Re: 2016/04/03 Tres Pinos fatality
Posted: 2016/04/13 16:03:36 UTC
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=34243
Fatal HG crash in Tres Pinos CA 4-3-2016
Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt says, "No fuckin' way, dude! You need a thousand dollars with of Hang Zero level scooter tow training to safely advance you through the intricacies and subtleties of surface towing - which is a way bigger can of worms than AT - before you'll have a reasonable chance of survival on big boy platform."
So Stephan agrees - it's not like he actually has a CHOICE here - and Steve puts him back in diapers in his nice safe playpen (which would actually be dangerous as hell if it weren't within the walls of a padded cell) and convinces him he's learning skills and theory critical for his survival back out in the real world.
So he wastes all that time and $$$$ on Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt's snake oil until he's finally permitted to take a real truck tow in fake conditions and gets told "Work on these skills back home and come see me next year to get those spots observed." And now he's gotta convince himself that he wasn't totally scammed - that his time and money were well spent and prevented him from likely having been challenged with possible negative outcomes, probably along the lines of being left with both arms broken gurgling his life out on the runway under what was left of his glider.
And it probably makes him feel a little better about himself if he promotes the scam to others.
Fuck Steve and his Blue Sky Scooter Towing program. What it's good for is getting Hang Zeroes safely off the ground, up to three feet, and back with a bit of experience in pitch control - which is pretty brain dead intuitive anyway for just about every bozo who's ever clipped into a glider. It's the towing equivalent of a shallow Jockey's Ridge dune or Dockweiler Beach. It DOES not produce PILOTS qualified for real world soaring launches, tows, flights, approaches, landings. It just gives Steve an ability to promote himself as the Master of Hang Gliding Safety 'cause he's never had anyone drown in his kiddie wading pool.
Steve's a thousand times worse than totally useless with respect to real world hang gliding carnage - Mike Haas, Bill Priday, Steve Elliot, Zack Marzec, Joe Julik, Jesse Fulkersin, Rafi Lavin.
When we early wavers were coming up through towing - stationary winch, static, boat, truck, aero - it was just a matter of hooking free flyers who knew up/down/left right up to rope ends and taking it easy for a hundred feet while they adjusted to the extra responsiveness one gets when routing tension (extra weight) through one's body. And there were ZERO serious incidents resulting from this approach. Serious towing incidents are almost always the consequence of towing someone who can't fly or towing in shit conditions someone who can fly all on equipment that won't permit flyers to get off or stay on as they see fit.
Gradually the inevitable scammers in the sport realized they could drag the process out interminably and make relative megabucks under the guise safety and responsibility - 'specially the motherfuckers with tandem ratings and facilities.
And anybody who thinks that there's some actual substance to Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt... Find some quotes from some of his protégés relaying his genius to others. Anybody who's an actual positive influence on the sport will fade into the background as his ideas and techiniques became universal. If Steve Wendt, Mike Robertson, Dennis Pagen all get hit by trucks tomorrow, or had never been born to begin with, what difference would it make or have made?
I myself have made an actual difference. If I got hit by a truck tomorrow one of a small minority of voices would be lost but there'd be others left to continue the messages every bit as competently 'cause that was always MY goal. Steve, Mike, Dennis don't have any protégés 'cause all they've ever really been about have been themselves.
Fatal HG crash in Tres Pinos CA 4-3-2016
This is such a massive load o' crap. This guy has had a Two rating for a million years; has Four plus level skills, experience, airtime; wants his long overdue Three; correctly figures all he should need to do is hop on the back of the truck and get three consecutive spot landings officially observed and signed off on.Stephan Mentler - 2016/04/13 02:26:59 UTC
@ Dave,
The primary answer is time spent on instruction and low and slow - Steve trains to standard not time. I went to Steve as an experienced H2 looking toward getting my H3. I had a great deal of aerotow experience - probably a few hundred tows at that point. I figured it would be simply a matter of hooking me up to the truck and towing me aloft. I am glad that was not his approach. We started low and slow. I did not progress to higher altitudes until I demonstrated mastery of the skills for the level of towing. Once again, I am very glad that this is Steve's approach. Despite my experience aerotowing, had he pulled me higher off the bat - which seems to be what occurred with a new H1 - I would likely have been challenged with possible negative outcomes. To me the high AOA associated with surface towing was very different. After several lessons (each lesson comprising a few hours of instruction), I was put on the truck and knew exactly what to do and what to expect. It made for a very enjoyable and stress free flight. I actually have my first truck tow on video. I will try to post it on youtube in the next couple of days - you will see that Steve is a very thorough instructor.
With regard to equipment, I believe Steve uses purpose built equipment for the task at hand - i.e. low and slow has you on a low and slow scooter. My only job was to fly the glider. I did not have to actuate a release until later in the instruction - even then, as I remember it, his design was such that if I failed to release by a certain point, power was stopped and I glided safely to the ground (i.e. the return pulley is far enough in front of the release-by-point, that there is sufficient slack to make a safe decent if you don't release off of a higher scooter tow).
Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt says, "No fuckin' way, dude! You need a thousand dollars with of Hang Zero level scooter tow training to safely advance you through the intricacies and subtleties of surface towing - which is a way bigger can of worms than AT - before you'll have a reasonable chance of survival on big boy platform."
So Stephan agrees - it's not like he actually has a CHOICE here - and Steve puts him back in diapers in his nice safe playpen (which would actually be dangerous as hell if it weren't within the walls of a padded cell) and convinces him he's learning skills and theory critical for his survival back out in the real world.
So he wastes all that time and $$$$ on Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt's snake oil until he's finally permitted to take a real truck tow in fake conditions and gets told "Work on these skills back home and come see me next year to get those spots observed." And now he's gotta convince himself that he wasn't totally scammed - that his time and money were well spent and prevented him from likely having been challenged with possible negative outcomes, probably along the lines of being left with both arms broken gurgling his life out on the runway under what was left of his glider.
And it probably makes him feel a little better about himself if he promotes the scam to others.
Fuck Steve and his Blue Sky Scooter Towing program. What it's good for is getting Hang Zeroes safely off the ground, up to three feet, and back with a bit of experience in pitch control - which is pretty brain dead intuitive anyway for just about every bozo who's ever clipped into a glider. It's the towing equivalent of a shallow Jockey's Ridge dune or Dockweiler Beach. It DOES not produce PILOTS qualified for real world soaring launches, tows, flights, approaches, landings. It just gives Steve an ability to promote himself as the Master of Hang Gliding Safety 'cause he's never had anyone drown in his kiddie wading pool.
Steve's a thousand times worse than totally useless with respect to real world hang gliding carnage - Mike Haas, Bill Priday, Steve Elliot, Zack Marzec, Joe Julik, Jesse Fulkersin, Rafi Lavin.
When we early wavers were coming up through towing - stationary winch, static, boat, truck, aero - it was just a matter of hooking free flyers who knew up/down/left right up to rope ends and taking it easy for a hundred feet while they adjusted to the extra responsiveness one gets when routing tension (extra weight) through one's body. And there were ZERO serious incidents resulting from this approach. Serious towing incidents are almost always the consequence of towing someone who can't fly or towing in shit conditions someone who can fly all on equipment that won't permit flyers to get off or stay on as they see fit.
Gradually the inevitable scammers in the sport realized they could drag the process out interminably and make relative megabucks under the guise safety and responsibility - 'specially the motherfuckers with tandem ratings and facilities.
And anybody who thinks that there's some actual substance to Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt... Find some quotes from some of his protégés relaying his genius to others. Anybody who's an actual positive influence on the sport will fade into the background as his ideas and techiniques became universal. If Steve Wendt, Mike Robertson, Dennis Pagen all get hit by trucks tomorrow, or had never been born to begin with, what difference would it make or have made?
I myself have made an actual difference. If I got hit by a truck tomorrow one of a small minority of voices would be lost but there'd be others left to continue the messages every bit as competently 'cause that was always MY goal. Steve, Mike, Dennis don't have any protégés 'cause all they've ever really been about have been themselves.