Tracy and Lisa nomination
Sure Davis. NO PROBLEM.Davis Straub - 2006/08/11 06:32:30 UTC
Add your thoughts to their nomination of USHGA presidential award.
So they...Chris Christophersen writes:Tracy and Lisa have been nominated for the USHGA PRESIDENTIAL CITATION. Please encourage the awards committee to honor them with the award by writing a short letter of recommendation yourself and submitting it online.
You may reference my nomination and preferably use your own words. Many of you can add reasons that they should receive the award and hopefully you will forward your comments to the awards committee for consideration in their decision making.
Dear USHGPA,
Please consider Tracy Tillman and Lisa Colletti (husband and wife team) for the PRESIDENTIAL CITATION.
Lisa and Tracy are very devoted to and have made a significant contribution to our sport over the course of several years now. Their dedication to 1) pilot, equipment and environmental safety...
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.
Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
12. Hang Gliding Aerotow Ratings
-C. Aerotow Equipment Guidelines
-5. A release must be placed at the hang glider end of the tow line within easy reach of the pilot.
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3107British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association Technical Manual - 2003/04
On tow the Pilot in Command must have his hand actually on the release at all times. 'Near' the release is not close enough! When you have two hands completely full of locked-out glider, taking one off to go looking for the release guarantees that your situation is going to get worse before it gets better.
I have a tandem rating!!!
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3648Lauren 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.
Oh no! more on weak links
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3391Carlos Weill - 2008/11/30 19:24:09 UTC
I tried to release but my body was off centered and could not reach the release. I kept trying and was close to 90 deg. All these happen very quickly, as anyone that has experienced a lock out would tell you. I heard a snap, and then just like the sound of a WWII plane just shut down hurdling to the ground, only the ball of fire was missing.
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.
...got the release actuators where people could actually use them before they got killed...Joe Gregor - 2004/09
There is no evidence that the pilot made an attempt to release from tow prior to the weak link break, the gate was found closed on the Wallaby-style tow release.
-C. Aerotow Equipment Guidelines
-5. This release shall be operational with zero tow line force up to twice the rated breaking strength of the weak link.
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21033Lauren Tjaden - 2008/03/23 22:20:15 UTC
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.
barrels release without any tension except weight of rope..
...got all the stupid bent pin releases out of the air...Bart Weghorst - 2011/02/25 19:06:26 UTC
But I've had it once where the pin had bent inside the barrel from excessive tow force. My weaklink was still intact. The tug pilot's weaklink broke so I had the rope. I had to use two hands to get the pin out of the barrel.
No stress because I was high.
-C. Aerotow Equipment Guidelines
-4. A weak link must be placed at both ends of the tow line.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/549Towing Aloft - 1998/01
I witnessed a tug pilot descend low over trees. His towline hit the trees and caught. His weak link broke but the bridle whipped around the towline and held it fast. The pilot was saved by the fact that the towline broke!
Weaklinks/bridles; was: high wire act world news
...complied with USHGA regulations and made sure that the planes and equipment were at all times and in all circumstances protected by a weak link (or, failing that, a hook knife)...Tracy Tillman - 2001/05/16 15:14:55 UTC
We (and many others) do not recommend using a second weaklink on the non-released end of the bridle.
The weaklink should be on the released end of the bridle, and the bridle should release from the top. That way, if the bridle does get caught on the ring, it is pulling from the body, rather than from the glider, and the glider may still be controllable--in which case you can use your secondary release (or hook knife if that fails) to release.
-C. Aerotow Equipment Guidelines
-4. The weak link at the tow plane end of the towline should break with a towline tension approximately 100 lbs. greater than the glider end.
Carlos Weill - 2008/11/30 19:24:09 UTC
I heard a snap, and then just like the sound of a WWII plane just shut down hurdling to the ground, only the ball of fire was missing. The tug weak link broke off at 1000ft, in less than a second the glider was at 500ft.
http://ozreport.com/10.124Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22 04:32:22 UTC
I got clobbered and rolled hard right in a split second. There was a very large noise and jerk as the relatively heavy weak link at the tug broke giving me the rope.
Weaklink Break
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=865Davis Straub - 2006/06/15 12:46:29 UTC
The tug's weaklink breaks as I come off the cart. (Highland Aerosports)
On the second day of the ECC competition just as I came off the cart the tow line went slack when it came detached from the tug (but not from me). You can see what happened then as Jim Rooney filmed it.
Tandem pilot and passenger death
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24534Mike Van Kuiken - 2005/10/13 19:47:26 UTC
The weak link broke from the tow plane side. The towline was found underneath the wreck, and attached to the glider by the weaklink. The glider basically fell on the towline.
It's a wrap
...got the front end weak links up over the strengths of the back enders - or at least got things configured so that it just takes a half second (or less) for the glider to get the rope...Lauren Tjaden - 2011/08/01 02:01:06 UTC
In general, the weak link on the glider end will break before the one on the plane. However, my glider's main weak link was wrapped in a huge bunch around the 'biner, therefore it did not break. I also had a secondary weak link on my shoulder (which does not take as much force), but the plane's link broke first. Really, it was just half a second (or less) until the break, and the backups worked as they should.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/612-C. Aerotow Equipment Guidelines
-4. The weak link at the glider end must have a breaking strength that will break before the towline tension exceeds twice the weight of the hang glider pilot and glider combination.
hang gliding Comments on outlandish release/bridle/weak link
http://ozreport.com/12.081Tracy Tillman - 2001/05/25 01:01:56 UTC
We normally use 130 lb., but we now also have 150 lb. on hand for heavier pilots in draggier gliders. I use 150 lb. for pro-towing, but Lisa still uses 130 lb. for pro-towing. I use 130 lb when using my regular towing bridle.
Weaklinks - the HGFA rules
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846Davis Straub - 2008/04/22 14:47:00 UTCPilots must use weaklinks provided by the meet organizers and in a manner approved by the meet organizers. All weaklinks will be checked and use of inappropriate weaklinks will require the pilot to go to the end of the launch line to change the weaklink.
Weaklinks will consist of a single loop of Cortland 130 lb Greenspot braided Dacron Tolling line and should be placed at one end of a shoulder bridle.
Is this a joke ?
Davis Straub - 2011/08/26 14:04:52 UTC
We had six weaklink breaks in a row at Zapata this year.
...got some sane weak link minimums established...Davis Straub - 2011/08/28 15:26:28 UTC
We couldn't figure out why we had so many breaks so quickly. Maybe just coincidence.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/4592
Weaklinks
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467Tracy Tillman - 2005/02/08 19:16:10 UTC
A tug pilot and/or aerotow operator has every right to inspect the use and quality of the weaklink used by a hang glider pilot, and has a duty to him/her self and the hang glider pilot to make sure that it is not too strong for its primary purpose. Concurrently, the hang glider pilot has a duty to understand and respect the well-founded concerns of the tow pilot and/or aerotow operator.
weak links
Jim Rooney - 2007/07/19 14:50:52 UTC
And yes, get behind me with a "strong link" and I will not tow you.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22308Jim Rooney - 2007/07/22 22:30:28 UTC
No, I'm not being nice. No, I do not feel the need to be nice. You're trying to convince people to be less safe. I don't want to be on the other end of the rope when someone listening to this drivel smashes in.
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.
Better mouse trap(release)?
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=11497Jim Rooney - 2010/12/16 18:47:05 UTC
A few years ago, I started refusing to tow people with home made gear.
Aerotow release options?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TUGS/message/1149Axel Banchero - 2009/06/20 04:57:01 UTC
But I have seen others fail twice and one of them was during one of my training tandems. I just kept hitting the brake lever for a few seconds in WTF mode, and the instructor used the barrel release.
aerotow instruction was Re: Tug Rates
...and helped empower the glider pilot to use safe legal equipment on his aircraft instead of the shitrigged Flight Park Mafia monopoly crap that people are being forced to fly with.Tracy Tillman - 2011/02/10 20:08:32 UTC
Anybody who is truly a good pilot, in any form of aviation, knows that the knowledge, skills, and judgement you have in your head, learned from thorough instruction from a good instructor with a good curriculum, are the best pieces of equipment you can fly with. Good equipment is important, the best equipment is a well-trained brain.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/skysailingtowing/message/70672) membership development and promotion, and 3) the enjoyment, comfort and pleasure of pilots and their families/guests qualify them for our highest honor we can bestow.
They are without peer in their hospitality and their investment of tireless human capital.
AT SOPs - proposed revisions
Yeah, sure.Tracy Tillman - 2009/05/10 02:08:52 UTC
Hi Tad.
I'm Tracy Tillman, on the USHPA BOD, on the Tow Committe, and I am an Aviation Safety Counselor on the FAA Safety Team (FAAST) for the Detroit FSDO area. As a rep of both the USHPA and FAA, I would like to help you, USHPA, and the FAA improve safety in flying, towing, and hang gliding.
The FAA gets a lot of letters of complaint from a lot of yahoos...
You mean like this one?Their unselfish financial capital investments certainly must rank near the top in comparison to the majority of HG/PG operations.
This year alone they have made significant time and capital investments. Just a few examples include: starting a "scooter-tow" operation, working to get an HG operation in our region to take action to comply with safety regulations and hosting a fun event designed to renew the interest of "drop-out" pilots to come back into the sport.
Chicago Sun-Times - 2005/10/06
Four weeks after a horrific hang-gliding crash killed two people in LaSalle County, one victim's family is demanding answers.
Jeremiah Thompson was killed Sept. 3 while on a tandem hang glider, learning the hobby from Arlan Birkett, owner of Sheridan-based Hang Glide Chicago.
An airplane towed the hang glider into the air, with plans to reach 3,000 feet before the cable was released and their tandem hang glide began, an attorney said.
But two hundred feet into that ascent, the cable snapped, and the hang glider plummeted to the ground, smashing to pieces and instantly killing Thompson and Birkett.
On Wednesday, Thompson's family filed a negligence lawsuit against the company, demanding unspecified damages but also hoping to find out how the crash happened.
"They're two hundred feet in the air, and while normally they would glide to the ground, this hang glider nose-dived to the ground," attorney Matthew Rundio said. "We need to find out why that happened."
Rundio is now collecting witness accounts of the crash, including a possible videotape of it happening.
Thompson's family said, in his obituary, that he died in "the last of a series of lessons" with Birkett.
Birkett, 47, had been hang gliding since 1987, according to his obituary, and was certified by the U.S. Hang Gliding Association as an advanced hang-glider pilot and as a tandem instructor.
Thompson, 32, was a Montana native who came to Chicago to work as a computer programmer at Epiphany Capital Management.
In his obituary, his family said he was a member of the U.S. ski team and was nominated as a Rhodes Scholar before graduating from Dartmouth College.
Yeah, I can tell.Without hesitation they have taken on national organization responsibilities as Region 7 Director(s).
Yep. Assimilation.Lisa and Tracy are members that other members should assimilate as much as possible.
That's the name of the game, isn't it? My way or the highway.Jim Rooney - 2011/08/31 09:25:57 UTC
So yeah, if you show up with some non-standard gear, I won't be towing you. Love it or leave it. I don't care.
Mine too. Some kind of citation anyway.They certainly have my vote for the Presidential Citation.
Anybody with anything useful to say about Tracy isn't permitted to discuss anything on the Oz Report forum.Discuss Tracy and Lisa at the Oz Report forum.Sincerely,
Chris Christophersen
