4144 Review - Sonoma Wings

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

Clearly, one example (Mr. Badley's) does not make a "reasonable" statistical sample with which to support an argument. I would also point out that if we were to post even a small number of photos of blown foot-launches from just this year alone, we would need a different forum to display them all. Should that mean we stop people from foot-launching and send letters to the FAA in complaint of unsafe practices?

Once again, my responses are not meant to convey an opinion of the relative safety of towing over that of foot-launching, nor to defend the practice of using only "pro-tow" barrel releases that require the pilot to let go of the control bar to actuate the release. I personally believe that all towing should be done with a multi-point system utilizing a bicycle brake lever mounted on the base tube in conjunction with a pro-tow or 3-ring secondary/backup, as I feel the single-point system creates too much risk when towing in unstable/thermally conditions. Obviously, there are more than a few pilots who would disagree with my position, as there were thousands of competition aero-tows performed this year alone. How many tows resulted in accidents, injury, or fatality? I don't know, but even a few seems worthy of investigation into better/improved systems and procedures.

MY main gripe with Mr. Eareckson's original letter remains with the subjective and histrionic nature of his complaints that went directly to the FAA without trying to build traction for his efforts within the flying community first. I would like to support his efforts to improve towing safety, but have not seen where he has made his position public. His letter directly implies he attended only one USHPA BoD meeting with the Towing Committee. What actually transpired there, and the nature of his contributions are at present unknown to us outside of his side of the story in the letter to the FAA.

How do we get to have:

standardized procedures and technology to vastly improve the safety and efficiency of hang glider aerotowing and towing in general have been known and available and called for by USHGA officials and everyday participants in the sport alike for decades to no effect whatsoever.

if all these officials and everyday participants are knowing and using them?

The remedies are obvious, cheap, effective, and easily implemented and have been up and flying for many years on microscopic scales but will never be adopted on any significant level without outside intervention.

Where has Mr. Eareckson promoted this utopian state? I have not seen his suggestions to improve towing anywhere before his letter to the FAA was posted
here. Nothing in the USHPA magazine that I am aware of, and I haven't seen anything from him about towing on hang gliding.org in the last couple years. It is possible I missed something along the way, and I don't follow other international HG/PG publications with any regularity. However, I do attend the USHPA Board of Directors meetings every few years (though not Spring of 2015), and make particular effort to attend the Tandem, the Towing, and the Competition Committee sessions and keep up on any developments. Once again, as best I can remember, this is the first place I have ever seen Mr. Eareckson's suggestions or opinions on the matter of towing and towing safety.

So, my question to you, Steve: What do you suggest we do as pilots and members of the association to help support improvements to free flight safety (in any form) that has productive and positive impact vs. complaining and attacking others for lack of effort or understanding?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Eric

Clearly, one example (Mr. Badley's) does not make a "reasonable" statistical sample with which to support an argument.

Why not? Tell me how it's inconsistent / at odds with what's been written, taught, implemented, mandated by Hewett, Pagen, Wills Wing, all the national hang gliding associations, the flight park mafia, the tug driver priesthood, meet heads since the beginning of time.

Here's a quote from His Holiness Davis Dead-On Straub:

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks

Davis Straub - 2013/03/06 18:29:05 UTC

You know, after all this discussion I'm now convinced that it is a very good idea to treat the weaklink as a release, that that is exactly what we do when we have a weaklink on one side of a pro tow bridle. That that is exactly what has happened to me in a number of situations and that the whole business about a weaklink only for the glider not breaking isn't really the case nor a good idea for hang gliding.

I'm happy to have a relatively weak weaklink, and have never had a serious problem with the Greenspot 130, just an inconvenience now and then.

I'm thinking about doing a bit more testing as there seemed to be some disagreement around here about what the average breaking strength of a loop of Greenspot (or orange) weaklink was.

If you have problem with that why don't you ask Davis to unlock the thread so you can engage him in an honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve the safety of aerotowing? Davis has been working tireless for decades to accomplish just that. I myself would leap at that opportunity if he hadn't banned me over five and a half years ago...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=592
Linknife

Davis Straub - 2010/04/03 12:46:26 UTC

Tad is gone.

...for attempting to engage in an honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve the safety of aerotowing.

Hunker down and read the whole thread:

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

from which Steve pulled the lunatic post. Nine short posts total.
- Three posts by two posters who aren't total assholes.
- Six posts by four posters who are total assholes.
- The Asshole In Chief threatens to ban michael170 for being absolutely right about Mike.

And the Asshole In Chief DOES ban michael170 over the same issue a bit over four months later.

Four lousy posts after Mike's pair. If his position were so outrageously outside of the mainstream then where's the huge backlash? You're registered over there - so where are your comments?
---
2015/10/06 14:15:00 UTC

Actually, although michael170's last post was 2015/03/17 06:37:03 UTC and about Zack Marzec's standard aerotow weak link lethally increasing the safety of his final towing operation the thread in which Jack banned him for violating his clearly stated "enough" rule for his Living Room was over the true sense of security foot launch that sent Lenami Godinez-Avila plummeting a thousand feet on her first and last tandem thrill ride - a bit over 25 hours earlier.

Makes no difference. One gets banned from The Jack Show for consistently being right about stuff and thus disrupting the harmony of his dickhead colony.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

I would also point out that if we were to post even a small number of photos of blown foot-launches from just this year alone, we would need a different forum to display them all.

I've already done pretty much exactly that:

http://www.kitestrings.org/topic67.html
launching

to make EXACTLY that point. IN ADDITION I go after full time dickheads like Rick Masters who dump on towing 'cause it's so much more dangerous than mountain launching.

Should that mean we stop people from foot-launching and send letters to the FAA in complaint of unsafe practices?

Suck my dick, Skyslime.

- The FAA doesn't give a flying fuck about or regulate any means we have of getting gliders airborne other than aerotowing. It DOES regulate aerotowing and there are and always have been established standards, conditions, agreements, requirements, laws that are SUPPOSED TO BE adhered to. And NOBODY - not one u$hPa motherfucker in the history of the sport - has ever taken issue with any of them. Nobody's ever said that we SHOULDN'T have a requirement that releases need to be able to handle twice weak link - two thirds is all we really need.

- I don't give a flying fuck about foot launch disasters. The more we have the more cool pictures I get to show what an absolute farce it is to claim that dolly/platform launch towing is more than one percent as dangerous as foot launch.

- When you're mountain launching the guy in the glider is in charge of what happens. He's either total Pilot In Command at all times or gets to select, brief, command his crew. And there's no controversy whatsoever on how mountain launches should be executed. And there's no such thing as mountain launching equipment - certified glider, harness, pilot, guys holding sidewires.

- When we're aerotow launching your life can within seconds be in the hands of some dickhead who flies an ultralight for a living (you, for example), proclaims himself to be Pilot In Command of your plane, violates whatever regulations he feels like, and has no problem whatsoever ordering the glider to violate all the safety regulations he feels like. And he can cut our thrust from four hundred pounds to zero with the squeeze of a lever and thus kill us just as dead as he could if he were flying with a tail gunner - and TOTALLY get away with it.

We need to have the SOPs and laws we've already got on the books complied with and we need a few more put on the books implemented and enforced to prevent the motherfuckers who have zero stake in us and what we do from being able to kill us whenever they feel like it and not be held accountable. We've handed control of hang gliding to people who fly paragliders and ultralights, we really need to get some of it back, and laws and enforcement are our only hopes.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

Once again, my responses are not meant to convey an opinion of the relative safety of towing over that of foot-launching...

Good. 'Cause it's a total bullshit distraction from the topic. Quote me something from my document which makes it the least bit relevant.

...nor to defend the practice of using only "pro-tow" barrel releases that require the pilot to let go of the control bar to actuate the release.

- They don't REQUIRE you to let go. There's not much chance you'll be able to pry one open quickly enough to keep you from slamming in - 'specially flying the lockout one-handed - so you might as well keep flying the glider and live a couple seconds longer. Plus an appropriate weak link with a finished length of 1.5 inches or less will break before you can get into too much trouble. And if it doesn't just pitch out abruptly and vaporize that puppy. Instant hands free release. Right?

- That's not just a PRACTICE, motherfucker...

http://ozreport.com/rules.php
The Oz Report hang gliding news - Big Spring Nationals Rules

2016 Big Spring Nationals at Big Spring, Texas

2.0 EQUIPMENT

Appropriate aerotow bridles

Competitors must use appropriate aerotow bridles as determined by the Meet Director and Safety Director and their designated officials. Bridles must include secondary releases (as determined by the Safety Director). Bridles must be able to be connected to the tow line within two seconds. The only appropriate bridles can be found here:

http://OzReport.com/9.039#0
ProTow

and:
http://ozreport.com/9.041#2
More Protows



Pilots who have not already had their bridles inspected during the practice days must bring their bridles to the mandatory pilot safety briefing and have them reviewed. Pilots with inappropriate bridles may purchase appropriate bridles from the meet organizer.

That's a u$hPa MANDATE for anyone who wants to participate in u$hPa activities.

I personally believe...

Oh good. We get to hear what somebody in hang gliding PERSONALLY BELIEVES. How refreshing - we get so little of that sorta thing in this sport.

...that all towing should be done with a multi-point system...

Oh. A MULTI-point system. The pilot and glider and what else? What other points are you considering as good candidates? I've always wondered what would happen if you ran one of the extra bridle ends to the tail wires anchor point.

...utilizing a bicycle brake lever mounted on the base tube...

- Oh, it's gotta be a BICYCLE brake lever. Name some other bicycle components we incorporate in hang glider design. Everything we use in the way of hardware in hang glider design is off-the-shelf sailboat stuff. Any chance we could stick with that? Doesn't the VG cord system do pretty much the same thing a two point release actuator does? Is there some good reason we need to reinvent THAT wheel?

- Bicycle brake lever actuation systems are shoddy slap-on shit notorious for being totally useless when lives are at stake - or would be if the gliders were lower.

- What did you see in the designs I produced and offered and referenced in my "manifesto", as I called it?

...in conjunction with a pro-tow or 3-ring secondary/backup...

Oh. A BACKUP? For when the crap you're endorsing for the primary DOESN'T WORK? Big fuckin' surprise.

You only use a secondary if the bridle wraps. So what happens if you use the secondary as a backup and the bridle wraps? Nobody knows 'cause nobody's ever survived long enough to describe the phenomenon?

Oh, it's gotta be a pro-tow or three ring secondary/backup. You want the brake lever on the basetube so you don't get killed trying to make the easy reach for your Industry Standard release but if the primary fails or the bridle wraps during a critical lockout a bent pin pro-tow or three ring secondary/backup will be plenty good enough. Mother Nature will recognize the problem you're having and make appropriate allowances.

...as I feel the single-point system...

TWO point system - the pilot's left shoulder and the pilot's right shoulder.

...creates too much risk when towing in unstable/thermally conditions.

Oh, that's your FEELING on that? What do you think Zack Marzec's feelings were when he was standing on his tail with his bar stuffed and he was hanging onto life by a thread - a thread with a huge track record to be precise?

Obviously, there are more than a few pilots who would disagree with my position...

Ya...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22233
Looking for pro-tow release

Davis Straub - 2011/06/16 05:11:44 UTC

Incorrect understanding.

...think? Lotsa times in aerotowing ya only need ONE "pilot" disagreeing with reality.

...as there were thousands of competition aero-tows performed this year alone.

And we had over quite literally...

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

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/17 00:34:14 UTC

Ok, I've got a few minutes to write ya up something a bit more.

You need to understand something here that you're really not getting yet.
You are talking as if I or "we" need to justify something to you.
This is 180deg off.
YOU are the one arguing with a system that's been in place and has been worked on over quite literally HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of tows.

... HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of tows on Bobby Fucking-Genius Bailey's magic fishing line. And we just had to kill ONE stupid pro toad motherfucker and suddenly everything changed for all eternity.

How many tows resulted in accidents, injury, or fatality?

Tim Herr would be your best source on this. He skims a lot of the reports he gets before feeding them into the shredder.

I don't know...

OH! You DON'T KNOW? But didn't you just recently say?:

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. 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.

So you actually have no fuckin' clue what the reality actually is but you're good enough to be able to find Tad Eareckson's rant disingenuous at best and in general utterly dishonest when looked at in the light of serious intellectual discussion. That's a quite remarkable accomplishment, Skyslime. My hat's off to you.

...but even a few seems worthy of investigation into better/improved systems and procedures.

Let's not go nuts here. I think we oughta kill at least ten or fifteen muppets before we start playing test pilot with unproven nonstandard equipment and procedures. If, for example, we're pretty sure we can fix whatever's going on back there by giving the glider the rope we sure don't wanna start playing with holding them on a bit after we've killed just a half dozen or so.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

MY main gripe with Mr. Eareckson's original letter remains with the subjective and histrionic nature of his complaints...

- Did you read THE ACTUAL OFFICIAL USHGA FATALITY REPORTS which documented those "subjective" complaints? Just kidding.
- Quote something illustrating the HISTRIONIC nature of my complaints - dickhead.

...that went directly to the FAA without trying to build traction for his efforts within the flying community first.

- Fuck the hang gliding community. Hang gliding is aviation and the hang gliding community is a bunch of cool surfer dudes like Kelly Harrison who couldn't do grade school arithmetic with guns to their thick skulls.

- Oh yeah? Did you read this part in the referenced letter:

For many years I have worked within hang gliding to improve technology and correct defects in its fiction based training and education. Early this year I was asked by the Chairman of the USHPA Towing Committee to assist with a revision of the Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to aerotowing to be acted upon at the spring Board of Directors meeting.

I provided very solid revisions of this and the Aerotowing Guidelines documents but could generate virtually no interest or discussion amongst members of the Towing Committee or anywhere else before, during, or after the meeting. In the seven months since I have become convinced that any effort to improve safety within the organization or culture will be as much of an enormous waste as many similar ones have been in the past. Any revision of the existing rules would, without a shadow of a doubt, be ignored as completely, openly, and permanently as all previous ones have been and are being.

which Fred posted in full above? Just kidding.

- I posted a draft of that letter on The Peter Show 2009/05/09 14:33:21 UTC. Nanoseconds later everybody who was anybody and his fuckin' dog knew about it.

- Hours later - 2009/05/10 02:08:52 UTC - I get this load o' arrogant, abusive, stupid, illiterate total CRAP:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post56.html#p56
back from now thoroughly, totally, permanently, irrevocably discredited u$hPa dickhead Tracy Tillman.

- I hear that my career has been ended about a month later.

- I nevertheless hold off on sending the letter to allow for dialog until 2009/10/27.

Do the math, asshole.

- Tell me about all the great innovative changes we've seen in hang gliding from the past three and a half decades that have come about through the efforts of efforts of individuals building traction within the flying community first.

- Fuck that. Just name me one great innovative change we've seen in hang gliding from the past three and a half decades.

I would like to support his efforts to improve towing safety...

Oh, but you SO ARE. Every time you open your mouth I get more really great documentation of the douchebagginess of the establishment in this sport.

...but have not seen where he has made his position public.

Just how much more public do you want it, asshole? Have I gotta hire a squadron of skywriting planes to reproduce the PDF over the SuperBowl?

His letter directly implies he attended only one USHPA BoD meeting with the Towing Committee.

Does it directly STATE that I ever attended a single USHPA BoD meeting with the Towing Committee? Dandied up in an Ebola suit I wouldn't go within a hundred miles of one of those infestations. I hung by the telephone and keyboard all that weekend while my months of work didn't get so much as skimmed over.

What actually transpired there, and the nature of his contributions are at present unknown to us outside of his side of the story in the letter to the FAA.

EXACTLY. With the scores of sleazy u$hPa opposition motherfuckers who know exactly what went down not a one has addressed a single sentence's worth of the proposed revisions with a single word of why anything was invalid. And that doesn't tell you all you really need to know?

How do we get to have:

standardized procedures and technology to vastly improve the safety and efficiency of hang glider aerotowing and towing in general have been known and available and called for by USHGA officials and everyday participants in the sport alike for decades to no effect whatsoever.

if all these officials and everyday participants are knowing and using them?

Sorry, I missed the part where it was stated that any of these motherfuckers were using anything other than the cheap bent pin crap they stamp out and sell as long track record Industry Standard stuff. Maybe you can quote me something that justifies the "and using them" fabrication you inserted.

What they actually do is look for the quality stuff that poses threats to their Industry Standard crap and kill it.

The remedies are obvious, cheap, effective, and easily implemented and have been up and flying for many years on microscopic scales but will never be adopted on any significant level without outside intervention.

Where has Mr. Eareckson promoted this utopian state?

- Ridgely? Where he was harassed for years by the scumbags who took it over and got really pissed off when he was getting stuff into circulation on a significant scale and making them look like the shits they are?

- You mean the kinda Utopian state sailplaning has had since Day One? Certified equipment that's designed for towing and releasing gliders? Weak links which protect against overloading, are stronger for higher capacity gliders and specified by the manufacturers and compliant with FAA regulations, and never break?

I have not seen his suggestions to improve towing anywhere before his letter to the FAA was posted here.

Have you considered withdrawing your head from your ass two or three inches?

Nothing in the USHPA magazine that I am aware of...

- NOTHING in the United States Paragliding Association magazine that you are AWARE OF? NO!
- What? You didn't see anything of mine in Dr. Trisa Tilletti's 2012/07 Higher Education series installment on aerotow release performance?

...and I haven't seen anything from him about towing on hang gliding.org in the last couple years.

The last couple?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=14312
Tow Park accidents

Jack Axaopoulos - 2009/11/10 00:45:32 UTC

Guess AeroTow didnt take my last warning seriously.

It is possible I missed something along the way...

Maybe. Have you read the mission statement for Jack's Living Room?

http://www.hanggliding.org/wiki/HG_ORG_Mission_Statement
HangGliding.Org Rules and Policies

No posts or links about Bob K, Scott C Wise, Tad Eareckson and related people, or their material. ALL SUCH POSTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED. These people are poison to this sport and are permanently banned from this site in every possible way imaginable.

...and I don't follow other international HG/PG publications with any regularity.

See my recommendation above about pulling your head outta your ass.

However, I do attend the USHPA Board of Directors meetings every few years (though not Spring of 2015), and make particular effort to attend the Tandem, the Towing, and the Competition Committee sessions...

Well then, you've certainly have the field very well covered. If u$hPa's not up to speed on something it's obviously not worth looking at.

...and keep up on any developments.

Yep, that's DEFINITELY the place to go if you wanna keep up on developments. Best minds in the business all crammed together jerking each other off.

Once again, as best I can remember, this is the first place I have ever seen Mr. Eareckson's suggestions or opinions on the matter of towing and towing safety.

- You haven't seen any of my opinions on aerotowing 'cause I don't have any. The statement that the motherfuckers who are running the aerotow show are all totally full o' shit isn't an opinion of any sort.

- Want my suggestions? Got a pencil handy?

- Did you catch THIS:

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.

from Steve four posts back? I think you could easily score a hat trick with the list of qualifications.

So, my question to you, Steve: What do you suggest we do as pilots and members of the association to help support improvements to free flight safety (in any form) that has productive and positive impact vs. complaining and attacking others for lack of effort or understanding?

Oh. So complaining and attacking others for what-the-fuck-ever can't have any productive and positive impact. Is there some other brief description that better describes how Nazi Germany got smashed between the mid Thirties and the spring of '45 last century?

Most of what Kite Strings does is attack motherfuckers. That's how come nobody has to listen to Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney spouting off about how well he has things sussed out anymore. In an ideal world I'd have him stood up in front of a wall but humiliating him effectively out of existence by pulling all of his inconsistencies, contradictions, lies, and total cluelessness out of the archives after he'd painted himself into an inescapable corner was sure a helluva lot better than nuthin'.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Eric

I'd be totally cool with mass suicide. Much less than that probably won't produce adequate results.

But, Eric... Here's my question to you: What do YOU suggest we do as pilots and members of the association to help support improvements to free flight safety (in any form) that has productive and positive impact? And in the highly unlikely event that you come up with something please cite an example of it ever working in this sport on any scale whatsoever.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

rcpilot - 2015/10/05 19:43

Improvements to free flight safety, by definition, reduce risks.

Considering that we engage in a sport that has risk and that is part of the attraction, improvements to free flight safety would thus decrease the attraction to the sport.

Besides, you and members of the association have weak links that will break before you can get into too much trouble, right?

http://www.wallaby.com/aerotow_primer.php
Aerotow Primer for Experienced Pilots

If you fail to maintain the correct tow position (centered, with the wheels of the tug on the horizon), the weak link will break before you can get into too much trouble.

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 21:11

Thanks Steve. I love the Wallaby quote (read sarcasm here). Hadn't seen that one before.

Oh, you hadn't seen that one before. Published in the magazine 1997/05. On the website of the world epicenter of hang glider aerotowing since the beginning of time.

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

Zack C - 2011/08/26 12:39:26 UTC

And yet, when you go to Wallaby's site, you read...

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

Deltaman - 2013/02/08 18:24:58 UTC

For example, here, from Wallaby Ranch in WEAKLINK FAILURES: http://www.wallaby.com/aerotow_primer.php

In an excessive out-of position situation, the weak link will snap before the control authority of the glider would be lost.

Davis Straub - 2013/02/08 20:32:45 UTC

You'll have to ask Malcolm to update his document. He knows better.

So exactly what is it that you DO find worthy of following to stay up to speed with respect to what's going on in the real world? No, wait... You've got all that empirical experience under your belt. Sorry I asked. Now let's get the discussion back to Mr. Eareckson's disingenuousness and utter dishonesty.

I guess they have figured out the perfect weak-link strength to prevent any issues.

Well duh...

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

Based on several decades of experience and hundreds of thousands of tows conducted by numerous aerotow operators across the county, the de facto standard has become use of a 260 lb. weak link made as a loop of 130 lb. green spot IGFA [ref 12] Dacron braided fishing line attached to one end of the pilot's V-bridle. It is a de facto standard, because it works for most pilots and gliders and is usually near the USHPA recommendation of a nominal 1G weak link for most pilots. For example, a mid-size Sport 2 155 with a pilot who has a hook-in weight that is in the middle of the recommended weight range will weigh about 260 lbs., so a loop of 130 lb. line is just right. This strength of line also meets FAA requirements for most sizes of gliders and weights of hang glider pilots. Lighter green spot line is available for very light pilots, and heavier line is also available for heavier pilots, tandems, and the tug.
---
This article was peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the USHPA Towing Committee.

Lisa is the Associate Dean and Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, and is past chair of the USHPA Towing committee. Tracy is a retired university professor, current chair of the Towing committee, and regional director for USHPA Regions 7 & 13. He is also a FAAST Team Safety Counselor for the FAA Detroit FSDO area. They are both very active multi-engine commercial airplane and glider pilots, tug pilots, and tandem hang gliding instructors for the Dragon Fly Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field (46MI), Michigan. Please feel free to contact them about towing related issues at cloud9sa@aol.com.

How do you get enough oxygen to prevent serious brain damage with your head that far up there all the time?

While I cannot speak for any other pilots, risk was never an attraction to flying for me.

It's not an attraction for ANYBODY. It's just bullshit testosterone poisoned dickheads say to try to convince themselves and others that they're really cool dudes. Being in the air at actual risk is a universally sickening feeling for any life form with more than half a dozen brain cells.

I built my first glider from bamboo and poly plastic sheeting in high school despite the risk, because I saw hang gliding as the only avenue available to actually fly with some semblance of what I was able to do in my dreams.

- Oh, you must be that guy...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22308
Better mouse trap(release)?

Jim Rooney - 2010/12/16 18:47:05 UTC

Oh, I've heard the "everything we do is an experiment" line before.
The trouble is, it's not.

I've seen experimentation with towing gear more than anything else in HG.
I've not seen many go out and try to build their own sails for example. When someone does, they're very quickly "shown the light" by the community. Example... the guy that was building the PVC glider in California somewhere.
But for some reason, towing gear is exempt from this.

...that Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney is always telling us about. Glad the community was able to show you the light in time.

- Bullshit. There isn't any risk to first glider from bamboo and poly plastic sheeting in high school. You didn't take it out to Funston with the wind coming in at twenty and put it through its paces. You took it to hill to try to get it a couple feet off the ground with the risk maxed out to possible skinned knee level.

No doubt there are pilots out there who seek the thrill of adrenaline associated with high-risk activities.

No. They wouldn't last long enough to become pilots of any skill level worthy of note.

They probably avoid hang gliding for its lack of risk in comparison to base jumping with "squirrel" suits or flying speedwing paragliders close to terrain.

You can dial the risk to any level you feel like - from virtual zero to certain death - in any flavor of aviation you wanna choose.

But, hey, to each there own.

- Nice job on the grammar and spelling.
- Not at the flight park Tad runs.

I am still wondering what you or others may actually be proposing that we could do to reduce the risks associated with launching hang gliders...

How 'bout replacing dopes on ropes with Pilots In Command? That do anything for ya?

...and particularly in relation to the premise outlined in Mr. Eareckson's letter to the FAA.

I've asked ya this before... What the fuck is Mr. Eareckson's "PREMISE"? Wallaby's totally full o' shit on what a weak link is and does and that kinda total rot gets people killed every now and then? Is that a PREMISE or an obvious statement of black and white FACT?

Thanks again,
Eric

- Get fucked again.

- You've admitted that aerotowing has some serious problems that can be fixed that nobody's done shit about in decades. And you've done nothing but piss all over Mr. Eareckson and his approach and work. You've admitted, in effect, that you've never once done shit yourself to mitigate any of the carnage. How 'bout shutting the fuck up with respect to pissing all over Tad and still wondering what others may be proposing and doing something positive yourself? Give us your philosophy on what a weak link is and what kind of fishing line we should be using to get it to break when it's supposed to.

rcpilot - 2015/10/05 22:11

The "we engage in a sport that has risk and that is part of the attraction" posted by me is tongue and cheek.

It was provided by accident reporting committee chair and safety & training member Mitch Shipley.

In the course of telling Paul Edwards what a great service he'd recently provided him by smashing his face into the ground on a scooter tow.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?p=298503#298503
Scooter tow faillure... or Never Land On Your Face

PS Interesting spelling on the word failure there.

Unless you consider the source. Then it's not all that surprising.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

Once again, my responses are not meant to convey an opinion of the relative safety of towing over that of foot-launching, nor to defend the practice of using only "pro-tow" barrel releases that require the pilot to let go of the control bar to actuate the release.

But you tow it. And what better defense of the practice is there than that?

The terms for the granting of Exemption 4144 were that we tow certified gliders and mount the glider's release within easy reach. That piece o' shit in no fuckin' way...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3391
More on Zapata and weak link

Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22 04:32:22 UTC

I have never had a lockout situation happen so quickly and dramatically and had no chance to release as I have always thought I could do.

...can be considered to be within easy reach at any time it matters and the glider's totally decertified when one is attempting to make the easy reach. That's why nine times outta ten a "pilot" in a critical situation opts to "just freeze" and hope things work out OK - or at least live a couple seconds longer.

A really top notch tug pilot like Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney won't tow funky shit. So how come your personal standards are so much lower?

I personally believe that all towing should be done with a multi-point system utilizing a bicycle brake lever mounted on the base tube in conjunction with a pro-tow or 3-ring secondary/backup...

So a bent pin barrel "release" is a "pro-tow". But it's OK to pull an amateur pilot-only if he's using a three-ring. Thanks for clarifying that. I get so confused by these terms.

...as I feel the single-point system creates too much risk when towing in unstable/thermally conditions.

- In other words, the only conditions anybody other than a new AT student is interested in going up in.

- Risk of what? If one is a pro can't one easily eliminate any additional risk?

Here's what my document says on the issue:

And a pilot towed one point is pulled a great deal forward of the position at which the glider is designed to be flown and thus sacrifices a great deal of his top end negative pitch control authority. And this compromise also, in effect, decertifies the glider.

And that issue - combined with a catastrophic instantaneous total power failure at the worst possible time, when he was climbing hard in a near stall situation - is what got Zack Marzec's stupid ass killed on 2013/02/02.

Obviously, there are more than a few pilots who would disagree with my position...

Oh, that's YOUR POSITION - that one point towing is more dangerous than two? When a student is being trained to aerotow the instructor just flips a coin to determine whether he will be hooked up in muppet or pro toad configuration 'cause there's no clear consensus of opinion on the issue?

...as there were thousands of competition aero-tows performed this year alone.

There were thousands of incident free tows in the Seventies and very early Eighties pulled with the lower connection on the basetube instead of the pilot. It was a proven system that worked. I have no idea why an operational mode with a track record as long as that one had was suddenly and permanently abandoned.

How many tows resulted in accidents, injury, or fatality? I don't know...

You don't know how many one point aerotow fatalities we've had so far this year?

...but even a few seems worthy of investigation into better/improved systems and procedures.

Oh really.

- You've JUST SAID that pro toad hook-ups and easily reachable bent pin barrel releases barrel releases are dangerous - as if that weren't freakin' obvious enough.

- But we need to kill a few - more - people anyway in order to make the issues SEEM worthy of the investigation that u$hPa's gonna do - and you're not - so that we can implement the better/improved systems and procedures we already knew about before the extra fatalities.

Great plan, Skyslime. Wish I'd thought of that.

So, my question to you, Steve: What do you suggest we do as pilots and members of the association to help support improvements to free flight safety (in any form) that has productive and positive impact vs. complaining and attacking others for lack of effort or understanding?

Fuck Steve. You've totally nailed this one.

So, Skyslime...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=27736
Increase in our USHpA dues

Mark G. Forbes - 2012/12/20 06:21:33 UTC

We're re-working the accident reporting system, but again it's a matter of getting the reports submitted and having a volunteer willing to do the detail work necessary to get them posted. There are also numerous legal issues associated with accident reports, which we're still wrestling with. It's a trade-off between informing our members so they can avoid those kinds of accidents in the future, and exposing ourselves to even more lawsuits by giving plaintiff's attorneys more ammunition to shoot at us.

Imagine a report that concludes, "If we'd had a procedure "x" in place, then it would have probably prevented this accident. And we're going to put that procedure in place at the next BOD meeting." Good info, and what we want to be able to convey. But what comes out at trial is, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, my client suffered injury because USHPA knew or should have known that a safety procedure was not in place, and was therefore negligent and at fault." We're constantly walking this line between full disclosure and handing out nooses at the hangmen's convention.

When was the last time that u$hPa found a few more fatalities worthy of investigation such that it could identify, develop, implement better/improved systems and procedures?

Fuck that. Just tell me about any better/improved systems and procedures we've seen implemented for any reason whatsoever in the past quarter century.

Practical aerotowing started out in about 1983 with the Cosmos trike and one hundred percent of it was foot launch, one point, easily reachable release, Infallible Weak Link.

When the Dragonfly came on the scene at the beginning of the Nineties one hundred percent of it was dolly launched, two point, release loop on the basetube, standard aerotow weak link.

Almost immediately thereafter The Industry chucked the loop on the basetube for an easily reachable lever on the downtube.

At the beginning of this century all the GOOD pilots learned how to pro tow safely using their bent pin backup releases as primaries.

Then in 2013 the venerable standard aerotow weak link suddenly totally vaporized from the scene and people became happy with various unspecified Fallible Weak Links.

So tell me about some of these accidents, investigations, and resulting implementations of better/improved systems and procedures and the thinking behind them.

Total fucking bullshit. Hang gliding has NEVER functioned this way. And it's structured now such that positive change of any kind is virtually impossible and negative change earns loyal u$hPa cocksuckers NAA Safety and Instructor of the Year Awards.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

...disingenuous at best...
...utterly dishonest when looked at in the light of serious intellectual discussion...
...actual record of aero-toewing contradicts one of his first premises...
...just doesn't pan out in the light of reality.
...does not appear to be any real analysis which supports Mr. Eareckson's premise (or his "manifesto," as he calls it)...
...another link to more "manifesto" writings...
...but I still find it fundamentally dishonest in its appraisal of aero-towing.
If the statement was even remotely true...
...sensationalized rants only cloud the real issues...
Clearly, one example (Mr. Badley's) does not make a "reasonable" statistical sample with which to support an argument.
Should that mean we stop people from foot-launching and send letters to the FAA in complaint of unsafe practices?
...subjective and histrionic nature of his complaints...
How do we get to have "standardized ... whatsoever" if all these officials and everyday participants are knowing and using them?
Where has Mr. Eareckson promoted this utopian state?
I am still wondering what you or others may actually be proposing that we could do to reduce the risks...

Eric Beckman - 2015/09/26 21:49

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

How? A hundred pages of disingenuous, utterly dishonest, sensationalized, subjective and histrionic rants and "manifesto" writings. NOT ONE SINGLE LEGITIMATE SYLLABLE concerning an ACTUAL shortcoming of ANY of our...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24534
It's a wrap

Paul Tjaden - 2011/07/30 15:33:54 UTC

Quest Air has been involved in perfecting aerotowing for nearly 20 years.

...highly refined procedures and towing equipment systems.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRrpHNa68iY/UQ6Pv9gRZyI/AAAAAAAAjTg/Hc22bx5122Q/s2048/20943781_BG1.jpg


So how do you start with a hundred page "manifesto" writing of histrionic rants with the author insisting that two plus two equals anything BUT any number inside the three to five range and use it to fix any of the problems that 2015 aerotowing so obviously doesn't have?

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12403
weak link table

ian9toes - 2009/06/14 15:18:37 UTC
Gold Coast, Queensland

I strongly disagree with banning the one guy who has the most knowledge about safety issues involving what I believe is the most dangerous part of our sport. I hear someone dies every year from towing. I hope SG bites his tongue in the interest of public safety.

Maybe if there were some actual substance to one or two percent of what this asshole has written you'd have SOME basis for your hoping efforts but I'm just not seeing how you can do any better than reasserting that it equals FOUR. And everybody already knows that anyway - it's the third question on the AT Special Skill written test.

Shouldn't we actually be hoping that it DOESN'T lead to some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve free flight safety in general and aerotowing in particular? Wouldn't that inevitably lead to some of the more impressionable amongst us to question the validity of four? Is that a risk we, as a responsible pilot community, can really afford to take?

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Hey Eric...

If you want a document to hope to lead to some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve aerotowing safety...

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

HIGHER EDUCATION - 2012/06
TIE A (BETTER) WEAK LINK

Dr. Trisa Tilletti 2: You covered some legal aspects of weak link strength. Being legal is important, but so is being practical. Let's talk about some practical aspects of weak links.

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.

Dr. Trisa Tilletti 1: Let's start with the definition of practical. A good definition of practical [ref 8] is: "of, relating to, governed by, or acquired through practice or action, rather than theory, speculation, or ideals."
...
Dr. Trisa Tilletti 2: Finally, everyone should know that thorough aerotow training and currency results in a more proficient aerotow pilot who can tow more smoothly and can stay more precisely in the center of the cone of safety [ref 18]. When hang glider pilots can fly their gliders on tow as smoothly as a sailplane flies on tow, it is less likely that they will experience an inadvertent weak link break. Is that it for this article?

Dr. Trisa Tilletti 1: We could get into details of lab testing weak links and bridles, but this article is already getting long. That would be a good topic for an article in the future. Besides, with our backgrounds in formal research, you and I both know that lab tests may produce results with good internal validity, but are often weak in regard to external validity--meaning lab conditions cannot completely include all the factors and variability that exists in the big, real world.

What we have covered in this article is practical information and knowledge gleaned from the real world of aerotowing, developed over decades and hundreds of thousands of tows by experts in the field. This information has practical external validity. Hopefully, someone will develop methods and technology that work better than what we are using as standard practice today. Like the methods and technology used today, it is unlikely that the new technology will be dictated onto us as a de jure standard. Rather, to become a de facto standard, that new technology will need to be made available in the marketplace, proven in the real world, and then embraced by our sport.
...
This article was peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the USHPA Towing Committee.

Lisa is the Associate Dean and Professor of Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School, and is past chair of the USHPA Towing committee. Tracy is a retired university professor, current chair of the Towing committee, and regional director for USHPA Regions 7 & 13. He is also a FAAST Team Safety Counselor for the FAA Detroit FSDO area. They are both very active multi-engine commercial airplane and glider pilots, tug pilots, and tandem hang gliding instructors for the Dragon Fly Soaring Club at Cloud 9 Field (46MI), Michigan. Please feel free to contact them about towing related issues at cloud9sa@aol.com.

How could you POSSIBLY do ANY better than THIS?

Name something in your wish list outlined in your four posts that this article doesn't satisfy IN SPADES. Polar opposite of Mr. Eareckson's disingenuous, utterly dishonest, histrionic rantings. Totally solid foundation from which to launch hoping efforts. Quote me one single individual active in the sport currently or previously who's had the slightest problem with it.

If you hope to hope for a document to lead to some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve aerotowing safety you don't start out with disingenuous, utterly dishonest, histrionic rantings. You start out with an honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve aerotowing safety. What could possibly be more fundamental and obvious than that? Two plus two is always gonna equal four, dude.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Ya know, Eric, I'm not the same person I was back half a dozen years ago when I wrote the FAA. Back then I thought/hoped there were little pockets of decency up the chain of command from u$hPa and that there could be a time in the future when flying without a safe, properly and well engineered release system and with a backup loop would both be condemned by the culture as totally moronic. Now I hate the sleazy serial killing motherfuckers at the FAA at least as much as I hate the sleazy serial killing motherfuckers at u$hPa and in the tandem thrill ride industry.

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

Once again, my responses are not meant to convey an opinion of the relative safety of towing over that of foot-launching, nor to defend the practice of using only "pro-tow" barrel releases that require the pilot to let go of the control bar to actuate the release. I personally believe that all towing should be done with a multi-point system utilizing a bicycle brake lever mounted on the base tube in conjunction with a pro-tow or 3-ring secondary/backup, as I feel the single-point system creates too much risk when towing in unstable/thermally conditions. Obviously, there are more than a few pilots who would disagree with my position, as there were thousands of competition aero-tows performed this year alone. How many tows resulted in accidents, injury, or fatality? I don't know, but even a few seems worthy of investigation into better/improved systems and procedures.

We're really on the same page on this. You wanna see more people killed on dangerous Industry Standard crap to get things moving in the right direction and so do I. It's our only hope - totally agreed. Education, reason, logic, common sense stuff, appeal for compliance with existing regulations beforehand is absolutely one hundred percent useless. And when we kill some Rooney Linking, pro toad, pin bending asshole even if we don't get one single surviving individual to start doing something right the percentage of the people in the population already doing things right goes up a tiny bit. Small victory for Darwin and the gene pool.

Love ya, brother. Keep the faith.

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Eric Beckman - 2015/10/05 08:59

MY main gripe with Mr. Eareckson's original letter remains with the subjective and histrionic nature of his complaints that went directly to the FAA without trying to build traction for his efforts within the flying community first. I would like to support his efforts to improve towing safety, but have not seen where he has made his position public.

Oh, so Mr. Eareckson's complaints are, if subjective and histrionic in nature, legitimate. It's just that your main gripe with his original letter was that he didn't waste another decade with the corrupt tandem thrill ride industry motherfuckers trying to move things in a POSITIVE direction versus...

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.

...continually lowering the bar.

But previously you stated that Mr. Eareckson was just totally lying about everything just 'cause he got bored one afternoon and had nothing better to do.

Pick a position, Skyslime. You'd like to help me promote my disingenuousness and utter dishonesty but first I need to go to more Towing Committee meetings to repeatedly fail at building traction for it? THIS:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TUGS/message/1184
aerotow instruction was Re: Tug Rates

Larry Jorgensen - 2011/02/17 13:37:47 UTC
Air Adventures NW
Spanaway, Washington

It did not come from the FAA, it came from a USHPA Towing Committee made up of three large aerotow operations that do tandems for hire.

Appalling.

Towing Committee?

Furthermore...

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.

So SURELY there must be plenty of other documentation of my disingenuousness and utter dishonesty - or was this supposed to be just a one-off? And if so, can you cite me one other example of a one-offer?

Dennis Excellent-Book Pagen, Davis Dead-On Straub, Dr. Trisa Tilletti, Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney are all chronic lying motherfuckers. They've all got long histories in the written record which are oozing with misrepresentations, inconsistencies, contradictions and they've all been identified as what they are by at least substantive chunks of hang gliding culture and at most everyone and his fuckin' dog. So where's MY history?

You call me a liar with respect to this one document and you don't provide a shred of evidence even from there. You can't find ANYTHING from ANYWHERE or even just quote somebody who shares that position? (You could do Bob but I guess you know just how fast that would blow up in your face.)

And then three Skyslime posts later you say you'd like to support my efforts to improve towing safety. Total contradiction of your first post and a lie in and of itself 'cause there's no fuckin' way you'd like to or will support any efforts of mine or anyone else's. Pot calling the Snowy Egret black. (Yeah the Cattle Egret doesn't have any black on it and the Snowy's got a black bill and legs but Snowy sounds better.)

Further furthermore...

Hang glider towing ain't rocket science and there's hardly been shit in the way of unique/original ideas/innovations/technology in its history. Even moving the lower attachment point off of the basetube and onto the pilot was an advancement sparked at about the same time by two individuals on opposite sides of the Atlantic completely independently. I've got two unique little feathers in my cap which The Industry has done a pretty good job of killing - the Shear Link and Always Assume You Are NOT Hooked In.

But for all intents and purposes my document is a shopping list of common sense items that thousands of halfway competent or better flyers have been screaming about since the beginning of time. And I really resent assholes such as yourself representing issues like releases that don't stink on ice and weak links that don't break before you get into too much trouble as unique items on my personal "manifesto" - as I call it.

When you're sitting back on your fat ass waiting for the next half dozen people to get crippled or killed to make hope for some honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve aerotowing safety possible it's not just me you're pissing all over.

P.S. Ya notice that the 2015/03/27 Jean Lake child murder / suicide - the single most outrageous fatal in the entire history of hang gliding - generated about one percent of the honest level-headed discussion and analysis to improve truck towing safety that a bonked landing at AJX typically gets with respect to the best ways to nail your flare timing. Recommended remedial action - read Mike Meier's "Why Can't We Get A Handle On This Safety Thing?" more often.