You are NEVER hooked in.

General discussion about the sport of hang gliding
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9150
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Hang Gliding Interlaken, Switzerland, 10 year old girl, music by Robert Miles, Children
Ady Ryf - 2015/09/18

10 year old girl, hang gliding in Interlaken Switzerland, just awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Title shot:

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Never before have I seen a hang glider less prominently displayed in a title shot for a video whose purported primary topic is hang gliding. If I were gonna do a LEGITIMATE representative shot:

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But then I'd only have about ten percent of the hits this one does - currently a bit over 27.5K. And a run-of-the-mill Hang Gliding Interlaken video posted around the same time is gonna be very safely inside of the triple digit range.

Of the two videos featured on Hang Gliding Interlaken's website the closest approximation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHh9kjDGQ7o


only has 204 at present.

Granted, this one's rather highly and well produced - and shot entirely by HGI folk as best as I can tell. And it APPEARS to have been shot and produced as a promo for the operation but that's not most of what's pulling in the clicks - fuckin' obviously. And I'm wondering if it was the selection of the title shot that rendered it useless as an HGI promo.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9150
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Hang Gliding Interlaken, Switzerland, 10 year old girl, music by Robert Miles, Children
This one goes here for the takeoff, just like that.
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After we take off I'll tell you... I'll tell you to drop that down and stand on it, OK?
OK.
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So you just drop it and stand on it with your feet.
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You couldn't fit the stirrup with a bungee loop to hold it on a lower leg so's she could just kick into it upon proning out?
You're starting to look good, Lily.
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She was looking just fine at:

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And I so do love watching optical glass and plastic getting wiped clean with dusty T-shirts.
Get these sexy sunglasses, eh?
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A fair bit like YOUR sexy sunglasses, huh Bernie?
Yeah!
Yeah... I'd be a bit reluctant to fit a stunningly beautiful ten year old girl - or pretty much anybody else - with sexy sunglasses if I were you.

So how come you didn't have the sexy sunglasses on as soon as y'all arrived at the top? I notice you had...

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...yours on. And she and Talia..

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...and Nilah...

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...would've all been better off with the protection.
Wait, I'm not finished...
Whoa! Yeah! Looking awesome!
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That's great!
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Open face. Not that I give a rat's ass one way or another. Helmets tend not to make much in the way of positive differences in hang glider crashes.
How are you feeling?
Great. Now prepare yourself for one and a half steps worth of running fast. Then you can look good until after you're unhooked in the LZ.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Hang Gliding Interlaken, Switzerland, 10 year old girl, music by Robert Miles, Children

We've eaten up nearly half of the video before getting to launch position. That's a good thing 'cause it documents a lot of what has to take place prior to a mountain launch for a single flight. And compare/contrast AT in which the glider's set up and broken down once a weekend for a personal solo or once a season for commercial tandem. Also don't need to spend a half hour reminding the passenger to run fast and look good. Good thing it's so much safer due to the simplicity issue or one might consider running a tug or two out of the Interlaken LZ.
...always counts at takeoff, OK?
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Note the selfie boom support line engaging the pilot's carabiner at its top.
Look good! Well yeah? You're looking good?
Great Bernie. Now wanna look good to verify that both of you are connected to the glider? Preferably before you guys start running fast?

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And when Bernie turns his head to verify...

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...Lily naturally, automatically, instinctively turns HER head to see what he's looking at.

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But the motherfucker doesn't SAY anything. Maybe ya gotta pay for the deluxe package to get anything in the way of critical educational content.

And let's try this scenario... Next year she goes for another tandem thrill ride back home in Grebloville and one of Joe's products drops her fifteen hundred feet 'cause this motherfucker was deliberately, pretty much actively concealing this issue from her instead of doing shit in the way of education.
Run. OK? You can't just look good. Yeah, you've gotta look cool when you're doing hang gliding. Alright? Alright!
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Bernie twists his head around to check...

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Lily also turns.

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Before I started transcribing the dialog I thought we were just seeing two views of the same hook-in check. These are two separate checks. We don't have the continuity we need to pinpoint the timing of the first one confirms the connections three seconds prior to the glider being picked up and nine seconds prior to initiation.

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OK, Lily... Stand up straight, Lily...
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Are you ready? Are you ready? Lily? OK. Three, two, one, GO! RUN!
Both lead with the left foot.

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Lily's off before she completes her third step.

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The glider's totally flying by the time of Bernie's fourth.

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A couple seconds of thrust time.

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Forget about an unhooked passenger having a snowball's chance in hell of aborting - 'specially seeing as how zero percent of them get anything in the way of being alerted to the potential issue. And thanks bigtime for the documentation of same, Bernie.

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Totally awesome smoking gun clips.

The SHV bullshit is gonna be the same as the rest of the planet's bullshit. It's gonna be all about the preflight crap. And here's Aussie national Birdman Bernie screaming at the top of his actual ACTIONS that the preflight CANNOT BE TRUSTED worth SHIT to deal with this issue.

And we have the models from Glacier...

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...and Makapu'u...

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...Points to illustrate that if NOBODY EVER connects to the glider for preflight / prior to reaching launch position the problem disappears.

P.S. Just dawned on me... We NEVER see the idiot hang check in this video in which we DO see the glider being transported up the mountain and being carried/rolled to the setup area; battens being stuffed; a camera mount being duct taped to a cross spar; the passenger being suited up with harness, sexy sunglasses, and helmet and being repeatedly reminded to run fast and look good. That's probably telling us that Birdman Bernie...
Rob Kells - 2005/12

My partners - Steve Pearson and Mike Meier - and I have over twenty-five thousand hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another five thousand flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods (hang check and Aussie) outlined above. Each of us agrees that it is not a particular method, but rather the fear of launching unhooked that makes us diligent to be sure we are hooked in every time before starting the launch run.
...never DOES the idiot fucking hang check.

Speaking of which...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4247
Hook in failure in New Zealand
Jim Rooney - 2006/09/25 11:37:18 UTC

i've been preaching this stuff for a long time... that's the irony... i was one of those 'hang checks will save you' guys.
christ... my email was jim @hangcheck.com!
i was the religious finatic about checking.
i did do hookin checks (after hang checks)
i did all the stuff you guys are saying will save you

guess what?

all that stuff is good stuff to do... it helps with other problems. but it helps with other problems.

if you think that you're immune to omissions because you this, or you do that, then god help you.
Funny we haven't heard a single peep from the world's greatest and most keenly intellectual ever authority on everything sport flying in the wake of the single most viral incident event in the history of the foot launchable stuff. And I don't imagine we'll be hearing much more from him in defense of Interlaken Guy when he gets all his tandem certifications permanently shredded either.

8.68 million hits.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Hang Gliding Interlaken, Switzerland, 10 year old girl, music by Robert Miles, Children

Nice to be connected to the glider at this point, isn't it Lily?
Pretty obvious violation of the Christopher LeFay five second rule - and with a precious little child aboard no less.
Note the flap Bernie's using to protect his harness / parachute container from grass stains and abrasions on his girly wheel landings.

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Kicking into the cocoon boot.

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Lily going for the stirrup kick-in.

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Sure ya don't wanna practice an emergency top landing for when you launch with an unhooked passenger? Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney assures us that this sorta thing is just a matter of time for all us stupid muppets.

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Turn it downwind. Should be a total no-brainer.

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Guess pretending to do something beats not even pretending to do something.

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Hey, you're cross controlling. You're pointed to starboard but you're actually rolling the glider to port.

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Will Rogers in the SKY!
You DO know how Will Rogers' life was ended, don't you Lily?
Note the slack/drooping selfie boom support line.

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Thunersee / Lake Thun.

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Looks like we're pushing the sixty degree roll limitation a wee bit. (Not that I give a rat's ass.)

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The only time we see Lily touching aluminum subsequent to stuffing battens.

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Fear not. I doubt there's much danger of her seriously compromising her pilot's control authority.

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Rifle range targets.

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Other end of rifle range.

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You're not allowed to roll the glider below two hundred feet. Or, in Europe, meters.

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So how do you know there's not a narrow dry riverbed with large rocks strewn all over the place up ahead somewhere?

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Got that one crossed off the bucket list in pretty short order. So what's next?

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No.

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Flying or inflated paragliders:
- 002-01403 - 003-01617 - 003-01617 - 116-64709 - 117-64907 - 123-71123
- 140-73302 - 141-73328 - 143-73524 - 144-73706 - 147-74102
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuP9ZrTj8mc
Hang Gliding Interlaken, Switzerland, 10 year old girl, music by Robert Miles, Children
Steve Dunnico

Mr Bird Man! Keep it going! I started hang gliding in 1984 and had the honour to fly with a load of top people through the 80's and still have a Wills Wing Duck in flyable condition - Keith Cockcroft who taught me to fly would be laughing too to see the happiness on your passengers face - top marks to you //sd
PASSENGER's face? She was his COPILOT. Says so right on the video:

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And she even has a couple seconds worth of light physical contact with the control bar.

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DL6UK

One of my friends died last Tuesday after a hanggliding accident the Saturday before in Austria. I'm still in shock. The video made me thinking of him. His oldest daughter is 10.
Currently reading "1 year ago". Anybody know this one?
Janne Blom

Lily is holding her wings out a couple of times, that's what it's all about!
Definitely.

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Hard to get a much lighter touch than that. It would have Ryan Instant-Hands-Free-Release Voight beaming with pride and admiration. Not so much with respect to Birdman Bernie though.
Oggy Oggy

I did this a few years earlier with Bernie.
He has the same glasses and I think he gives out the same helmet.
Chill dude. Fellow Australian. I went all the way to Europe to bump into an Australian giving hang gliding flights.
Selling them, actually.
Plays tunes on his phone while flying. Let's you fly it.
So how come he did total shit in the way of giving Lily any experience with exercising control?
Get a beer afterwards.
I wonder how much Lily enjoyed hers.
Top stuff.
So where are you in your hang gliding career at present?
logmeindangit

This is the flying site where a guy very recently went for a tandem flight, and the pilot didn't clip the passenger to the glider's hang loops!
1. How much do you think he discussed the issue with his passenger prior to the flight? About the same as Bernie discussed it with Lily?

2. Ya know what else he didn't do?

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They launched, and the passenger was hanging by one hand from the base tube! With the other hand, he tried holding onto a strap of the pilot's harness, but ended up just holding onto the pilot's pant-leg with his right hand. The left hand, once it got a grip on the base tube, NEVER LET GO! The pilot should have, IMO, turned immediately and landed on the grassy hillside where there were houses and big open grassy areas. It would have gotten them back to earth quickly. But the pilot chose to fly for over 2 minutes, to the landing area at the valley floor! The passenger broke a wrist and tore a bicep tendon (the bicep of the arm that would not let go!)
Maybe we could see a video of this emergency procedure to see how to do it properly. Or, since nobody's ever done this before, maybe a simulation with safetied so's he can only drop a foot below the control bar. Care to volunteer? For either of the positions?

P.S. Anybody who talks about what Interlaken Guy should've done AFTER launching rather than BEFORE is a total moron.
Bob Holliston

No loops but he (um, they) DID do a wingover.
Well stated sir.
I took my son up tandem in the 80's and he's never forgotten it.
Which makes me believe that he never went up again - as a passenger, student, pilot. Right?
Renato Stiefenhofer

Cool little girl. Cool parents, too. Hang gliding is definitely cooler than any other flying. And I have done almost everything. I started as a hang glider in 1981.
Regards from the 747-8. Awesome, too.
"Viva la Grischa" and greets to Interlaken, from Korea. R
Too bad the cool little girl didn't actually get to do any flying.

P.S. 1981 was the year USHGA put its hook-in check requirement on the books - the one that no instructor has ever implemented. Any comment?

8.72 million hits.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15337
unhooked take off clip
Helen McKerral - 2010/02/24 23:32:43 UTC

As Tad says, I'm a convert too but, as you point out, George, the lift and tug is a third-level check for me:

1. hook harness into glider (Aussie method).
2. Hang check (automatic, lie-down if another pilot on the nose wires, or a step-through and tug with a visual check of biner, lines & loops if on my own, and tug up on each leg loop with my hands) then
3. Lift and tug immediately prior to launch.

Unfortunately (and I recall you asked me about this, Tad), the lift & tug is STILL not hardwired in because I'm an old dog and it's a new trick. Perhaps it never will be: the muscle memory is still very fallible because I'm adding a new procedure to the routine whereas the other procedures were wired in from the get-go. I'm trying to remember to do it, but it is taking longer to achieve consistency than I expected. Still, as George says, it's an extra layer of safety and would be even more effective if this check had been ingrained alongside the others from my very first day of training.
As Tad says, I'm a convert too but, as you point out, George, the lift and tug is a third-level check for me:
Then you haven't really got it. You're doing shit - much of it useless or worse - in assembly and preflight to reassure yourself that...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13132
Unhooked Death Again - Change our Methods Now?
JBBenson - 2009/01/25 16:27:19 UTC

I get what Tad is saying, but it took some translation:
HANG CHECK is part of the preflight, to verify that all the harness lines etc. are straight.
HOOK-IN CHECK is to verify connection to the glider five seconds before takeoff.
They are separate actions, neither interchangeable nor meant to replace one another. They are not two ways to do the same thing.
....you'll be good to go on and at launch.
1. hook harness into glider (Aussie method).
That's not the Aussie Method. And the Aussie Method isn't a method. It's a religion - a really stupid one (if that's not overly redundant). I hook my harness in first whenever it makes my job easier but I DESPISE the Aussie Method and its stupid zombies.
2. Hang check (automatic, lie-down if another pilot on the nose wires...
Worse than useless.
...or a step-through and tug...
What's tugging going to tell you at that point?
...with a visual check of biner, lines & loops if on my own, and tug up on each leg loop with my hands)
That's preflight. Everybody needs to do it for every flight. But it has NOTHING to do with the relevant unhooked launch scenario.
then
3. Lift and tug immediately prior to launch.

Unfortunately (and I recall you asked me about this, Tad), the lift & tug is STILL not hardwired in because I'm an old dog and it's a new trick.
It's not hardwired in 'cause you haven't established the necessary mindset. The mindset has gotta be that you are NEVER hooked in and all the crap that you're doing prior to the initiation of the launch sequence is reassuring you that you are.
Perhaps it never will be: the muscle memory is still very fallible...
Muscle memory is nice but the ultimate driver has gotta be fear. CONSTANT fear through to the point that it's too late to do anything about anything.
...because I'm adding a new procedure to the routine whereas the other procedures were wired in from the get-go.
I incorporated months after my first lessons and after I'd worked as a dune instructor for maybe a couple weeks. And I don't think it would've mattered if I hadn't been clued in before years worth of flying 'cause I ALWAYS had the fear.
I'm trying to remember to do it...
Don't TRY to REMEMBER to do it. That's putting the cart before the horse. ALWAYS maintain the ASSUMPTION that you're NOT hooked in. If you do that you WILL remember to do it - repeatedly as you're waiting for the wind to straighten up or the traffic to clear.
...but it is taking longer to achieve consistency than I expected.
You're not scared. You're handling an unloaded gun with the safety on - the most dangerous kind with respect to unintended targets.
Still, as George says...
Fuck George.
...it's an extra layer of safety...
BULL FUCKING SHIT. It is THE most critical procedure you're gonna execute every foot launch flying day. If you wanna decrease your probability of an unhooked launch then train yourself to never do any of that other crap.
...and would be even more effective if this check had been ingrained alongside the others from my very first day of training.
You haven't got it. Maybe if your launches looked more like Jan's...

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TheFjordflier - 2018/09/29 18:11:29 UTC

Thanks to Kite Strings ;)
That's probably the most important thing I ever learned regarding hang gliding. Too bad it came so late in my career.
Standing at the edge like that is frightening enough. Worrying about the connection to the glider on top of that doesn't help much either.
...you'd have a lot less trouble getting it. And did you catch the "so late in my career" part? Consider a summer flying vacation to Norway six months from now. Practice walking up to the edge with your glider still on the car a few times.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=18876
Hang glider Crash
Helen McKerral - 2010/09/07 00:16:04 UTC
South Australia

There have been numerous threads in the past about unhooked launches and ways to prevent them. One constant poster, Tad, had an unfortunate brow-beating style that flooded threads and got him banned, but IMO his point was nonetheless valid; people simply got so annoyed by his style, they stopped listening and his message was lost.
I obviously didn't:
- have enough of an unfortunate brow-beating style that flooded threads and got me banned
- so annoy Jack and Davis Show assholes by my style get them to stop listening, lose my message

P.S. Helen...

How do you like the way things are going on the Jack and Davis Shows now? Last Jack and Davis Show posts - 2014/09/06 11:22:46 UTC and 2016/04/14 06:07:14 UTC respectively. And we're still seeing unhooked launches. So maybe you can tell us what the right way to present this strategy is.
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Tad Eareckson
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=892
Redundant hook in check.
Bob Kuczewski - 2018/12/26 12:43:50 UTC

I just had an idea for a hook in check system that I thought might be new ... until I searched the U.S. Hawks site and found Bill's post from December 11th, 2011 and Terry Mason's post from December 12th, 2011.

My idea was some means of making part of the harness suspension visible when launching. There are lots of ways to do this, but my current thought was a simple elastic band permanently attached to the harness that would be routed to an attachment point on the keel within the pilot's view (the routing might go around the king post to keep it streamlined with the keel). The procedure is to hook in and then attach the elastic band. The attached elastic band is visible while launching.

But when I searched the U.S. Hawks forum, I found it to be very similar to Bill's idea and Terry's report ... from seven years ago. Thanks Bill and Terry!!!

As with any system, there are failure modes. The most obvious are:

- Attaching the elastic band without actually hooking in.
- Not noticing the unattached status right in front of you.

There are surely other failure modes as well, but I think these are the most likely. The second mode could be reduced by using a dangling ball or flag (as Bill and Terry suggested) as part of the attachment point. When it's not attached it would be dangling loose right in front of the pilot's eyes.

As mentioned, any system has failure modes. One can, for example, simply forget to "lift and tug" (when using the "lift and tug" method) or forget to "always launch with a tight hang strap" (when using the "always launch with a tight hang strap" method). Bill's and Terry's suggestions are more foolproof since the dangling red ball/flag is less likely to be forgotten than something that's essentially invisible. I will try to experiment with this system at Dockweiler ... if I don't forget. Image

Footnote: Terry Mason left us in an accident nearly 6 months after his post in this topic. The legacy of his gifts to hang gliding are still with us in this forum. Thanks Terry.
Redundant hook in check.
REDUNDANT hook in check? Sorry, I missed what was wrong with the primary. But maybe we should go ahead and fix something that ain't broke like we did with the backup loop and carabiner locking mechanism.
I just had an idea for a hook in check system...
Something that's never been thought of before in the history of foot launch hang gliding. Must be a really good one.
...that I thought might be new ... until I searched the U.S. Hawks site and found Bill's post from December 11th, 2011 and Terry Mason's post from December 12th, 2011.
I can think of a more efficient way to write that.
My idea was some means of making part of the harness suspension visible when launching.
What if we made part of the harness suspension strong enough to transmit tension from a lifted wing to one's leg loops such that we could use one of our other sensory systems to confirm the connection?
There are lots of ways to do this, but my current thought was a simple elastic band permanently attached to the harness that would be routed to an attachment point on the keel within the pilot's view (the routing might go around the king post to keep it streamlined with the keel). The procedure is to hook in and then attach the elastic band. The attached elastic band is visible while launching.
And there'd be no fuckin' way the pilot who might not connect himself to his glider before running off the ramp would fuck up any aspect of a really bulletproof system like this.
But when I searched the U.S. Hawks forum, I found it to be very similar to Bill's idea and Terry's report ... from seven years ago. Thanks Bill and Terry!!!
Bill anyway. Terry ain't around no more.
As with any system, there are failure modes.
This one:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=31781
Another hang check lesson
Image
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7916/31540774647_f71ed7cd5e_o.png

doesn't have a failure mode - not one that's ever been reported or witnessed anyway.
The most obvious are:

- Attaching the elastic band without actually hooking in.
- Not noticing the unattached status right in front of you.
Well duh, if you wanna get really anal about things.
There are surely other failure modes as well...
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
...but I think these are the most likely.
That's OK, Bob. Once this thing starts catching on I'm sure we'll soon get reports on all the other failure modes. I really like the Aussie Method though 'cause it's only got one failure mode - "He wasn't using the Aussie Method when he launched unhooked." It's a lot like - "He launched unhooked."
The second mode could be reduced by using a dangling ball or flag (as Bill and Terry suggested) as part of the attachment point. When it's not attached it would be dangling loose right in front of the pilot's eyes.
Sorry, I nodded off for a moment. Would you mind picking back up from "The second mode..."?
As mentioned, any system has failure modes.
'Specially the ones that need a Russian novel's worth of bandwidth for the descriptions of installations and possible failure modes.
One can, for example, simply forget to "lift and tug" (when using the "lift and tug" method) or forget to "always launch with a tight hang strap" (when using the "always launch with a tight hang strap" method).
CAN... But we're not gonna cite any actual incident examples 'cause the actual incidents are totally nonexistent.
Bill's and Terry's suggestions are more foolproof since the dangling red ball/flag is less likely to be forgotten than something that's essentially invisible.
And we've already got decades of data from Bob's speculation on the future to confirm this beyond any shadow of a reasonable doubt.
I will try to experiment with this system at Dockweiler ...
Sounds boring.

11-12401
http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8461/28748849613_0124d812da_o.png
Image

Maybe run your trials at Whitwell.

09-05019
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2928/13891086719_3ba7e65d38_o.png
Image
Image
http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2933/14074543322_a183cc3a23_o.png
10-05124
...if I don't forget. Image
Yeah.

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.
Holly Korzilius - 2005/10/01 18:38:40 UTC

Status Update

Scott just informed me that Bill didn't make it. He died. The only other information I have is that no CHGPA or Blue Sky pilots were part of Bill's wire crew.

I don't know what else to say. I'm sitting here weeping for Bill. He was such a wonderful guy. So full of life and fun loving.
Terry Mason left us in an accident nearly 6 months after his post in this topic.
Nah, that wasn't an accident. Some combination of suicide and manslaughter.
The legacy of his gifts to hang gliding are still with us in this forum.
1. Hard to argue with that. Remind me a lot of Zack Marzec gifts to hang gliding six and a half months later.

2. And please do remind me how many months it took you to acknowledge his leaving us.
Steve Davy - 2012/07/12 00:54:02 UTC

You've got Terry's blood on your hands Bob, I hope you rot in Hell.
Maybe worried a bit that an attorney might be able to run with something like that? I know I would be if I had an analogous situation here.
Thanks Terry.
Yeah, thanks Terry.

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=795
AL's Flight At Packsaddle 10-04-11
Terry Mason - 2011/12/01 19:55:00 UTC

Those of us who prefer to fly, will always wonder about the key board jocks, who frighten away new flyers with skitzoid horror stories of murder, and at the hands of friends who only wish to share the incomparable thrill of free flight. I'm reminded of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, striving against the ever present obstructionists. Thanks to Sam for limiting Our forum to FLYERS. See you soon Bob
In these troubled times we can never have too much data lending credence to the Darwinian theory of evolution.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8143/7462005802_bbc0ac66ac_o.jpg
Image
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<BS>
Posts: 419
Joined: 2014/08/01 22:09:56 UTC

Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by <BS> »

Bob Kuczewski wrote:Footnote: Terry Mason left us in an accident nearly 6 months after his post in this topic. The legacy of his gifts to hang gliding are still with us in this forum. Thanks Terry.
Got a link to a report explaining the details of how Terry Mason left us in an accident, in that forum? Just kidding.

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=751
missing the USHPA accident database
Rick Masters wrote:A meaningful accident database cannot be managed by parties that are arguably complicit in those accidents by conflicting action such as promotion, concealment or manufacture of defective products.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9150
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Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

And do make sure to give that short eight post topic a refresher skim.
---
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=892
Redundant hook in check.
Frank Colver - 2018/12/26 19:41:22 UTC

One of the positive things about flying swing seat or suprone is that the binner and hook-in strap are in front of you before launch. Since I've started flying seated again I very much like being able to easily look up at the clipped in binner just before getting ready to launch.
One of the positive things about flying swing seat or suprone is that the binner...
Yeah. BINNER. As in caraBINNER. I'm massively impressed already, Frank.
...and hook-in strap...
And here I was thinking that we referred to it as a hang strap. The thing you hook into with your carabinner.
...are in front of you before launch.
My stuff's behind me. And I know a way of checking before launch that also confirms whether or not I'm in my leg loops. I don't NEED to be looking at the goddam thing. Kinda like I don't need to be looking at my starboard wingtip to make sure it's going up when I'm rolling to port.
Since I've started flying seated again I very much like being able to easily look up at the clipped in binner just before getting ready to launch.
Thank you so very much, USHPA7, for confirming for us that you don't do anything remotely resembling a hook-in check when flying a prone harness.
Bob Kuczewski - 2018/12/26 20:53:05 UTC

Good point. Even if you walk around unhooked the straps and spreader bar could be easily flopped forward making it quite obvious that you're not hooked in.
It's quite obvious to me that I'm not hooked in if it's been more than two seconds since I checked for resistance.

How 'bout THIS:

049-35807
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4856/46206628272_99634e9aee_o.png
Image

Bob? Turning around and LOOKING at the connection(s) IMMEDIATELY before picking up the glider and initiating forward motion. Wing safely below the turbulent jet stream perpetually lurking six inches above wing-on-the-shoulders altitude. Not Rube Goldberg enough for you to support? No, right. You might forget. That motherfucker's NEVER gonna forget 'cause he GETS the gun-is-always-loaded concept - something that you fight tooth and nail even after having blown a hole through the wall with an actual loaded unloaded gun.

And note the little girl monkey doing the monkey-see/monkey-do thing IMMEDIATELY and CONSISTENTLY without even having been briefed on what's going on and what the issue is. This is NOT all that difficult to teach. But I suppose it would detract some from the perfected flare timing effort and concentration.

There's ALWAYS a best way of executing a task for any given set of circumstances. And lift and tug is it when physically possible for most pilots and situations and turn and look as the beginning of the launch sequence is the best Plan B for anything else. And the control freaks motivated to retain and/or gain economic and/or political power in the sport will all bend over backwards to prevent those procedures to be adopted on any significant scales.

Doug Hildreth was an MD who never needed or wanted a piece of the economic or political power action. Pushed just about all the right concepts and procedures, got universally ignored and erased from the sport's history.

8.88 million hits for Interlaken.
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Tad Eareckson
Posts: 9150
Joined: 2010/11/25 03:48:55 UTC

Re: You are NEVER hooked in.

Post by Tad Eareckson »

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=892
Redundant hook in check.
Bill Cummings - 2018/12/26 23:40:34 UTC

Since our earlier discussions with Tad E. on this topic I've been advocating the hang check and the lift and tug for the new pilots that I mentor.
Also I make it a point to include in all the videos that I post to show a hang check for each flight.
My hope is that new pilots will notice that Robin and I with our combined 80 years of experience are not yet arrogant enough to step up to launch without a hang check.
Bill Cummings
Since our earlier discussions with Tad E. on this topic...
Since Rob Kell's 2005/12 post Bill Priday magazine article didn't accomplish shit.
I've been advocating the hang check and the lift and tug for the new pilots that I mentor.
1. Good thing you're advocating the hang check. I shudder to think how many new pilots would be skipping it otherwise.
2. The hook-in check is MANDATED in the u$hPa pilot rating requirements. The hang check isn't mentioned.
Also I make it a point to include in all the videos that I post to show a hang check for each flight.
And why fuckin' bother with including the lift and tug. You've done the hang check already ferchrisake.
My hope is that new pilots will notice that Robin and I with our combined 80 years of experience...
...and unwavering terminal stupidity...
...are not yet arrogant enough to step up to launch without a hang check.
Ya know who IS arrogant enough to step up to launch without a hang check?
Rob Kells - 2005/12

My partners - Steve Pearson and Mike Meier - and I have over twenty-five thousand hang glider flights between us and have managed (so far) to have hooked in every time. I also spoke with test pilots Ken Howells and Peter Swanson about their methods (another five thousand flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods (hang check and Aussie) outlined above.
Arrogant enough... Now where have we heard that before? Oh yeah...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2809
hook-in failures
Jim Rooney - 2007/10/31 13:31:04 UTC

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
YOU ARE ON CRACK!

I've yet to meet the pilot dumb enough or arrogant enough to fly without a backup loop. Perhaps you'll be the first then?

Thanks, I needed a laugh
But you ARE dumb enough and arrogant enough to fly without EITHER a primary or a backup loop.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4247
Hook in failure in New Zealand
Jim Rooney - 2006/09/24 21:19:29 UTC

Enough about what doesn't work though... what does?
Since we don't have a plug that only fits one way, we fall on lesser methods, but some are better than others...

In particular... Third Party Verification.
You won't save you, but your friends might.
Not always, but they're more reliable than you.
Why do you think that airline checklists (yes our lovely checklists) are check-verified by pilot AND copilot?

That's all I got for ya.
The other topics have been beat to death here.
If there was an answer, we'd all already be doing it.
And you don't have any friends who are gonna tell you your carabiner's dangling. You're WAY more likely to have someone quietly approach from behind and DISconnect you.
Bill Cummings - 2018/12/28 02:10:42 UTC

Centurylink, my wire line interrupt provider finally put all of New Mexico and some of the nearby states back on line this late afternoon. They went down sometime near 1:00 am this morning.

The Hawks had another thread about how to fix the taking off without being hooked in problem.
I was going to make a link to that thread but I don't know if my interrupt provider has yet established a firm grasp on the internet or if they are hanging on by their fingernails.
So without the link I'll tell you that I received a call from, "dohara" this evening. He first logged on to the Hawks Jan 17, 2013.

He was following the, "Redundant hook in check," thread and told me a story that unfolded in 1979 at the launch in Chattanooga. Sky Dog Bob Grant and his friend Malcolm had been waiting for a break in the clouds to launch. The Duluth Minnesota club, The Skyline Sky Dogs, had given up waiting on the clouds and went to town to find a bar. (Being a Sky Dog myself I'm sure they already knew where most of the bars were.)
Later they learned that Malcolm had launched unhooked and had hung onto the base tube. I'm assuming that hanging from the base tube will speed the glider up a good bit. Malcolm hung on until he came in contact with the tree tops below the launch and then he was stripped from the base tube. There was an estimated 80' fall from the top of the trees to the ground. Malcolm did not survive the fall.
This is the incident:
R.V. Wills - 1980/04

1979/12/31 - Jerome DuPrey - Sirocco III - Lookout Mountain, Tennessee

Hang IV Canadian pilot, with over 600 flights. Another tragic failure to hook in by a veteran. Hung onto the control bar uprights almost to the landing area, but fell from 50-75' after a 360.
I REALLY DOUBT that the wrong name was published.
dohara tells me that from then on he always hooked his harness to the glider and then got into the harness.
To leave the glider for any reason he wouldn't unhook but crawl out of the harness leaving it hooked to the glider.
Fuckin' Aussie Methodist douchebag. That bullshit fails all the fuckin time. And those assholes don't count the situations in which it CAN'T BE DONE - safely or AT ALL - as the dangerous failures they are.
Bob Kuczewski - 2018/12/28 05:20:17 UTC

I'm of the belief that each of us should do what we believe will be the safest reasonable choice.
I don't give a flying fuck about your goddam BELIEFS, Bob. Wilbur and Orville never got anything six inches off the ground as a consequence of anything they BELIEVED.
I added "reasonable" because the safest thing is to just stay home. I fear the government (or the health insurance companies) will someday mandate that for everyone ... after they've outlawed us driving our own cars. Image
Fuckin' government. Sure is a good thing we've got Trump in there putting an end to it and Making America Great Again. I have no clue as to how it ever got great the first time without Trump running everything.
If anyone has a system that you feel is good, please feel free to share it and promote it.
1. Good thing you told them that, Bob. Otherwise they might not feel free to share it and promote it.

2. 'Cept fer Tad, of course. Let that unrepentant child molester back in here and he'll make the US Hawks an unsafe place for people of varying ages to visit in a nanosecond.
My objection to Tad's presentation of "lift and tug" was that he wanted to force it on everyone in all circumstances.
Quote me, motherfucker. That's YOU defining and stating my position for me - since the US Hawks really does honor the free speech of one hundred percent of its voting members.
We're not all the same...
1. Thank gawd.
2. Yeah, but minus our gliders we all accelerate towards the surface a rate of 32 feet per second squared.
...and I believe we have a right to...
...totally ignore any of the conditions of our ratings and conditions we agreed to adhere to when obtaining FAA exemptions and...
...make our own decisions when it comes to our personal safety.
1. Says the motherfucker who got u$hPa to implement a regulation requiring me to have a helmet on while baking in the Ridgely launch line while all the Rooney Linkers keep cycling back in ahead of me for their free relights.

2. I sure as hell believe YOU should - 'specially when you're expanding on your very little experience with towing. I want you to be able to use the safest weak links capable of getting you airborne and the most easily reachable of all releases - preferably of the bent pin variety.

3. Funny I've never heard you rail against all the government mandated outrages to which you were subjected in your general aviation career. "Fuckin' big gov'mint ain't gonna tell ME to check my oil pressure before I take off and climb out over that playground just beyond the end of the runway!"

4. You do and don't do whatever the fuck you want, Bob. BUT...

http://www.energykitesystems.net/HGpilots/RobertKuczewski.html
Robert Kuczewski ||| Rated Hang Glider Pilot ||| United States Hang Gliding Rating System USHGRS
Robert M. Kuczewski

H4 Hang Glider Pilot, USHGRS life rating
FL AWCL CL FSL RLF TUR
That's a USHGA rating. And they've had a REQUIREMENT since seventeen months after Jerome bought it that states:
With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
And that was CLEARLY DEFINED as meaning AT LAUNCH POSITION and NOT fifteen seconds prior to launch. You've never done it, wouldn't ever consider doing anything along those lines with a gun to your head - so renounce your USHGA rating.

I renounce mine 'cause I got to be a competent pilot by REJECTING all the USHGA crap I was fed and swallowed for a lot of my flying career. Nobody's u$hPa rating means SHIT to me. Kelly Harrison was a goddam Greblo Five ferchrisake.

P.S. My previous post in this thread gives the latest lie to your perpetual bullshit about Tad's presentation of "lift and tug" and wanting to force it on everyone in all circumstances.

And I don't give a rat's ass what anybody NOT flying under the auspices of a u$hPa rating doesn't do just prior to launch. Or really under them for that matter. I would LOVE to see a video of Mike End-Of-Story Bomstad taking himself out of the gene pool minus his glider at Parker. But if I'M gonna be involved in establishing SOPs for a hang gliding organization there WILL BE an equivalent of the one u$hPa amended 1981/05 and it WILL BE ENFORCED.

And there's no way in hell I'd be a part of any organization in which you'd have significant control and/or influence.
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