http://ozreport.com/7.004
Death in the tow paddock
Davis Straub - 2003/01/05 07:00
Deniliquin, New South Wales
Hikobe Junko was killed today in the tow paddock after locking out during a car tow. She was on the left most car towing lane, about four lanes to the right of our aero towing lane. After locking out, she headed out of control toward our lane and almost hit Elsa Gleason who was helping Terry Presley to get ready to tow. She also almost hit Terry coming in 12 feet over him downwind.
She smashed into the ground next to our lane and could not be revived.
Car towing is relatively susceptible to lock out, but pilots who are carefully trained in the procedures know to pull the release and not try to save the tow. Save their life instead. It appears as though Hikobe did not pull her release when she got into trouble.
This kind of accident is quite rare, although getting off kilter on a car tow is not. Hitting a dust devil low has happened and I've witnessed the carnage that that can create. Pilots need to put small flags down the tow strip to check the wind.
Pilots also need to be trained to release as soon as anything goes wrong especially when they are low, as there is little time to fix the problem. Once you release you need to pull in immediately to reduce your angle of attack and build up speed in order to be able to get the glider under control and into the wind.
Our sympathies go out to Phil Pritchard and Hikobe's family.
http://ozreport.com/7.005
Correction re article on Hikobe
Davis Straub - 2003/01/06 23:00
Apparently she did not ever release. She was car towing and using a dollie. There may have been some cross wind from the right (she locked out to the left). When launching (half an hour before Hikobe) I experienced a bit of right hand side cross wind, and waited about 30 seconds until the wind died down and straightened up before launching. We had five wind streamers down the tow lane to indicate any disturbances, like thermals coming toward us.
Car towing is relatively susceptible to lock out...
Relative to what? Why? Do we get to hear anything about what was between the car and glider?
...but pilots who are carefully trained in the procedures know to pull the release and not try to save the tow. Save their life instead.
Right Davis, the problem was that she wasn't TRAINED to pull the release. She was so focused on and committed to saving the tow - even at the expense of her life - that she steadfastly REFUSED to even CONSIDER pulling the release - all the way to impact. What an idiot. Total Darwin material.
http://ozreport.com/pub/fingerlakesaccident.shtml
So why didn't you pull EITHER of your releases? Did you have a nice tow? Guess you weren't trained very well.
This kind of accident is quite rare...
Yeah, it's been almost three whole years - just six days short - since Mike Nooy was mostly killed a couple of lanes over on a surface tow at one of your little New South Wales funfests. And it will be another two whole years - plus four days - before Robin buys it at Hay. And then a year and ten days before James Simpson gets it at Tocumwal. After that just sixteen days short of three years before Steve Elliot at Forbes. Good thing these aren't quite common occurrences.
Hitting a dust devil low has happened...
So was there a dust devil?
...and I've witnessed the carnage that that can create.
Yeah, it's freakin' amazing how much carnage you've witnessed - and been responsible for.
Pilots need to put small flags down the tow strip to check the wind.
Maybe the meet organizers and tow operators should be responsible for that.
We had five wind streamers down the tow lane to indicate any disturbances, like thermals coming toward us.
So you HAD streamers. So either nobody bothered to look at or heed them or the issue is irrelevant.
Pilots also need to be trained to release as soon as anything goes wrong especially when they are low, as there is little time to fix the problem.
Right. Training is DEFINITELY the key here. And you should ALWAYS release as soon as ANYTHING goes wrong - especially when you're low. And there will NEVER be an immediately lethal compromise of control that will result from taking a hand off to hunt around for the release actuator. And as soon as you're off you're definitely gonna be able to fix whatever little problem you were having at the time - it's in the rulebook.
Bill Bryden - 2000/02
The rapidity of the lockout was absolutely stunning to those observing the event. The glider went from being banked approximately 25 degrees and angled roughly 45 degrees to the towline, to being rolled over and pointed down in less than two to three seconds after the rollover.
If ONLY these people would listen to us when we're trying to train them.
Once you release you need to pull in immediately to reduce your angle of attack and build up speed in order to be able to get the glider under control and into the wind.
Yeah Hikobe, once you release don't forget to pull in immediately to reduce your angle of attack and build up speed in order to be able to get the glider under control and into the wind. Gotta get that speed built up.
Apparently she did not ever release. She was car towing and using a dollie.
What kind? Barbie? So what was she using for a release? Where was the actuator? What kind of bridle? Static or payout? How much tension? How much line was out? To what altitude did she max out? What was the tow angle? Was the bridle in contact with the basetube when things started going south? What was the glider and weak link rating? How much tow experience did she have? How many hours? What was her rating? What did witnesses say about the ribbons or air? If things sucked why did her driver start rolling? Why aren't we hearing all the weak link hysteria we will after Robin gets killed?
Aw, fuckit. That stuff's boring. What we'd all really like to have is a couple of dozen paragraphs describing who did what on today's task and some detailed track logs to illustrate things.
Steve Kinsley - 2003/01/05 14:37:59 UTC
I also think it is important to adjust the release line slack so that it requires a tug of less than a foot to effect a release. If you are in a turn and looking at a lock out, taking your hand off the bar and making some huge arm movement to get off is not something you want to do. At the same time, a short pull will often mean an inadvertent release when the bridle moves down - from in front of to below you. I have a handful of slack and release some as I climb out above the truck. If I remember. Oops. Dang.
Terry (Spencer - who survived an unhooked launch attempt at Dickey Ridge on an outing with Steve exactly sixteen months prior but will fatally crash at Quest sinking out at the Flytec Championship eleven days after this post) has his release line rigged so that a sideways pull automatically releases you. I think this is an excellent concept but I have to ask Terry to set it up for me every time.
For aero I think you folks who use two barrel releases instead of the bicycle brake could get in trouble if you hit something low. I know that the hand movement to get off isn't all that much but it is more than just swatting the release handle and requires some precision. I also think a lockout might be more likely towing from the pilot only.
If I have the energy, I think I will copy Tad's release. Check it out if you have the chance.
Marc Fink- 2003/01/05 22:26:51 UTC
Real hard to generalize about what the best towing/release method is. I just started towing off the shoulder straps last year with two barrel releases and so far have found the system to be easier to use with my Laminar - much less gear and strings flying around. Also, I find that generally tracking is easier going off the shoulders than with the two point (ie bicycle) so I don't agree that you're more likely to get into a lockout with the direct shoulder attachment points.
Hugh McElrath - 2003/01/06 03:09:10 UTC
I have the kind if primary release that is a loop of cord around my right hand - just takes an inch or so of inward sliding movement without removing my hand from the bar. Is that what you are talking about?
Steve Kinsley - 2003/01/06 14:59:36 UTC
I assume that is an aero release. Yes. I think that is good. Guess I should have added IMHO to my barrel release view. A lot of folks feel very comfortable with them and with towing only from the shoulders. Million years ago we towed out of a field near where some old codger named Lester Billings lived. Cosmos trike - shoulder tow. We all survived. But there were a lot of towing accidents nationally at that time and a guy named Donnell Hewett explained in a series of articles in the mag about why a two point system was better in terms of avoiding lock outs. A lot of us pretended to understand the physics. Anyway the "Skyting" bridle is pretty much what we use today - towing from the keel and the pilot.
That innovation seemed to reduce accidents. However, I think a much more important factor was a concurrent change in procedure/viewpoint. The dominant view at the time was that you tried as hard as you could to stay on tow. "The rope is your friend". All the hot shots stayed on tow. You might break a weak link but only wimps release. And then it changed. All of a sudden the dominant paradigm became "If you see anything at all you don't like, get off. Discuss it on the ground". An obvious improvement.
Real hard to generalize about what the best towing/release method is.
C'mon Marc...
- Put all the tension on the pilot. What are the chances he's ever gonna be in a situation in which he's gonna need to really stuff the bar?
- Use a bent pin for your release. If it made sense to use a straight one why isn't everyone doing it that way?
- Put the brake lever on your downtube 'cause that's where it fits best.
- Never put anything in your teeth. Only commie scumbags put things in their teeth.
- Always do whatever the pro's say - after all, they're the pros.
Corrections, Steve...
That brief introduction of aerotow to the DC area wasn't until 1986/08/01. (It got cut short on the first afternoon when Jon Leak's gas tank came loose and went through the prop (and pieces of the prop came loose and went through the wing).)
Donnell's first article was published in the 1981/04 magazine and the other three of the series were deliberately quashed until after Skyting caught on. They were resumed in 1983/08.
Donnell wasn't about two point. Virtually all towing prior was two point - 'cept the points were control frame apex and basetube. Donnell was about making the bottom point the pilot - which was good - and putting two thirds of the tow tension on him - which was pretty much useless.
The Norfolk Hang Gliding Club was the guys who got it a lot righter.
Yeah, EVERYBODY PRETENDED to understand the physics - but NOBODY actually did 'cause nobody actually read what he was saying and the alleged physics was bullshit. Donnell was also the patron saint of shitrigged releases, auto-correcting tow gliders, one handed emergency glider control, and three quarter G weak links.
Nobody uses the Skyting Bridle today - well, nobody who has the slightest grip on reality anyway. Peter Birren remains a huge fan however. Everybody goes either all pilot or fifty/fifty pilot and glider.
That innovation seemed to reduce accidents.
Seemed to? Real hard to say. The roll instability was dramatically reduced but the quality of the equipment was so abysmal that it probably more than compensated and the certifiably insane approach to weak links started crashing gliders left and right.
However, I think a much more important factor was a concurrent change in procedure/viewpoint. The dominant view at the time was that you tried as hard as you could to stay on tow. "The rope is your friend". All the hot shots stayed on tow. You might break a weak link but only wimps release. And then it changed. All of a sudden the dominant paradigm became "If you see anything at all you don't like, get off. Discuss it on the ground". An obvious improvement.
This pretty much simply didn't happen. Control frame towing was unstable as hell, everybody knew it, it was mostly done over water, there was a huge emphasis on keeping hands on the control bar and having the actuator right under one of them, and the available equipment - if not the tension distribution - was pretty good.
It WAS understood that you could easily be killed when something between you and the thing that was pulling you broke but after the Skyting newsletter circulated for a year or two everybody went irreversibly stupid on that issue.
An obvious improvement.
Not so much for Brad Anderson, Eric Aasletten, Bill Bennett, Mike Del Signore, Rob Richardson, Mike Haas, Arlan Birkett, Jeremiah Thompson, and Nuno Fontes.
