource and everything posted is fully accessible to anyone who cares to click in.

rcpilot - 2015/09/30 20:08

Big thanks for the editing of your first post, Fred!
The inclusion of the link to Kite Strings wasn't really necessary, as it is not a site for those too stupid, apathetic, and/or lazy to find it on their own.

Anyone in the sport who's NOT aware of and monitoring it is deliberately bending over backwards far enough to be able to get his head up his ass.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/29 21:16

Hi Steve - check the link in Fred's post:
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html
There is another link to more "manifesto" writings, and I may have mistakenly attributed the manifesto to the wrong writings of his. My sincere apologies for any confusion.

OK, motherfucker... Here are one hundred percent of the links in:
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html
the original "manifesto" writing - every last one of them consolidated in Section 10 - Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjcCyMsOAOQ
My 2nd mountain launch, LMFP, ASW8055

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u51qpPLz5U0
Un-Hooked Aerotow Hang Glider

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4095721502206080003#
hello dolly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_n5B3-MIC4
MG crashes his brains out

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/
Cache set
temp set
Aerotow Release System set

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerotowrelease/4037808062/sizes/o/
Tandem Aerotow

http://nhgc.wikidot.com/mike-lake
Norfolk Hang Gliding Club

http://www.tamuk.edu/news/2007/march/hewitt/
Texas A&M-Kingsville Physics Professor Receives National Award

http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/
Dynamic Flight Hang Gliding School - Trawalla, Victoria

Eleven references - four of them now dead or inaccessible. Remainder:
- two AT disaster videos - Zapata and Australia
- three sets from my photos collection - brief descriptions of illustrated hardware
- Mike Lake's history of the evolution of towing technology in East Anglia from the late Seventies to early Eighties
- Australia's most prominent hang gliding school

Which one of those is the link to the more "manifesto" writings you MAY have MISTAKENLY attributed to Mr. Eareckson's disingenuous and utterly dishonest source document rant?

Lying goddam tuggie pigfucker. You know EXACTLY where you can shove your fake/non sincere apologies for any "confusion".

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Got a 2015/10/03 18:16:43 UTC PM from Steve who'd caught that I'd confused:
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html
with:
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/4144review.pdf
last post. Yep, not surprising since Skyslime had written:

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/29 21:16

Hi Steve - check the link in Fred's post:
http://www.energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/TadEareckson/index.html

Well, that WASN'T the link in Fred's post. That was the link in Fred's then megaparagraphed extract from my 4144 Review document which, for the purpose of the discussion, was just serving as a repository for the PDF file. The link in Fred's post was the then megaparagraphed extract from my 4144 Review document.

Also, this topic was SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN about the 4144 Review document which Skyslime hadn't bothered to skim so I'm having a hard time figuring out how this asshole found the time to peruse the OTHER '"manifesto" writings.

No apologies to this lying sonuvabitch regarding my error. There's NOTHING there that can be characterized as a manifesto - and way the hell less in the way of anything that could be mistakenly construed as me referring to anything as 'my "manifesto"'. Same as I documented in my previous post.

Let's hope it leads to some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve free flight safety in general and especially in regards to aero-towing.

It's so fucking infuriating when these Industry douchebags feign desire for exactly what anyone with half a brain or better could and would use to blow them outta the water in under fifteen seconds.

One good thing about the Dragonfly... It's got an unidentified control system issue which can kill a driver in a blink. And something that just occured to me... You'll notice that not one individual from either the Keavy Nenninger or Mark Knight family-and-friends crowds has shown the slightest interest in getting to the bottom of the problem and making sure it gets dealt with before the next guy buys it. Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney makes a total bullshit statement like:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27909
Dragonfly Accident at Lookout

Jim Rooney - 2012/06/09 03:05:22 UTC

BTW, you have no need or use of reminding me of the other tug pilot that we lost.
She was a friend of mine and an exceptionally close friend of my mates.
You will likewise not be able to inform me of anything regarding her accident.
Allow me to inform you.
She was a rookie and it was a rookie mistake made under duress and extremely low.

and every everyone and his dog gives him a total lifetime pass on it.

If Keavy was indeed a friend a Jim's and an exceptionally close friend of his MATES (how I'd love to get some good photos of him mating with them) - and not one individual from the Keavy Nenninger family-and-friends crowd has taken the slightest issue with that claim - then BOTH 2011/07/23 and 2014/02/23 were great days for the gene pool in general and the sport in particular.

http://alancockrell.blogspot.com/2011/08/ode-to-keavy.html
Decision Height*: Ode to Keavy

Alan Cockrell - 2011/08/05

After dazzling her professors at St. Louis University she collected an aerospace engineering degree, then got a commercial pilot certificate. She interned with Delta and used her travel passes to see the world.

A couple of months ago she called me and said she wanted to be a military pilot. "That's wasted talent," I told her, but she wanted it badly—wanted another challenge.

Then I met an officer in charge of pilot recruiting in the Andrews Air Guard and told him about her. His eyes got big. "She's exactly what we're looking for," he said. "Please have her get in touch with me." She did. They began processing her application. I anticipated bragging to the guys that I had created a new second lieutenant and a new KC-135 tanker pilot.

Tell me just how you have qualifications like those, walk into this total sewer of a flavor of aviation, work half a season in it pulling pro toad bent pin junk tied to your tow mast breakaway protector, drop one out of five or ten solo gliders below fifty feet as their standard aerotow weak links increase the safety of the towing operation, pull tandems in flagrant and unambiguous violation of u$hPa SOPs and FAA aerotowing regulations with illegally light weak links heavier than your tow mast breakaway protector, think everything is OK, and not say or do anything.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3600
Weak link question

Jim Rooney - 2008/11/24 05:18:15 UTC

Well, I'm assuming there was some guff about the tug pilot's right of refusal?
Gee, didn't think we'd have to delve into "pilot in command"... I figured that one's pretty well understood in a flying community.

It's quite simple.
The tug is a certified aircraft... the glider is an unpowered ultralight vehicle. The tug pilot is the pilot in command. You are a passenger. You have the same rights and responsibilities as a skydiver.
It's a bitter pill I'm sure, but there you have it.

BTW, if you think I'm just spouting theory here, I've personally refused to tow a flight park owner over this very issue. I didn't want to clash, but I wasn't towing him. Yup, he wanted to tow with a doubled up weaklink. He eventually towed (behind me) with a single and sorry to disappoint any drama mongers, we're still friends. And lone gun crazy Rooney? Ten other tow pilots turned him down that day for the same reason.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/7230
Towing question

Martin Henry - 2009/06/26 06:06:59 UTC

PS... you got to be careful mentioning weak link strengths around the forum, it can spark a civil war

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.

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

Dr. Trisa Tilletti 1: Unlike the FAA's relatively clear-cut legal rules, the practical aspects of weak link technology and application are not so clear-cut. For some people, talking about weak links is more like talking about religion, politics, or global warming--they can get very emotional about it and have difficulty discussing it logically, rationally, or with civility.

Dr. Trisa Tilletti 2: So let's try to talk about it rationally, logically, and practically here.

Millions of us weekender muppets were in a constant state of war on this one issue but Keavy wasn't really qualified and tuned in enough to do the second grade arithmetic, know something was seriously wrong, check out Tad's Hole in the Ground, so much as whisper a word about what was going on? Sorry, not buying it.

And fuck anybody who has more than two or three encounters/exchanges with Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and doesn't hate his guts big time. Ditto regarding any of his "MATES". (Gawd I hate that affected cool Aussie accent. Americans - including Canadian Americans - don't talk like that. They don't talk like that even when they're in country if they're not pretentious jerks. Come to think of it...

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

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/25 06:23:15 UTC

Too right Christopher.

I don't even hear Aussies speaking Aussie on glider forums. I can rarely tell they're Aussie unless/until they post their locations or make references to regular flying sites. Ditto for the UK, South Africa, New Zealand. And Rooney's never even been to Australia - but I guess he figures a few New Zealand summers is close enough. He's the only English language poster I know who can be easily identified as a native of a particular country - and a native of a country he's never once been to or even flown over.

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

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/09 18:30:26 UTC

Because it's one of those crusty old debates that HGs love to go round and round with.
It's like uttering the word "wheels"... the conversation instantly turns into the great wheel debate.

Sorry for the interruption.
Please continue with the speculation.
I'll be over here, doing something productive.

Must spend all his free time studying Crocodile Dundee movies.)

These front enders are driving planes that were deliberately and successfully designed to kill gliders so it's only fair that one of them gets killed every now and then. And let's hope that next September we'll be following the progress of the 2016 Santa Cruz Flats Race and Eric Skyslime Beckman Memorial.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

"Manifesto" in its normal context and with its normal connotation from the sorta person one normally associates with the term:

Gosia Wozniackatami Abdollah - 2015/10/04 10:09
Associated Press

Roseburg, Oregon

Authorities have not disclosed whether they have an envelope or package from Harper-Mercer, who Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Saturday killed himself as officers arrived. But a law enforcement official said a manifesto of several pages had been recovered.

Wonder if he mentioned anything about standard aerotow weak links.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Fred Bickford - 2015/09/27 16:29

There's not as many books on the subject of various forms of child abuse as there should be and its too misunderstood by society as a whole in my opinion.

How 'bout hang gliding, Fred? When I took my FAA ground school course probably early 1985 we were assigned the fifth edition of Van Sickle's Modern Airmanship - hard bound, 878 pages, solid very comprehensive, twenty-five then bucks. In all of hang gliding do we have anything remotely comparable? Anything that explains the theory and physics and is accepted as solid by all of hang gliding's universally respected professionals? Do we have any heated exchanges on the forums which get settled by people quoting the relevant explanations from the text such that everyone gets on the same right page and moves forward?

It's somewhat of a taboo topic generally, but at the same time recognized as an epidemic globally.

Kinda like weak links, huh? Find some schools, flight parks, comps specifying what they're using or requiring for weak links and explaining what they're using them for and what they're supposed to do. So we end up with various flavors of fishing line which crash gliders at different rates - highest for the safer stuff, nonexistent for the most dangerous.

The striking similarities occur because both venues are controlled by wacko, snake oil selling religious cults attempting to define reality in their own delusional images.

Recommended viewing... E.O. Wilson - Of Ants and Men - Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. Tells ya how we social animals work and why. If anyone is confused about why Kite Strings - the closest thing hang gliding has to a Modern Airmanship - has zilch in the way of participants and is doomed to extinction in the not very distant future, listen to what he says on tribalism and the cost of ostracism.

Sexual child abuse... 100.00 percent of dolphins are or very soon will be victims and perpetrators of sexual child abuse. In the case a baby boy we're talking literally seconds after birth. The problem is they haven't evolved wacko middle eastern religions to explain to them how traumatized and evil at heart they all are and how they need to develop treatment programs, prisons, registration lists... They just think they're normal dolphins being normal dolphins.

It's somewhat of a taboo topic generally, but at the same time recognized as an epidemic globally.

Exactly. For dolphins and humans and at least some and possibly all other species of primates. What WAS God thinking when he was writing the software for so many of His creations? Or was he just working off his own image a bit too much?

More recommended viewing... Prime Suspect 7 - The Final Act. Find me somebody who finds the two central people of varying ages physically, emotionally repellent - and the responses, behavior of the people of normal ages predatory, freakish, unforgivable.

It's a taboo subject 'cause nobody wants to admit the truth about him/her self. That's why only total idiots of the Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney layer of the muck will resort to that card when all their other scams have failed.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Brian Scharp - 2015/10/01 08:08

It's true that what people find reasonable varies. I find images like these troubling even though they didn't end in disaster.

18-092710
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/15620367745_50560f4687_o.png

31-44408
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/16019967558_9f3d9c731c_o.png

For the purposes of the exercises they're both kills.

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

rcpilot - 2015/10/01 19:00

It's true that what people find reasonable varies.

07-300

http://ozreport.com/pub/images/Jrs_2009.jpg

rcpilot - 2015/10/04 20:34

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31738
Calculating weak link strength

Mike Badley - 2014/08/21 21:31:04 UTC

If you never break weak links and you sometimes WISH they would while you're pulling in for all your worth yelling SHiiiii... well, step down in size.

Does the above sentence sound "reasonable" to you, Eric?

This bullshit's been going on for decades and Eric's never uttered a word on any of it so yeah - obviously.