You are NEVER hooked in.

[Tad Eareckson]

They can be forgiven. There was so much cover-up machinery in place at the local level that they didn't even know about this one before the rest of the planet did.
---
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57778
The Swiss Hang and Paragliding Federation is to investigate

DHMead - 2018/12/04 08:07:35 UTC

Ben Reese I disagree with both posts.

Hard to go wrong disagreeing with Davis Show posts.

Thanks for your interpretation of the film, but I think you are wrong in many of your observations and assessments.

Another pretty safe bet.

The pilot had good options for landing areas to the right of launch that he steered away from.

Yeah. An LZ option like that...

035-05500
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4915/32213462008_2fbae31798_o.png


...just leaves one drooling.

It did NOT look to me that be bore any of the passenger's weight while reaching for the unhooked carabiner.

Ya think? One and a quarter minutes into the flight with the passenger stable while he's desperately exploring long term support options...

053-11426
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4815/32213455998_03eed242c6_o.png


...while flying the glider with the other hand and it doesn't look to you that be bore any of the passenger's weight? Inconceivable.

But when he did, at the least, he could have tried to hook the carabiner to his own harness.

Yeah, SURE he could have - if he were a total fucking moron such as yourself.

When he's experimenting with support options the glider's all over the fuckin' place and it's SLOW - read staying HIGHER LONGER.

THIS:

084-20116
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4843/45360505384_b81ac757c0_o.png


is a GOOD STABLE SUPPORT option. He's taking what he can of Chris's weight and is able to keep the glider pointed where he wants it while maintaining a lot of the speed he needs to burn down into survivable range.

There is no way that holding someone's hand that is holding onto the control bar will assist in keeping them from losing their grip - Try it sometime.

Hey motherfucker... YOU try it sometime.

Take a skydiver up with you tandem on aerotow up to eight thousand feet. Release, have him stand up in the control frame, unhook, and lower himself down into Chris dangle position. Then you can go and clearly demonstrate what a total asshole Interlaken Guy was and how clear, obvious, superior all your armchair quarterbacking is.

Clearly the glider was controllable enough that an attempt to land higher up should have been attempted instead of flying out over the valley.

CLEARLY. No question whatsoever that everything would've come on smelling so rosy that they could've landed up there with a perfectly timed flare, walked the glider back up to the ramp, done proper hang checks, gotten the bucket list item crossed off in accordance with the routine experience.

I'm gonna say that the glider arrives at THIS:

035-05500
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4915/32213462008_2fbae31798_o.png


heading solely as an accidental consequence of THIS:

026-04728
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4882/32213464238_9f6c5f6993_o.png


effort to get Chris lifted up to a more secure configuration. Chris's hand is off the control bar's port hand position and this results in an inevitable roll and turn to starboard. Then as soon as possible...

037-05900
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4806/32213461448_9e11e0c73d_o.png


...Interlaken gets back on his intended unhooked launch emergency flight path and plan - the one that ACTUALLY WORKED in the REAL world.

The passenger didn't "slide' onto the grass, he hit hard...

None of the above - asshole. He was stripped off and didn't "HIT" with any significant force. What did the damage was the excess forward speed. But funny nobody's criticizing Chris for not leveling off three feet higher to bleed off excess speed.

...and shattered his wrist.

He didn't SHATTER his wrist. He...

119-32113
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4903/31145839027_2c7af49365_o.png


...FRACTURED it.

Plates and screws were required to fix it.

And he'd have so obviously come off SO much better with a "forced" landing back up top.

And the pilot only lessened the possibility of injury by making height a zero factor...

Height a ZERO factor. I thought you said he HIT hard.

...after exposing the passenger to certain death for two additional minutes by passing suitable landing areas up near launch.

Let the passenger complain about it if he wants to DICKHEAD. It was HIS ass hanging a couple thousand feet off the deck - not yours.

Your hypothetical conversation is just that ... hypothetical.

While yours is all Davis Show Grade A OPINION. Real top quality manure.

And the play-by-play is unnecessary with readers of the Oz Report. We all fly. We all know what we are looking at.

Sure...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31052
Poll on weaklinks

Jim Rooney - 2013/03/05 19:42:58 UTC

My god my head hurts.

Wow...
So you know what happened then?
OMG... thank you for your expert accident analysis. You better fly down to FL and let them know. I'm sure they'll be very thankful to have such a crack expert mind on the case analyzing an accident that you know nothing about. Far better data than the people that were actually there. In short... get fucked.

Again, tell me how all this nonsense is about "safety"?

So, a stronger weaklink allows you to achieve higher AOAs... but you see high AOAs coupled with a loss of power as *the* problem? So you want something that will allow you to achieve even higher AOAs?
Are you NUTS?

I'm tired of arguing with crazy.
As I said many times... there are those that listen with the intent of responding... you unfortunately are one.

You've done a great job of convincing me never to tow you.
Thank you for that.
Mission accomplished.

Who could possibly argue with anything like that? Without getting immediately banned by Davis I mean?

You give the pilot credit where credit is not due.

Trust me. I know what I'm talking about. I lost count ten years ago of all the unhooked passenger emergencies I've handled successfully.

Negligence would have resulted in a death had it not been for the passenger.

So no fuckin' way anything serious would've resulted if he'd gone with MY infallible opinion.

His survival had little to do with anything the pilot did.

His survival and near close to best possible outcome had damn near EVERYTHING that the pilot did - and didn't do. And that's pretty much Chris's position on this one.

And this motherfucker uses this:

Arrive Alive

Davis Show tag. Mission accomplished.

Harald Steen - 2018/12/04 16:09:16 UTC

Hope someone gives this guy a proper tandem flight when he's up to it.

Preferably one of the Davis Show perfect armchair quarterbacks. The ones with all the...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24846
Is this a joke ?

Jim Rooney - 2011/08/31 09:25:57 UTC

Your anecdotal opinion is supposed to sway me?
You forget, every tow flight you take requires a tug pilot... we see EVERY tow.
We know who the rockstars are and who the muppets are.
Do you have any idea how few of us there are?
You think we don't talk?
I'll take our opinion over yours any day of the week.

...best quality opinions.

The thought occurs to me that if one compiled all the top Jack and Davis Show opinions and wrote up the polar opposite procedures one could compose a pretty solid training manual.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=21868
Don't Forget your Hang Check!

K.C. Benn - 2011/05/14 06:58:09 UTC

I always do a hang check before I fly First hook in, then leg loops, then parachute safety pins, then helmet chin strap. Then before launch I lift my glider high enough to feel my leg loops pulling against me. I run, pull in a little, and then run some more. I like to feel the glider flying with me before I even leave the ground If I did not feel the glider I would just let go I am glad that guy didn't hang on very long
-
H-4. Flying since 1975, Gliders, 17 ft Manta St, Electra Flyer Wildflower 220, Leading Edge Air Foil 6-C 160, Electra Flyer Oly 160, WW Omega 220, UP Comet 160, UP Comet O.V.R.160, UP Comet 2 160, UP TRX 160, WW Fusion 141, Bennett Dream 220 , UP Predator 142 and T-2 154. Love to Fly King Mt. Willard and the Crawford Mt's are the home sites. FL,AWCL,CL,FSL,RLF,TUR.

And you do NOTHING to help us advance THE solution to this issue.

I always do a hang check before I fly

What? That strategy hasn't gotten enough people killed at this point for ya?

First hook in, then leg loops, then parachute safety pins, then helmet chin strap.

I usually wait until AFTER I launch to do the chin strap. Really - lotsa times. I'd feel it fluttering then connect it. Big fuckin' deal.

Then before launch I lift my glider high enough to feel my leg loops pulling against me.

1. What, you did that BEFORE launch and not AFTER. Thanks for narrowing down the time window for us. Undoubtedly doing this ONCE at launch position and not bothering with it again no matter how long he's left standing there waiting for the wind to straighten up. He's NOT emphasizing the critical importance of doing it within two seconds of commitment of launch.

2. So tell us about all the times you've gotten in trouble with your wing up in the turbulent jet stream and been unable to maintain yaw control due to the loss of traction you suffer from your effective loss of weight.

I run, pull in a little, and then run some more.

Really? It looks like the tandem Interlaken flight gets off after six steps - and that's on a shallow slope.

I like to feel the glider flying with me before I even leave the ground

Me too. I always get nervous when I'm flying on the ground and my glider isn't flying in the air.

If I did not feel the glider I would just let go

1. Tell me how it would be possible to NOT feel the glider lifting if you'd just lifted it high enough to feel your leg loops pulling against you two seconds prior to commitment.

2. OH! So you're actually not all that fucking confident in your ability to have your shit fully together before you commit. Yet you're more than happy to go after Interlaken Guy with guns blazing and advocate a lifetime revocation of tandem certification no matter what he says, does, demonstrates in the aftermath or years down the road. He's your second choice after every other motherfucker with a tandem ticket on the planet - including Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney.

3. Note that aborting launch wasn't an option for Interlaken Guy since once he'd committed there was no way of realizing there was a problem until it was way the fuck too late to abort.

I am glad that guy didn't hang on very long

7-0625


Me too. Now let's get him excommunicated from the Holy Order of Aussie Methodism and make him permanently ineligible for a tandem rating.

8.42 million hits.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36274
Terrifying tandem--failure to hook in passenger--Swizerland

Doug Marley - 2018/12/05 04:16:25 UTC

That pilot will likely be the safest guy on the mountain from now on with this experience behind him.

No fuckin' shit. But why did he need to have THAT experience behind him? Weren't the combined experiences of Steve Parson and Jon Orders - not to mention every other unhooked launch incident, solo and tandem, from the history of the sport - adequate enough to get his attention? I didn't need to fuck anything up myself to be scared shitless of making this mistake. A single fatality report would've been way more than enough to get my attention.

Furthermore... Is he gonna continue using the same strategy and procedures to get better results? Maybe work more on his focusing skills?

I hope wiser people are reviewing this case and this pilot's future flying career.

There obviously aren't any WISER people up the chain of command. If there had been this wouldn't have happened. The whole fuckin' planet's running in large part on the US model. And in the US model the higher you go up the chain of command the bigger the total dickheads you're gonna find.

Disagree? Cite some examples to the contrary.

Taking his ticket permanently would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face. The sport would be loosing the experiences of that pilot , who would likely have passed down that hard-earned knowledge to other pilots had he remained in the sport.

"Hey guys. This may come as something of a shock to you but launching off a half mile high ridge with an unhooked passenger can be a really unpleasant experience." "Holy fuck! I never considered that before! Excuse me, I'm gonna write a new checklist with that issue in red and keep it in my harness at all times."

Knee-jerk reactions kill.

Just like Tad-O-Links that don't break when they're supposed to.

Jorge Zingg Jorge - 2018/12/05 07:21:21 UTC

I have not commented on the posts of banning him forever, because I happen to know the pilot (I guess it's him, have not contacted him directly since the incident, but from harness / helmet / wing colors I'm pretty sure it's him) and he is not the kind of thrill seeking, YOLO-crazy, adrenalin-junkie type of person.

'Course not. Those types tend to get eliminated from the gene pool pretty quickly - almost always before the idea of hang gliding occurs to them.

Made his solo licence around same time as me, allways concerned with safety, checking things twice etc.

Didn't do him any good on this issue though, did it? So what's he gonna do now? Check things thrice, et cetera?

I can imagine how much this has depressed him.

Tough shit. He's an obvious asshole. So let's all keep beating up on him while giving Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney a total free pass and listening to his keenly intellectual dissertations on why this is a total dice roll issue that will eventually happen to each and every one of us if we fly long enough.

And of all pilots, this stupid, stupid mistake happens to him.

1. Let's not be too quick to forget the guy who left the field with the fractured wrist and torn tendon.

2. The stupid, stupid mistake wasn't launching with an unhooked passenger. It was the total failure to listen to the people who know what the fuck they're talking about on this issue. And there wasn't a language barrier issue 'cause we can hear him communicating in mildly accented English with his US bucket lister before and during launch.

I would give him another chance if I was in charge...

Take charge. You couldn't do any worse than the SGV president dickhead we've heard quoted.

Speaking of dickheads...

Incident Reports

You do not have the required permissions to read topics within this forum.

is what anybody Emperor Jack hasn't deemed suitable for admission to his Living Room gets when he clicks. But where are all his pet cocksuckers discussing this INCIDENT?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57778
The Swiss Hang and Paragliding Federation is to investigate

Ben Reese - 2018/12/05 07:31:15 UTC

DHMead - 2018/12/04 08:07:35 UTC

...

If you study the video closely you will see the landing options on the right are downhill.

If you check Google Earth you'll note that they're pretty flat...

035-05500
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4915/32213462008_2fbae31798_o.png


...if one regards them as options.

The only way to use it would be to land up-slope. That means a turn to the left out over the houses, power lines and trees.

Anybody else seeing any powerlines?

Then a gentle 270 degree turn to the right aiming for the field between the houses and trees for an up-slope landing. Remember they are traveling fast because of the forward CG.

The pilot tried to line up with a right turn for a down-slope approach and quickly abandoned it.

Maybe. Chris says:

Pilot is trying to maneuver to a quick landing.

so maybe there was a communication about his intentions but I tend to doubt it. I think they just happened to end up pointed that way as a consequence of the effort to get Chris lifted up and better secured. And Interlaken Guy had undoubtedly flown that ridge a zillion times before and even if he hadn't wouldn't have needed to head the glider in that direction to make the assessment that it was a less than stellar option. I think the regular LZ was the goal almost immediately after the grasp of the situation.

He almost lost the passenger, Note 0:48 time stamp.

Rubbish.

027-04806
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4864/46091920121_43a4096acb_o.png


The primary factor in Chris's security was his endurance. And that wasn't getting critical until about the beginning of final glide.

By doing that he lost precious altitude and almost did not clear the trees later.

044-10415
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4814/44268573880_44d07beafe_o.png


You make the call. Mine is that it's a nonissue. Chris makes no mention of it.

At 2:17...

089-21704
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4806/32213441538_213caf5c01_o.png

...pilot has been holding the passengers harness with his left hand for close to 45sec counting the 2 attempts to lift him up. Why don't you mention that?

'Cause the goal here is to present him as a total douchebag and destroy him.

This was over the highest altitude. He releases that grip...

090-21713
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4842/45360502874_464b79252a_o.png

...right before landing and the passenger grabs his pants leg. Shortly after the passenger is being dragged across the ground.

101-25200
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4913/31145846607_5ab5c46af7_o.png

The passengers own statement was that his feet dragging pulled him off the base bar..

102-25328
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As if we needed it.

Flaring for landing...

...would've been a thousand times as moronic as it is under normal circumstances.

...was impossible and it would have cause increased g loads, not good..

Duh.

The only way the pilot could have made a landing in the area you mention...

...would be if you define any impact with the surface as a landing.

...is if he knew the passenger...

...would inevitably fall to his death if he didn't.

...was not hooked-in sooner.

Rubbish. He knew within the first second. See above.

I don't think he realized the full problem soon enough?

If he'd realized the full problem soon enough he wouldn't have launched. That's why a REAL hang glider pilot always ASSUMES he has the problem immediately prior to launch and verifies that he doesn't.

If your practically diving out of the sky and turn sharply you will enter a side slip.
This is without pushing out and it is scary.

Unless you're coming into a tight field and wanna kill excess altitude quickly. Then it's just the opposite.

I have done it in a T2C on a ridge.
I was diving and turning right and the result surprised me. If you can't push out your going to crash badly.

Chris DID crash rather badly.

This also means high g's to recover. That is what started to happen and pilot corrected it in time.

Glad he was able to do SOMETHING in time on that flight.

A tandem glider is also more forgiving than a T2C.

Along with all the stupid hypocritical douchebags screaming for this guy's head. Maybe we should give the tandem glider a vote. It was the only participant in this flight that came out totally unscathed.

Not a direct comparison, but with all that weight on forward CG the results are nearly identical.

One observation you made, I am in complete agreement of.
Pilot should have hooked the carabiner to any place on his harness..

Yeah sure. He'd have had absolutely no problem separating it from the shoulder strap into which it was clipped and securing it to something solid. No fuckin' way the glider would've gone into a turn hard enough to strip Chris free.

I have no doubt that Interlaken ran this option through his head. That's obviously what he's trying to do here:

053-11426
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4815/32213455998_03eed242c6_o.png


Tosses it as a bad idea. We don't get to second-guess him. Also... How's the landing gonna go with Chris hanging below the glider, solidly secured to it, and dragging? Maybe better, maybe there's a whack and more severe injuries.

I mention this in another post. There are 3 or is it 4 identical posts.
It gets confusing and that is why I went through the time stamps..

Ever consider using my stills? Sucked a very long day outta my life to run that project.

They were having a conversation and working together.

Too bad we can't hear any of it after they get airborne. But I think we have a fair idea of what's being said anyway.

It does help to over grip a hand keeping the fingers wrapped around the base bar.

Sure can't hurt any.

It's not much but it's something... More effective was...

...the guy flying the glider in the actual situation than all the Monday morning quarterbacking.

...holding the front of the harness with his left hand.

Once the trees were overflew there was only one option left.
The landing field below was the only safe option.

Maybe just landing in the top of the trees, but the passenger would have been ripped from the glider and had to do an AVATAR style tree jump.

A mere inconvenience. Way less than the inconvenience Zack Marzec experienced on 2013/02/02 in fact.

If you were a bear you may be able latch onto a treetop and hang on long enough for someone to put a mattress under you when your grip gave out.



Of course this and our comments are hypothetical solutions.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/28 01:17:55 UTC

Well said Billo
I'm a bit sick of all the armchair experts telling me how my friend died.

Ah but hg'ers get so uppity when you tell them not to speculate.

The pilots solution was reality and it worked.

A proven system with a long track record. Let's use it as a training model to educate all tandem drivers with respect to the best response for they're own future unhooked passenger launches. And hell, show it to the passengers so they'll know how to respond when their pilots launch unhooked. And maybe if we treated them like adults - regardless of their chronological ages - alerted them to this issue, involved them in the safety issues involved in the flight then we wouldn't hafta have these moronic discussions about how best to deal with an unhooked launch emergency. Just kidding.

My focus...

...in this is to understand why it worked and not to just call it blind luck.

I dunno... Shouldn't we be considering all the flights that leave the ramp OK after skipping hook-in checks to be nothing more than blind luck?

The struggle for life is an unpredictable one...

So never ever ever...

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

...demonstrate a method of establishing that the pilot and passenger are both hooked in just prior to launch. That kinda bullshit's for fags.

...but it favors the determined and resourceful members of our species.

The REAL men amongst us.

The passenger was cool and determined to make it.

Instead of just letting go as soon as he'd fully grasped the seriousness of his situation.

The pilot was equally determined to make it with both of them in tact.

So much better than with one or both of them tactless.

The pilot made two big errors.
1. No hook-in or check.

How 'bout if we eliminate the "or" part of that one? Just kidding.

2. Not realizing the problem sec's after takeoff..

1. Or using two periods where one is called for minus any stress or time constraints.

2. He DID realize the problem seconds after takeoff. Probably within the first second...

006-03019
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4913/32213470178_dd500c3e6a_o.png


...of being airborne. And already we're looking at much greater potential for injury than what we ended up with. And what was he supposed to have been able to do? Use his authority as Pilot In Command to order his passenger to drop free? Pry him loose with one hand while maintaining safe control of the glider with the other?

The rest he did a good enough job that they both survived.

Interlaken survived physically just fine. Not sure he did socially however.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36274
Terrifying tandem--failure to hook in passenger--Swizerland

Frederick Bickford - 2018/12/05 21:43:36 UTC

Yeah, I'd send friends and family on a flight with that guy if they wanted to (seeing how the pilot reacted to the situation successfully saving the passengers life).

1. Yeah, that's a good reason to send friends and family on a flight with that guy if they wanted to. Stellar reactions to the situation he created towards saving the passengers life. No fuckin' way he's ever gonna drop the next one - just as long as:
- he:
-- has a similar or better strength to weight ratio
-- is OK with:
--- tearing his left bicep tendon from holding on that long
--- fracturing his wrist after separating from the glider
- the air is smooth enough to keep the Gs low and steady

2. Sure you don't wanna go with Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney? He had his instructor rating signed by Steve Exceptionally-Knowledgeable Wendt - who's only had one of his products kill himself on an unhooked launch. And Jim's female victim survived that unhooked launch incident in excellent shape and frequently visited him during his two month long hospital stay. Also covered for him visiting Tad-O-Link victims.

3. A SANE reason to pick this guy is that he will forever more be as scared shitless of unhooked launch as he should've been on Day One of his hang gliding career.

4. He's definitely your best bet now but I wouldn't send anyone up with any motherfucker who doesn't do hook-in checks. And zero percent of these foot launch tandem trill ride driver motherfuckers do hook-in checks. Swizerland probably posts armed inspectors at all their launches to keep all their pilots in line.

In a random conversation with a stranger several years ago they said their flight in Switzerland...

This is SWIZERland. Check the topic title.

...was the best part of the entire vacation!

Maybe give Vegas...

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 a hundred 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.

...a shot sometime.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8697/16463566373_3f21d65f25_o.png

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7682/17231534196_42e7ef45ac_o.png

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8684/17257514435_79a4f5a39a_o.png


And let's not forget...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193827/Lenami-Godinez-Hang-gliding-instructor-didnt-strap-woman-fell-1-000ft-death-report-finds.html


...Vancouver - the Swizerland of the Pacific Northwest - as an option.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57778
The Swiss Hang and Paragliding Federation is to investigate

Ben Reese - 2018/12/06 05:33:40 UTC

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36274
Terrifying tandem--failure to hook in passenger--Swizerland

Paul Hurless - 2018/12/01 22:28:11 UTC

Leaving the failure to hook-in the passenger and any penalties/punishments because of it aside...

The last page of the HG.Org forum is of the same conclusion I made about the pilots efforts.

Amazing! A convergence of opinions on BOTH u$hPa shill mutual masturbation societies! Who'da ever thunk?

It's worth reviewing.

Goes without saying. EVERYTHING on both of these "forums" is worth reviewing. And DO keep bending over backwards to ignore everything that's ever been written anywhere about hook-in checks in the past four decades.

8.46 million hits.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=57778
The Swiss Hang and Paragliding Federation is to investigate

Doug Marley - 2018/12/06 14:55:02 UTC

I am just glad that the pilot had better insights on how to get the passenger to safety than most of the posters here. Most of these posters likely have not ever flown as PIC of a tandem, yet they gladly condemn the tandem pilot's in-flight decisions.
And it's almost silly that these posters say that he should have turned, all the while building up airspeed, thus higher forces being placed upon the passenger. It's as if these guys have never flown! Do you not understand the physics?!

Hang gliding doesn't DO physics. Hang gliding runs on the most popular opinions. Give...

Dr. Trisa Tilletti - 2012/06

Dr. Lionel D. Hewitt, professor of physics and developer of the 2-to-1 center-of-mass Skyting bridle for surface towing, is well respected for his knowledge of towing, bridles, and weak links.

...Dr. Lionel D. Hewett's takes on towing, bridles, and weak links a skim sometime.

So glad this pilot was the PIC rather than most of you.

Starting at what point?

I also see this pilot now being the safest pilot on the mountain and in the air after this experienced, as well as being a constant, in-person reminder to every other pilot on the mountain...

The mountain itself has always been good enough for me. The view from the ramp...

001-01628
http://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4877/31145871727_54556c1133_o.png


...alone shouldn't be more than enough to get one thinking about potential consequences of an unhooked launch?

...if he is allowed to retain his ticket. Otherwise, much experience will be lost for the sport.

Like what? What's he done or learned that nobody else has never thought of or written about decades before? He hasn't even reported what caused him to miss connecting his passenger this time after having had no issues the previous couple thousand cycles.

I sincerely hope that much wiser pilots...

There are no much wiser pilots in the mainstream. If there were and they were respected as being wiser this shit wouldn't happen in the first place.

...are deciding the fate of this pilot's flying career.

It's hard to imagine him surviving this.

Martin Henry - 2018/12/06 17:56:16 UTC

Doug, I know (assume) you mean well by your post but I had to watch a similar video...

The one they got out of the other end of Jonathan Orders' digestive tract.

...where the passenger was not clipped in, could not hold on and died.

She was holding on fine. It was his shoes that didn't.

I watched the option of minimizing altitude rapidly eliminated as the passengers grip began to fail. The pilot was overwhelmed by the situation and failed to address the options.

So did you HPAC motherfuckers train your tandem pilots on the proper procedures for dealing with an unhooked passenger emergency? Oh right. You HPAC motherfuckers had never heard of anything like that one happening - in Canada - before so you couldn't possibly have had any procedures on the books. So then how 'bout NOW?

There is no guarantee that turning the glider back onto terrain would not have resulted in two fatalities but failing to reaction assured the death of the passenger.

Got that, tandem pilots around the globe? If you launch with an unhooked passenger turn the glider back into the terrain. What's the worst that could happen?

In the incident covered by this thread, the passenger demonstrated super human strength...

No wait. First ask your passenger whether or not he or she has superhuman strength. Then, if not, crash it back downwind into whatever you can find on top or, if so, request that he or she hold on until you reach the LZ.

No, better yet... Have your bucket listers state their strength ratings on the waiver form and have them wear color coded wristbands. Then you'll be able to initiate the appropriate response immediately upon identifying the problem. For anyone on the dividing line or unsure just flip a coin.

...and and just as much "luck".

There was no LUCK involved in that one - asshole. There were two people trying to do the best they could with what they had at their disposal under the circumstances.

And true, not everyone has tandem experience (FYI, I have minor PIC tandem experience, less than 50 flights).

That would certainly make you a far superior authority on how to best handle Interlaken's situation than Interlaken was.

Being a tandem PIC is not an easy job...

It's not as difficult as being a tug PIC which requires you also to be the PIC of the glider behind you and the passenger connected to it.

...its challenging and full of surprises.

Like this one? You skip hook-in checks for a couple thousand launches and you're suddenly surprised when you find that the passenger you've just launched isn't hooked in?

The key thing here is you must be up to the task if your going to be PIC of a tandem.

And this guy was just a dumb fuck who obviously wasn't. So then how did he manage to get certified and how come his lax attitude and sloppy performance in day-to-day operations wasn't identified and properly dealt with?

You will be expected to be able to safely manage and fly the tandem regardless of the conditions and or distractions.

And your total shit training and the total shit SOPs which regulate tandem - and solo - flying.

A Tandem PIC is held to a much higher standard.

Right. It's OK if we have a solo pilot plummet down into the valley at 120 miles per hour 'cause there's not much chance of him hitting anyone else. But dropping a passenger is a pretty much guaranteed civilian fatality.

As to punishment. Yes, I'm harsh having the opinion that this pilot must never be permitted to tandem again.

And all the other ones running around loose who were certified under the exact same standards of training and experience are all WAY less likely to screw this particular pooch.

So, what is the fitting punishment when the passenger dies?

Ask the two products of your HPAC certification program who have first hand experience with this issue.

Until you have had to go through the process you have no idea as to how far reaching ramifications one careless act be.

Right Martin. No fuckin' way any of us muppets can begin to imagine the magnitude of the impact. You obviously were unable to get it before so what chance could we have?

The courts, the coroner, the press, our clubs and associations, our land owners, the pilot responsible and worst of all, family and loved ones... the damage is very deep.

Fuck the family and loved ones. All they wanted was Jon's head on a platter. None of them were the least bit interested in finding out how and why these happen and doing shit to address the underlying issues to minimize the danger of the same thing happening to somebody else down the road. Ditto for her shit friends.

I think asking the pilot to end their tandem carrier is a very small punishment indeed.

Right. He needs PUNISHMENT. And to be made an example of to dissuade other tandem pilots from following in his footsteps.

The truth is, I'm glad this is now up to someone else to decide because I no longer have any idea what may be appropriate.

How 'bout getting a few heads of some of you administrative level pieces o' shit on platters?

Sadly I expect, at best, this incident will cause Tandem PIC's to reflect only briefly on their practices and I have no doubt we can expect the same incident to repeat.

Pre fuckin' cisely. In other words their PRACTICES - which you pieces o' shit hand out as SOPs - are total garbage and these incidents are inevitable and strike at random.

(In this incident I note the continued use of video recording devices, In this case two?...

Wow. I didn't know you could count that high.

given my experience with our local fatality...

Yeah. YOUR local FATALITY. Versus Interlaken Guy's fractured wrist and torn tendon. Maybe you should be getting him to write your SOPs and training standards for you.

...I can only wonder if once again the indulgence of recording the flight created enough of a distraction to altered the pilots obviously weak procedural practice ?)

1. You don't even know who he is. So tell us how you know so goddam much about his previous obviously weak procedural practice? Coming from some asshole who never learned how to use an apostrophe in "pilots".

2. Oh. So he had an obvious weak procedural practice. So how was he able to get certified even for solo flying and maintain his ratings?

3. Yeah, let's address this issue by banning GoPros from tandem flights. Then when we see just how well that works we can start outlawing them on solos.

Nah, fuck that. Now that I think of it... Never in the history of the sport did we have an unhooked launch incident minus a camera on or aimed at the glider. Let's just go ahead and do it across the board. End of story.

Since the investigation that I was involved with I no longer suggest to anybody interested in our sport to "go do a tandem".

Oh. So you're saying it's a global problem, NOBODY has any solid procedures to deal with it, this is just a low probability game of Russian roulette. So...

- Did any of you HPAC motherfuckers speak in Jonathan's defense before or after he pled guilty to manslaughter charges?

- Why are you accusing Interlaken of obvious weak procedural practices and advocating harsh punishment for him?

I simply can not endorse the skills of another pilot when our sport demonstrates how easily things can go wrong.

See above, dickhead. You can't endorse the "SKILLS" of a highly trained, experienced, rated tandem pilot, ANY of them, but you CAN send some jerk off the street to go into a solo training program - where he's five times as likely to have an unhooked launch of his own doing. (See Bill Priday.)

Do I no longer believe in tandems? Of course I do, I believe they are integral to instruction.

Has anybody screened you for Alzheimer's? Or have you always been this indescribably stupid?

I want an eager, willing, future pilot to have the opportunity to seek out a qualified tandem pilot...

Which you've just told us doesn't exist in the real world.

...and do so having researched and reflected on the risk, eyes wide open.

He's going into an instructional program. Isn't it the job of his instructors to advise him of the risks and train him how to address them? Or is he supposed to do what everybody else always does - go to the Jack Show and seek out the most popular opinions on all the stuff he's just paid Lockout Mountain Flight Park to teach and train him to know and do?

I want the tandem pilot to provide a honest and truthful acknowledgment of that risk.

1. Which zero percent of them do - right?

2. And trained pigs to fly and interrupt his plummet when the tandem pilot DOESN'T provide an honest AND truthful acknowledgment of that risk.

3. What risk? Of the hang loop failing without the backup being engaged? Or of an unhooked launch? If all tandem passengers were provided a truthful acknowledgement of the risk of an unhooked launch - which is the ONLY risk a tandem passenger ever faces on a halfway decently maintained foot launched glider - at launch position would we ever have any tandem unhooked launch incidents?

4. So what you're saying is that ALL of these tandem operators are sleazebags telling their passengers and students that they shouldn't worry cause they've always got everything under control.

I want both parties to share the concepts of "risk and reward". I no longer believe in just doing tandems for the sake of "doing a tandem".

I never did to begin with. I totally despise and always have. I'm not interested in bucket listers and take the position that they're ten miles south of useless for legitimate instruction.

Thing is, that's just me... and when it comes right down to it, its not up to me.

That's the trouble with self regulated sports. If you don't qualify as a legitimate self you don't get to vote. And you're only self enough to be permitted to see the video - that Lenami's boyfriend paid for.

8.50 million hits.

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=36274
Terrifying tandem--failure to hook in passenger--Swizerland

Raymond Caux - 2018/12/06 12:59:46 UTC

In the conclusion of this article:
http://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/documents/brief_recommendations_for_preventing_omission_errors.pdf

written in 2004 by a safety psychologist:

David O'Hare - 2004/05/28

Two things are indisputable. Firstly, human beings are prone to certain forms of error that occur in predictable ways and circumstances. Secondly, whilst human nature cannot be changed, the way equipment is designed and tasks carried out can be modified...

From a safety engineering point of view it is almost always preferable to directly modify the equipment or situation to make the error less likely or to trap it before the consequences become manifest. Thus design changes are the first priority. Training to deal with the possibility of error is the next best approach. Training must involve the ability to recognize hazardous situations and provide a clear and unambiguous response to that situation. Finally, education to increase awareness has a place in the scheme of things but in itself is unlikely to be completely effective.

The response by most organizations to events such as this is to follow exactly the reverse order of priority and generate some sporadic educational efforts (e.g., articles in safety magazines, discussion at meetings etc) instead of delivering the
targetted training and design solutions required.

Best, Raymond

Long way of saying that the global hang gliding administration in general and the SHV in particular keep on doing the same incompetent bullshit over and over decade after decade continually expecting better results.

And let's take a look at THIS:

The existing procedure could also be strengthened by incorporating a second person into the sequence. A 'challenge and response' procedure is used in commercial flight operations with one person calling items from the checklist (e.g. "Fuel Pumps") and another responding with the appropriate status report (e.g. "ON"). In this case the pilot could call "Carabiners attached and locked" (or whatever is considered appropriate) with a required response from the launch assistant. Alternatively, in tandem operations the passenger could be asked to give a tug on their harness to confirm that it was connected.

passage from the recommendations.

1. Use nonlocking carabiners to eliminate this:

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kinda bullshit.

2. It's a TANDEM flight. So you HAVE a launch assistant. Qualify the bucket lister in the orientation at the shop and drill him on the drive up, during setup, as the glider's being moved to launch position. This is not rocket science.

3. Let's go totally nuts and have BOTH of the individuals about to run off the ramp walk through the bar until they're stopped before picking up the glider.

Jim Gaar - 2018/12/06 13:19:15 UTC

HOOK IN to the wing before you get into the harness, period (full disclosure- I do not do this).

Too bad. That strategy is a good one for getting people killed and you've been crudding up the gene pool far too long already.

DON'T EVER unhook. If you can do that, only the "other" 20 or 50 problems will need to be dealt with...

Like making sure your vario's on and your helmet's buckled.

The price of failure to hook in your passenger? You never get to fly tandem again as PIC.

Funny you should mention that.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23813
Threaded bridle system

Jim Gaar - 2011/05/26 15:44:33 UTC

Beyond that I'm a Rooney follower...

I defy anyone to find a scrap of evidence that that motherfucker ever again foot launched a tandem hang glider subsequent to 2006/02/21.

Is that too simple?

There's no such thing as TOO simple in hang gliding. Simplest always works best.

Are the results of this accident and the ensuing repercussions easy to sort out in a few words on an internet forum?

Yep:

With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

NOPE.

I feel for the guy.

Course you do. You're an extraordinarily caring and compassionate individual.

He dodged a lifetime of mental anguish because his passenger lived. That's the "lucky" part of the story...

Yeah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLBJA8SlH2w


8.55 million hits.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=7596
Tandem passengers from the edge of Hell

Jim Rooney - 2010/05/14 04:12:12 UTC

Ah, what a fun topic

I don't know about "from hell", but that sure gets the ball rolling. See, I've had plenty of people try to kill me, but I don't think of it as their fault.

I'm too much of a candy-ass to foot land tandems... Someone grabbing your arm while you flare is just terrifying. I give Rob huge points for pulling that off on a regular basis. I just get the falling over on takeoff ones.

Jim's too much of a candy-ass to foot land tandems - which nobody does anywhere anyway 'cause it's too insanely dangerous. Got all those tandem passengers from the edge of Hell trying to kill him by grabbing his arm when he's executing one of his trademark perfectly timed flares.

No fuckin' way he was ever gonna fly foot launched tandems again under even the best of circumstances. And he:
- was:
-- immediately publicly identified
-- what put his passenger and her glider into the powerlines trying to save his own useless candy flavored ass
- spent two and a half months in the hospital on the New Zealand taxpayer's dime
- shot his mouth off on the public record explaining to all us muppets:
-- how he was totally blameless for the outcome of the flight
-- that launching a tandem with both parties safely connected was a total crap shoot every cycle

Can anyone IMAGINE what the global response would've been if this douchebag had dropped another Eleni Zeri or Lenami Godinez-Avila a thousand feet?

So they let him do paraglider tandems in the New Zealand summer and continue tugging in the US summer. And then after Zack Marzec he was too fuckin' stupid to shut the fuck up and kept handing us ammunition by the boxcar load. I don't know how long his tug career lasted after that but it's a pretty good bet that Highland Aerosports opted for extinction over taking him back to stay afloat at least for another season.

Then the only thing he had left was the paragliders where the only thing he could fuck up was to launch one in thermal conditions and he...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/84789157/paragliders-injured-after-a-crash-in-queenstown
Paragliders injured in Queenstown crash | Stuff.co.nz

Dasha Kuprienko - 2016/09/30 08:33

In a statement, Skytrek Tandem Hang Gliding and Paragliding said the injured pair landed on a slope on the side of Coronet Peak, about halfway between the take-off point at Coronet Peak car park and the intended landing point at Flight Park, off Malaghans Rd.

Weather conditions were stable at the time, and it was not yet known why the incident happened, the company said.

...launched one in thermal conditions.

And nobody's shedding any tears or - 'cept for over here - referencing any of his stellar opinions.

This is a totally fucking awesome model for measuring the cultural hypocrisy and sleaziness of the sport.

You KNOW...

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2467
weak links

Jim Rooney - 2007/07/22 22:30:28 UTC

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.

http://www.chgpa.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3600
Weak link question

Jim Rooney - 2008/11/24 05:18:15 UTC

Well, I'm assuming there was some guff about the tug pilot's right of refusal?
Gee, didn't think we'd have to delve into "pilot in command"... I figured that one's pretty well understood in a flying community.

It's quite simple.
The tug is a certified aircraft... the glider is an unpowered ultralight vehicle. The tug pilot is the pilot in command. You are a passenger. You have the same rights and responsibilities as a skydiver.
It's a bitter pill I'm sure, but there you have it.

...that his fuckin' guts were DESPISED by a real solid chunk of the mainstream hang gliding population. But he'd insinuated himself into positions of power and control - and nobody would give Yours Truly an ounce of support in dismembering him in the pre Kite Strings era. Got a total free pass for 2006/02/21 Coronet Peak.

Interlaken Guy - a nobody:
- whose public glider forum identity is known only to Jorge
- who:
-- did a fairly admirable job of keeping his passenger in one piece after making the initial disastrous procedural errors
-- is totally irrelevant - at best - with respect to flying opportunities for established flyers
is getting a mixed bag off defenders, attackers, middle grounders.

Compare/Contrast and consider the reasons behind the differences.

P.S. Also note that in the dozen days since this one hit the fan:

- that the little motherfucker hasn't bothered to ooze back out from under his rock to whisper a word's worth of defense or support for Interlaken. Ditto for Jon Orders while he was still thriving just fine out in the open.

- the mainstream total and conspicuous absence of any mention of Jim Keen-Intellect Rooney and his historical 2006/02/21 Coronet Peak pooch screw. "C'mon guys, if something like this can happen to JIM ROONEY then who amongst us cannot say 'There but for the Grace of God...' or can utter a single word's worth of condemnation of Interlaken.'"

[Tad Eareckson]

Jump to next post:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post11250.html#p11250

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

Nightmare of a stills project. On the biggies ya ALWAYS skim by important stuff that doesn't register initially. Then ya gotta go back, harvest, insert, re-catalog... over and over. I'm half blind now as I prep for submission.

But this is something of a gold mine with respect to the unhooked launch issue - particularly with respect to foot launched tandem thrill rides and same at the particular launch which was the setting of the incident that blasted the sport into the global spotlight so dramatically fifteen days ago.

Gonna post this one as an archive and will dissect after I'm able to see somewhat straight again.

001-00125
-001 - chronological order
- -0 - minutes
- 02 - seconds
- 25 - frame (30 fps)

Hi Will Rogers. Right now I'm going to go hang gliding off of THAT MOUNTAIN! And I'm really excited. I'm going with Bernie... That guy over there.

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There's going to be thermals...

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..and we might go up... Really high!

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Here we are up in the Swiss Alps. And we're going hang gliding.
Lily's on the way up. Here she comes.
C'mon Lily. How are you doing?

Tired.

Put your arm around it. There. Now walk. C'mon.
You offered to carry it. OK. Thanks again for offering. You can do it. It's only another 45 minutes, alright?

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C'mon Lily.

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keep coming. Look ahead. Look ahead. That's it. You got it Lily.

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Lily, you'll be flying with me - Birdman Bernie. This is...

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...my third time hang gliding. Eh, no it's not. I've done this about eight thousand times.

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Let's go, Lily. I'll carry it, OK? How 'bout that?

017-12129
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So Lily... You're gonna be flying with me, right? Birdman Bernie. And I'll do my best. OK? And you too.

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Look! There's a hang glider right there!

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There's Lily, setting up the hang glider. How ya doing, Lily?

OK.

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Hope I can trust ya.
I can hear some duct tape action around here. Who is there around here, eh? Hey Nilah! Hey Eddie!

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Eddie's putting some cameras on the glider.

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That's our hang glider. Hang Gliding Interlaken...

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Still not quite finished setting up.

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How are ya going, Lily? Nearly finished?

One more to go.

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Hi Talia!

HI.

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Everyone's here.
Now listen, Lily...

Yeah?

Excellent.

This one...

Yeah, it's good. I trust ya.

030-23124
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Stand up. So Lily... Thanks a lot for setting it up. I trust ya. OK?

Yeah.

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Our lawyer, he comes from California, and he said always get the passengers to set it up. So thanks...

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Well done. Awesome. You know how to do it already.

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I did it when we were...

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Oh, that's right.

I had her hanging there for about ten minutes.

Lily, two things important, OK?

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Yeah?

Run fast and look good. OK? Can you do that?

Yeah.

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Now tell me the two important things.

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Run fast and look good.

Yeah. Good. I can help you look good...

Yeah.

Yeah. Can't help you run though so you make sure you run when I say run.

OK.

Alright?

Yeah.

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're starting to look good, Lily.

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Get these sexy sunglasses, eh?

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Yeah!
Wait, I'm not finished...

Whoa! Yeah! Looking awesome!

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That's great!

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How are you feeling?

...always counts at takeoff, OK?

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Look good! Well yeah? You're looking good?

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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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OK, Lily... Stand up straight, Lily...

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Are you ready? Are you ready? Lily? OK. Three, two, one, GO! RUN!

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Will Rogers in the SKY!

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Yeeeah... Alriiight!

That was AWESOME!!!

Whew! We did it, Lily! How was that?

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8.66 million hits on the unhooked.

Jump to top:
http://www.kitestrings.org/post11248.html#p11248

[Tad Eareckson]

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

Hi Will Rogers.

Will Rogers Learning Community, Santa Monica.

Right now I'm going to go hang gliding...

Arguable. Bernie's going to go hang gliding. You're going to be going along for the ride.

...off of THAT MOUNTAIN!

That mountain that one of your successors is gonna come close to dying on something over three years from now.

And I'm really excited.

Want excitement?

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I'm going with Bernie... That guy over there.

Bernhard Herrmann / Birdman Bernie / BernieInterlaken.

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And everybody's wondering whom Chris went with.

There's going to be thermals...

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..and we might go up... Really high!

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And we might not. Looks like the flight goes off around noon (check the shadows) and the cumies haven't yet done much in the way of development. And at no point in the video do we see any effort to turn in anything. Just looks like light smooth ridge lift and we never see them - or anyone else - much above ridge level.

And I'm wondering how the paraglider tandem thrill ride industry deals with thermal conditions. They KNOW...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/84789157/paragliders-injured-after-a-crash-in-queenstown
Paragliders injured in Queenstown crash | Stuff.co.nz

Dasha Kuprienko - 2016/09/30 08:33

In a statement, Skytrek Tandem Hang Gliding and Paragliding said the injured pair landed on a slope on the side of Coronet Peak, about halfway between the take-off point at Coronet Peak car park and the intended landing point at Flight Park, off Malaghans Rd.

Weather conditions were stable at the time, and it was not yet known why the incident happened, the company said.

...they can't afford to play Russian roulette on those things...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=54907
Lost Site?

Mark G. Forbes - 2018/02/01 05:26:59 UTC

I fly my PG in morning and evening air, relatively light winds or at coastal sites with consistent, smooth air. If it's getting thermic, or particularly, thermic with wind, then I don't want to be up there. Mid-day, I pretty much don't fly in summer; I do this for fun, and I prefer the milder morning and evening conditions. Others have a higher tolerance for turbulence and risk, and skills beyond mine.

...with tourists. The parents of little ten year old girls aren't gonna have ANY tolerance for turbulence and risk or appreciation for the fake skills needed to deal with it.

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The closer you get to the tips end the lighter it gets. No wait... Hang gliding doesn't do mechanical advantage. Forget I mentioned anything.

Lily, you'll be flying with me - Birdman Bernie. This is...

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...my third time hang gliding. Eh, no it's not. I've done this about eight thousand times.

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He's also been through these spiels and canned jokes eight thousand times. That's how come he initially holds up two fingers - as in "run fast and look good" - instead of three for the "my third time hang gliding" gag. He's on autopilot and can only do the third time line once per session while he does the "run fast and look good" conditioning thirty times a session. 'Cause there's only two things that scare him shitless:
- unhooked launch incident
- balking passenger

Foot launch ain't like AT - in which an instantaneous loss of a couple hundred pounds of thrust is an easily dealt with inconvenience which increases the safety of the towing operation. In foot launch even the loss of the thrust that can be generated by a ten year old little girl is something you really don't want happening just after committing.

(And note that neither of those issues is even a possibility for tandem AT. But towing is way more dangerous anyway due to all the complexity issues.)

[Tad Eareckson]

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

So Lily... You're gonna be flying with me, right?

Wrong. You're gonna be flying, she's gonna be running fast and looking good. Doubt she's gonna have much trouble in either department. So can we agree that she's not gonna be learning much of anything?

Birdman Bernie. And I'll do my best. OK? And you too.

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Look! There's a hang glider right there!

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Solo. Something you'll never do.

There's Lily, setting up the hang glider. How ya doing, Lily?

She's stuffing battens. How could she possibly fuck that up?

OK.

Big surprise.

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Hope I can trust ya.

Pretty safe bet. Just make sure you don't trust her to do anything in the way of exercising any control over the glider.

I can hear some duct tape action around here.

Yeah, good ol' duct tape. Nothing like duct tape to inspire one with confidence.

Who is there around here, eh? Hey Nilah! Hey Eddie!

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That's our hang glider. Hang Gliding Interlaken... Still not quite finished setting up.

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Note the support line for the selfie boom. Runs from the fore end of the boom, up to a pulley or ring at the nose, back to the carabiner. Don't know why it's not just tethered at the nose. You'd hafta rotate to vertical to access it to pull up or take up slack.

How are ya going, Lily?

We've got him on tape using her name eighteen times. Seems like every fifth word is "Lily". Not sure what that's about. Maybe he's so fried with these repetitions that he needs to use this technique to stay wired into the client's name.

Hi Talia!

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I think Nilah and Talia are Bernie's kids. The latter - at least - probably knows her way around a camera reasonably well. Eddie's Ed McLachlan maybe.

Yeah, it's good. I trust ya.

There's LOTSA folk I'd trust to stuff battens for me. Also to whitewash my picket fence.

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Stand up. So Lily... Thanks a lot for setting it up. I trust ya. OK?

OK. You've made the point. But ya know who I don't trust very much? People who keep repeating stuff over and over at really high frequencies. Makes me think they're trying to con me.

Yeah.

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Yeah.

Our lawyer, he comes from California, and he said always get the passengers to set it up. So thanks...

And if anything bad happens to shut the fuck up and get all the video cards to him via overnight shipping.

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Well done. Awesome. You know how to do it already.

And here I was thinking that no true Aussie ever got into a harness that wasn't attached to a glider - and would beat the shit outta any and all identified infidels. Eight thousand flights? I'm guessing a couple hundred unhooked launch incidents? Forty or fifty fatalities?

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Bet she thinks she looks cool walking around in her harness. And we don't see Birdman Bernie getting into HIS harness but it's a pretty safe bet he's also looking cool walking around in his harness until after the glider's at launch position.

I did it when we were...

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Oh, that's right.

I had her hanging there for about ten minutes.

In how many of them did you discuss anything about the unhooked launch issue? Or were you too tied up teaching her how to look good?

Lily, two things important, OK?

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Just kidding. Sorry to distract from the...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=26996
Critique my radial ramp launch

Ryan Voight - 2012/08/28 01:06:07 UTC

Michael means to kindly recommend doing a hook-in check just prior to launching. Why he didn't just say that, I don't know.

BACK TO THE VIDEO THAT MATTERS- It's hard to be analytical of GoPro/fisheye footage, so anything seen or said should be taken with that in mind.

...stuff THAT MATTERS.

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Yeah?

Run fast and look good. OK? Can you do that?

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Wow. Just two things. And all those extra fingers left over.

Yeah.

Now tell me the two important things.

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Always assume you're NOT connected to your glider and always verify that you are just prior to launch. Just kidding.

Run fast and look good.

Well, that's pretty much the same thing. If you're not connected to your glider...

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...you're gonna look kinda stupid. Maybe just reverse the order - make sure you're looking good BEFORE you start running fast. But hey... What do I know? YOU'RE the professional.

Yeah. Good. I can help you look good...

And there's no way in hell that SHE could possibly do anything in the way of helping YOU look good. (Funny how prominently this particular Hang Gliding Interlaken video pops up though.)

Yeah.

Yeah. Can't help you run though so you make sure you run when I say run.

OK.

Alright?

Yeah.

Somebody find me a single record of a foot launch tandem thrill rider being advised of the danger of an unhooked launch and any strategy - solid or clueless - for protecting against one. Nah, leave it to us. We've got everything under control. We're licensed professional pilots - not total idiots after all.