http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34087
Tip Drag on Launch
Ryan Voight - 2016/02/21 15:07:53 UTC
Conditions are one thing, and while we can't do anything about them... obviously we can choose how to deal with them.
Would conditions include foot launch, cliff, rocks, trees, ridgetop winds, thermal blasts? 'Cause if they would this is Lockout and there's a humongous Happy Acres putting green in the sheltered valley right below with an AT launch option. If Patrick had crashed to the right of the ramp instead of pulling it off wouldn't the danger of all the complexity of the AT launch likely have been the better option?
The course, binary, decision is "to fly or not to fly"...
Since we've already ruled out towing.
...and within that choice to proceed with...
...footlaunch...
...flying, there's a myriad of ways we can (need to) apply skills and techniques appropriate to the specific risks and challenges the day's conditions present.
Funny we never seem to hear essays about getting airborne like this in any other flavor of aviation.
The Lookout ramp is a brain-dead-easy launch... in the right conditions. For all the reasons Mavi touched on above, this launch becomes much more interesting when the wind is cross.
It has to be blowing cross like stink to make an AT launch very interesting.
HOWEVER- I don't see this as the fault of the conditions. Sorry for being blunt and not sugar coating it, but this pilot has some glaring weaknesses in his or her...
HIS. Patrick O'Donnell.
...launch technique, and that was exploited by the challenging conditions.
Primarily- doing everything exactly the same every time, despite that conditions each day are always different...
But the mandatory standard aerotow weak link, despite the fact that lotsa flying weights and glider capacities vary, sometimes by a factor of two, is pure genius - as clearly evidenced by its incredibly long track record.
...in this case, quite a bit different from what most people probably fly off that ramp in. He started pretty far back on the ramp, wings level, nose pointed straight off the ramp. Maybe this was a balanced stance way back there, but was it that unpredictable the wing would not be balanced as he entered the true airflow?
The turbulent jet stream we're supposed to keep our wing out of before starting our launch run.
Anticipating this, starting farther down the ramp, and possibly allowing the glider's nose to point a bit more into the wind direction - even if he/she still ran straight off the ramp- would have really helped the wing be in a happy and balanced place.
So you're saying that getting the wing as far into the turbulent jet stream as you possibly can is a GOOD thing?
Also- every pilot on every launch experiences a pretty vulnerable moment... standing with the glider at rest on our shoulders, we can use our hands to control pitch because our shoulders act as a fulcrum. We can control roll and even yaw because our feet are still on the ground giving us leverage.
Unless we nose up a little to float the wing up with ten pounds of extra lift. Then we lose traction and are extremely lucky if our deaths are quick and painless.
When the glider is flying, we can use our hands to control pitch and roll because the glider "feels" our weight shift and the change in CG of the wing.
But not, of course, differential wire tension.
BUT- there's a period in between, where the glider lifts off our shoulders but our harness lines are not yet tight...
And haven't been since doing our hang check just behind the ramp a few minutes ago.
...and in this moment we have much increased exposure.
How much compared to:
5-0511
9-0919
Watching this launch, he/she spends a good 3-4 steps in this "limbo" period. That's a flaw in technique. That's not WHY the glider wasn't balanced. That's not WHY the wing dropped. But that's pretty clearly WHY the pilot wasn't in a good position to deal with things until he more or less dropped his body off the ramp, weighting his harness, and regaining control.
Well, at least he...
09-05019
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2928/13891086719_3ba7e65d38_o.png
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2933/14074543322_a183cc3a23_o.png
10-05124
http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1149
Team Challenge: Daily Update Thread
Holly Korzilius - 2005/10/01 18:19:55 UTC
Incident at 2005 Team Challenge
I don't have many details at this point, but I just got a call from Scott Wilkinson. Bill Priday launched from Whitwell without hooking in. Scott indicated there was about a hundred foot drop off from launch. Bill's status is unknown at this time. Please pray for him!
I will provide updates as I get them from Scott.
...weighted his harness.
Transitioning through that limbo period quickly-yet-smoothly is an art...
Which means you can die if you don't execute the art consistently well over the course of your flying career.
...I won't say it's complicated, but I also won't say it's EASY... especially doing it consistently, doing it smoothly every time, and adjusting how we do it for all the different conditions we might face... I'm not going to get off track on the "how to" do it in this thread. There's plenty of info out there, including some articles I've written, as well as a great number of instructors right there at Lookout who have an excellent handle on this...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?
Davis Straub - 2011/09/03 01:39:55 UTC
I think that I know the one that is being referred to.
The problem was an inexperienced female student put on a cart that had the keel cradle way too high, so she was pinned to the cart. The folks working at Lookout who helped her were incompetent.
What I see this video as, is a lesson in:
-Knowing one's skill limits, and selecting conditions that keep us within our bubble of reliable successes
-Striving for the best execution always, because sometimes unexpected shit happens, and we need to set ourselves up to be in the best position possible to handle it
-Focus on perfecting the basics. "good enough" is never good enough forever
Unless...
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks
Jim Rooney - 2013/03/03 19:37:19 UTC
My response is short because I've been saying it for years... and yes, I'm a bit sick of it.
This is a very old horse and has been beaten to death time and time again... by a very vocal minority.
See, most people are happy with how we do things. This isn't an issue for them. They just come out and fly. Thing's aren't perfect, but that's life... and life ain't perfect. You do what you can with what you've got and you move on.
But then there's a crowd that "knows better". To them, we're all morons that can't see "the truth".
(Holy god, the names I've been called.)
I have little time for these people.
It saddens me to know that the rantings of the fanatic fringe mask the few people who are actually working on things. The fanaticism makes it extremely hard to have a conversation about these things as they always degrade into arguments. So I save the actual conversations for when I'm talking with people in person.
A fun saying that I picked up... Some people listen with the intent of understanding. Others with the intent of responding.
I like that.
For fun... if you're not seeing what I mean... try having a conversation here about wheels.
...we're talking about aerotow equipment. Then we just go with whatever cheap bent pin piece o' crap some dickheaded tug driver sells us and tells us to use because of its long track record and totally stop looking for less crappy options.
-Adjust specific techniques every launch, every flight, every landing, every thermal, whatever- no two days are the same, there is no one-size-fits-all way to do it every time.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bRrpHNa68iY/UQ6Pv9gRZyI/AAAAAAAAjTg/Hc22bx5122Q/s2048/20943781_BG1.jpg
Focus on the desired RESULT and work backwards in your mind to figure out how to best achieve that. This 'aint easy, and it requires the ability to identify what the task's challenges will be.
-Study, learn, ask lots of questions, devote yourself to this inherently dangerous thing we do, and commit yourself to doing it as safely as reasonably possible.
Zack C - 2011/03/04 05:29:28 UTC
As for platform launching, I was nervous about it when I started doing it. It looked iffy, like things could get bad fast. I've since logged around 100 platform launches and have seen hundreds more. Never once was there any issue. I now feel platform launching is the safest way to get a hang glider into the air (in the widest range of conditions). You get away from the ground very quickly and don't launch until you have plenty of airspeed and excellent control.
-Realize that we are human, and we all make mistakes... so build a margin into everything you do. Always leave more margin than you think you need... because if making a mistake is a possibility, you could also mistake how much margin you needed...
See above.
...accidents are nearly always the culmination of several mistakes... so by having margin for your margin, you can avoid a LOT of the ways people get into trouble right there.
http://www.wallaby.com/aerotow_primer.php
Aerotow Primer for Experienced Pilots
The Wallaby Ranch Aerotowing Primer for Experienced Pilots - 2016/02/21
A weak link connects the V-pull to the release, providing a safe limit on the tow force. 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.
-Focus on the FUN.
Like perfecting your flare timing.
We often get into this "I took the day off so I need to fly" thinking. Or the "I drove all the way here, I'm going to fly". Or the "I set up so I'm flying". You took the day off, drove to launch, and set up TO HAVE FUN, not to fly. If the flying is riskier than the fun you could reasonable hope to experience... do something else fun instead. The pilots in our little community are a great, fun-loving people.
The ones still around anyway. The ones who WERE in our little community and died doing what the loved WERE great, fun-loving people.
Make a group decision to blow off the flying, and go for a hike... go to the movies... go bowling... have a paper airplane contest off the ramp... whatever... if your focus is on FUN rather than FLYING... you'll be safer (and happier, too!!!!)
Two days ago there was a news report which revealed that this guy:
got needlessly splattered by a fatal inconvenience stall resulting from your US Hang Gliding, Inc. buddies fixing whatever was going on up there by...
Wills Wing / Blue Sky / Steve Wendt / Ryan Voight Productions - 2007/03
NEVER CUT THE POWER...
Reduce Gradually
Increase Gradually
...giving him the rope. How come you have all this time to write an essay on this stupid and totally inconsequential tip drag...
09-1101
http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1541/24815708260_a24d0b0186_o.png
...but don't have a single syllable's worth of comment on Tomas getting snuffed in pursuit of his dream to fly off your local mountain?
2016/02/22 03:24:02 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Christopher LeFay
