[Bob Kuczewski]

Why are we wasting paper, bandwidth, breath, and time telling people they need to check their clearance from the basetube? Is there anybody over the age of four who's flown a glider more than once that doesn't know that already?

Again, I think we have a different definition of what's included in a hang check. I was taught that a hang check includes the 4 "C"s (in no particular order):

Clearance - Height above the bar (we agree on this one)
Crotch - Ensure that your legs are in the leg loops
Connection - Ensure that you're hooked in and visually inspect it
Chinstrap - Check that it's fastened.

Clearance is just ONE of those elements.

Sorry, I gotta go with:
---
ALWAYS assume you are NOT hooked in.
---

Now that's a statement that I like. That statement goes right along with the lift and tug just before launch. But it doesn't obviate the need for a proper hang check.

If you set up the glider right, then you don't need a preflight. Right? Wrong, and I'm sure you know that.

A hang check is essentially preflighting the passenger compartment of your hang glider. It's also like wiggling the control surfaces on your airplane. It's not the same as doing a hook-in check, but it does have some overlap in functionality.

Let's face it, if a person can forget to hook in, then they can forget anything. They can even forget to do the lift and tug. Of course you'll say "Always do it and you'll never forget", but the same can be said for "Always hook in and you'll never launch unhooked". They're both true, but it's the "Always" part that's the problem. If you can agree that some percentage of the time (however small) someone committed to "lift and tug" will fail to lift and tug, then it's a certainty that adding a hang check will prevent some percentage of those admittedly rare cases. What's the objection to that? And if you couple that with the 4 C's, then you'll have far fewer spectators getting hit on the noggin with falling helmets.

Does that sum up our differences on this topic?

Maybe. But let's try to keep coming up with stuff. Gets boring as hell otherwise.

Tad, I think the US Hawks are blessed to have you and your energy. That was a great post. But at some point we're going to need to start growing the number of people in the organization. If you have any ideas on that, I'd really appreciate it.

[TadEareckson]

Again, I think we have a different definition of what's included in a hang check.

Words - more than anything else - save and kill in this sport. We use them to relay concepts and train people how to understand and use equipment, fly, respond to situations, compensate for being human. Flying is pretty much all math and physics and there's almost always ONE right/best answer for any specific procedure or set of circumstances so we can/should/must have pretty specific and uniform language to cover it.

Yes, we do. And if we do than there are probably other people who do as well. And that's a BIG problem. Kinda like most people in hang gliding - Jack, for example - are taught that pitch attitude is the same thing as angle of attack. That gets a lot of people crashed and killed.

I was taught...

...wrongly...

...that a hang check includes the 4 "C"s...

It DOESN'T. There are all kinds of things you can do DURING a hang check but they're not PART OF a hang check.

1991/09/19
Mark Kerns
41
Advanced
Airwave Magic IV
Wasatch State Park

Experienced pilot simply forgot to put legs through leg straps of cocoon harness. He could not get his foot into the boot after launch (which has saved other pilots), was able to hold on for several seconds, but slipped out of the harness and fell 200 feet. Died instantly.

"Can I get some crew up here?"

"Sure. Had a hang check?"

"Yep."

"(Great! That means he's securely clipped in and has his leg loops!) Be right up, buddy."

We need precise and uniform language and definitions to make this sport safe and we can't have every Tom, Dick, and Harry instructor deciding for himself and his students what it's gonna be.

Clearance - Height above the bar (we agree on this one)

Yeah. And then we're gonna come to an immediate grinding halt.

Crotch - Ensure that your legs are in the leg loops

GREAT! Got that critical item out of the way. Now I can stop worrying about it. Big load off my mind.

Connection - Ensure that you're hooked in...

FAN FREAKIN' TASTIC!!! I've just enSUREd that I'm hooked in! What could POSSIBLY go wrong from this point on? Now I can shift my focus to making sure my driver has my cell phone number, setting the radio frequency and altimeter, getting a satellite lock on the GPS receiver, putting the gloves on, getting this thing up on the ramp, briefing the wire crew, watching the cycles, picking something I can get up in... Maybe a couple of other things - I can't remember...

OH YEAH! I meant to check the battery charge on the wing camera!

...and visually inspect it

How? How can you possibly do a good visual inspection of the connection while you're suspended from it?

Chinstrap - Check that it's fastened

And if it isn't how can that possibly matter?

I can't tell you how many times I've noticed a fluttering five minutes into a flight. Oops. Click.

Chinstrap (be sure you have helmet and it's fastened)

OK, people HAVE forgotten helmets and launched. (Hard to imagine how - but who am I to talk.) What are the odds of somebody launching without a helmet AND needing one? Has anyone EVER accidentally launched without a helmet AND needed one? Why are we talking about helmets and not wheels?

Clearance is just ONE of those elements.

The only one that matters much and is appropriate.

>
ALWAYS assume you are NOT hooked in.
<

Now that's a statement that I like. That statement goes right along with the lift and tug just before launch.

That's pretty much the ONLY thing on this issue we need to get through to anybody in this sport we wanna keep in the gene pool. And if you like it you've gotta chuck most of your concept of a hang check 'cause these approaches are NOT compatible.

But it doesn't obviate the need for a proper hang check.

Then how come a top-of-the-stack, meticulous, anal preflighting professional like Rob Kells sees essentially no need for a "proper" (or improper) hang check, doesn't advise them, and doesn't do them at all unless he's unsure of the clearance?

And, just for laughs, find something in the USHGA rating requirements that says you've got to do a single hang check between Day One on the training hill and a Hang Five. Even they get something right every thirty years or so - even if it is by accident.

If you set up the glider right, then you don't need a preflight. Right? Wrong, and I'm sure you know that.

What's THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT element of a glider (excluding harness) preflight?

Hint: It's - naturally - something the vast majority of glider divers don't do.

A hang check is essentially preflighting the passenger compartment of your hang glider. It's also like wiggling the control surfaces on your airplane.

Yes but...

1. The system is a zillion times simpler than the stuff that works the ailerons, elevator, and rudder on a conventional aircraft. It's a goddam strap hanging from another goddam strap. You can just stand ten feet away and look at it. You don't need to touch anything.

2. The adjustment (clearance) can be WAY THE HELL off and control will not be critically compromised.

3. I fly ONE glider and ONE pod harness with a single suspension strap. The clearance NEVER changes. It would be totally moronic to check it more than once twenty years ago.

4. There's plenty of better stuff I can do with that time and effort that actually WILL enhance safety.

It's not the same as doing a hook-in check, but it does have some overlap in functionality.

Totally disagree.

You check the clearance - if necessary - with the hang check.

If the hang check reassures you that you are hooked in and/or have your leg loops your chances of getting killed skyrocket.

The hook-in check tells you you haven't forgotten to hook in and have your leg loops at the only time it matters.

And - now that I think about it - it also tells you that your clearance can't be all that bad. So yeah, there actually IS some overlap - but not the way you meant.

Let's face it, if a person can forget to hook in, then they can forget anything.

No. For example...

A hang glider pilot does not FORGET what to do when the glider stalls.

A glider pilot may forget to check ribbons and the roll and pitch attitudes of his bird just prior to launch but he NEVER forgets to move a foot forward to get things underway. AND... I'll betchya it's ALWAYS the same foot. We should find that out.

They can even forget to do the lift and tug.

1. They can, I've heard it reported that they have, but the occurrence rate is so microscopic that - for all intents and purposes - they DON'T.

Tad Chin-Strap-Flapping-In-The-Breeze-Half-The-Time Eareckson NEVER ONCE in about a quarter century of flying ever came anywhere close to "forgetting" to do the lift and tug. That's 'cause:

a) it's not a forgetting/remembering thing like the chin strap - it's a muscle memory thing like stuffing the bar in response to a stall; and

Rob Kells - 2005/12

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.

b) Tad - like the dozen other hang glider pilots who are smart enough to know they're idiots - is, and has been from the start in 1980, scared TOTALLY SHITLESS of launching unhooked - every time.

2. Show me a lift and tugger with a scraped knee and I'll show you a couple dozen dead hang checkers.

Of course you'll say "Always do it and you'll never forget"...

No I won't.

Helen McKerral - 2010/09/06

I've adopted the lift and tug but I'm an old dog learning a new trick and I still forget to do it some of the time. However, although I've found that it's very hard to remember to do if you try to remember 'L&T', if you change your mindset to, "I'm not hooked in", it's easier to recall. It would be easier if I had learned it from the start, so it was a physical muscle memory instilled from my first days on the training hill, just like the grapevine grip changing to bottle.

But if we didn't have hook-in failure factories being run by a**holes like Matt the problem would disappear.

...but the same can be said for "Always hook in and you'll never launch unhooked".

You mean like:

We visited Steve Wendt yesterday, who was visibly choked up over Bill's death. For Steve, it all comes down to one thing: you've got to hook in. Period.

If you can agree that some percentage of the time (however small) someone committed to "lift and tug" will fail to lift and tug...

IF the goddam schools and instructors would do their goddam jobs I'll bet we could get the percentage down to exactly the same as the number of pilots who forget to start moving a foot.

"This thing's not flying. What's the matter?"

"You need to start running first!"

"Doh! Thanks again, Steve!"

...then it's a certainty that adding a hang check will prevent some percentage of those admittedly rare cases.

IT WILL NOT. IT WILL DO THE PRECISE OPPOSITE. Just like it's been doing for the past forty years.

Christian Williams - 2006/09/19

Greblo teaches a hook-in check the instant before launch. To him, a hang check is part of the preflight and has no value in confirming that you are hooked in at the moment of launch.

As long as the hang check is considered to have ANY VALUE WHATSOEVER in confirming that you're hooked in at the ONLY time it matters it will cause people - pilots, crew, and observers - to drop their guard, lower their fear levels, be less scared of the gun because they know the safety's been flicked on. All it does is give people a false and dangerous sense of security.

What's the objection to that?

See above.

It's like Donnell's certifiably insane approach to releases and weak links. He thinks you can compensate for a shitrigged release by using a sub one G weak link. Like people think of a hang check as the primary flavor of a hook-in check, he thinks of a weak link as a flavor of a release and the paramount safety element of a towing system. Both takes have resulted in bloodbaths.

And if you couple that with the 4 C's, then you'll have far fewer spectators getting hit on the noggin with falling helmets.

Helmets, parachutes, weak links, hook knives, and CPR courses don't interest me much. They're crappy little band-aids for after pooches have been majorly screwed and sap focus away from campaigns dedicated to the eradication of pooch screwing.

But at some point we're going to need to start growing the number of people in the organization. If you have any ideas on that, I'd really appreciate it.

I don't think it's gonna happen.

1. People are stupid herd animals.

2. Pilots are astoundingly stupid herd animals.

3. Astoundingly stupid herd animals feel most comfortable in very large homogeneous herds with astoundingly stupid homogeneous leaders. Everybody "thinks" and acts alike and everybody gets along great with everybody.

4. The less stupid animals cause disharmony and are kicked and gored and driven to the edges and out of the herds where they try to survive in denuded grazing areas and usually get picked off by the lions after a day or two.

5. Davis and Jack have provided slightly different flavors of that environment. The Davis and Jack Shows are essentially one superherd with most of the animals moving back and forth as the grazing opportunities vary from time and place to time and place.

6. This superherd behaves like a black hole. The more matter it sucks in the more powerful it gets and the more matter it sucks in.

7. Look at The Davis and Jack Shows. Look at Hawks and Strings. Chart the graphs. Do the math.

The best we can expect to do is keep our monologues and discussions going and maintain a faint hope that we can occasionally get read, maybe draw someone in for a post or two, and get a bulb glowing every now and then.

[TadEareckson]

The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.

Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
02. Rating Requirements
03. Witnessed Tasks for Launch Skill Requirement - Foot Launch

04. Beginner Hang Gliding Rating (H-1)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
03. With each flight, demonstrate method(s) of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

05. Novice Hang Gliding Rating (H-2)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-c. With each flight, demonstrates method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

06. Intermediate Hang Gliding Rating (H-3)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-e. With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

07. Advanced Hang Gliding Rating (H-4)
-B. Required Witnessed Tasks
02. Demonstrated Skills and Knowledge
-d. With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.

Just to show ya how effective this piece o' crap organization has been in implementing its most important rating requirement from One on up...

fly,surf,&ski - 2011/06/03
Torrey Pines

We had a couple of H3's down from Crestline who were checkin out the scene at Torrey the other day. It was pretty windy so I had them help me take the glider down to launch just in case. One of them said I was being a little paranoid because I rechecked my carabiner again (already did a hang check in the set up area) before I actually stepped up to launch...

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22101

There are a few people on the right track but... Find ONE SINGLE MENTION of verification JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH in that entire discussion. (Also note the title of the discussion.)

[MikeLake]

I always do a hang check this is part of our tow launch procedure and is observed by a launch man.
Pilot and launch man repeat the sequence “nothing twisted, leg loops, chin strap” etc.
In my instance I not only hang in the harness I put my feet in the boot and push out.
This is ever since I launched with my zip cord hooked over my release, I had put it there to stop my harness boot dragging on the floor.
An unpleasant flight followed.
A hang check for me ensures I am able to fly and hang in my intended position.
I also check my laces as this has nearly got me once and the VB cord, I’ve stood on that too. Murphy spends much of his time lurking around tow sites.

However, once ready to launch I CHECK MY CONNECTION I am paranoid about this and sometimes do this 2 or 3 times just before ‘take up slack’
It is not uncommon for a pilot to be “made ready” a considerable time before launch, as the lines are being pulled out.
I used to do a walk through but in the last 12 months or so I have started to adopt the lift and tug because it’s easier and I have been aware that a walk through doesn’t give you a check of the all important leg loops.
No leg loop, a poor relation to a hook in failure but just as deadly.

I really don’t know how the “never detach your harness from your glider” method is practical.
For a start I can hardly get in and out of my harness if I’m doing it in my kitchen.
At our cliff sites, with a 25mph wind, I would stand no chance.

Also, as it happens, I have no desire to be attached to my glider until I am more or less at launch point, I have watched too many ground loops with pilots attached.
Perhaps I’m too old school but I don’t want to be part of my glider until the last minute and I don’t want to be struggling climbing in to my attached harness while perched on the top of a cliff.
Even at the tow site if I land not so near T/O I can’t see me struggling in a 15mph wind climbing out of my harness. My first instinct (and safest option) is to get unclipped from the glider ASAP.

Most of all the above “never detach” method does nothing if you miss your leg loops. If you are climbing in an out of your harness all day you have more of opportunity to do this.
“Never detach” seems like a sledge hammer to crack a nut, but even then, you miss the nut half the time.

My 2 pence.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Good comments Mike!!

Except for one tandem towing flight, all of my flying has been foot-launched. So I've got a slightly different set of concerns at launch time.

But Tad's suggestion of always imagining (and fearing) that you're not hooked in seems like it should be helpful in either case. Fear of launching unhooked is a good thing.

The real problem, of course, is that we humans are really good at habituating anything. Anything - no matter how dangerous - can become routine, and as it becomes routine, it becomes "invisible" to the conscious portions of our brains. So anything that helps jolt our subconscious patterns of behavior into conscious scrutiny will be helpful. But eventually, even imagining that you're never hooked in will lose its fear-factor, because we get used to it.

[TadEareckson]

Hey Mike,

I also check my laces as this has nearly got me once...

Chinstrap (be sure you have helmet and it's fastened)

- Preflight
-- Shoes Tied
-- Hangcheck
- Hook-In Check (Lift and Tug, for example)

So far the evidence is that the shoe laces are INDEED more of an issue than the chin strap.

However, once ready to launch I CHECK MY CONNECTION I am paranoid about this and sometimes do this 2 or 3 times just before 'take up slack'
It is not uncommon for a pilot to be "made ready" a considerable time before launch, as the lines are being pulled out.

Bille Floyd - 2010/05/12

The wind died for a long time so I unhooked and set the keel on the ground, then sat on the control bar and waited maybe 5-8 min for another cycle.

And the couple of steps he took to get airborne after he picked up the glider and gave a green to the winch were the last ones he'd ever take using his original legs.

I would SO LOVE to see a double lift and tug be made the universal "Hit it!" signal for foot launch tow.

I used to do a walk through but in the last 12 months or so I have started to adopt the lift and tug because it's easier and I have been aware that a walk through doesn't give you a check of the all important leg loops.

Doesn't hurt to do both. A walk-through is a pretty good way to check for the relatively minor issues of stuff twisted and/or misrouted and the critical issue of full engagement of the carabiner (screwed that latter pooch myself ONE time - but got away with nothing more than a very sobering scare).

No leg loop, a poor relation to a hook in failure but just as deadly.

Usually less, sometimes more. Your armpits can save you but if they don't you're out a glider AND a parachute.

I really don't know how the "never detach your harness from your glider" method is practical.

Easy. You just fail to acknowledge all situations in which it isn't. It's a lot like using light weak links as stall and lockout protectors and backup releases.

Eric Hinrichs - 2011/05/13

I went to Chelan for the Nationals in '95 as a free flyer. They were requiring everyone to use the Australian method, and you were also not allowed to carry a glider without being hooked in. This was different for me, I hook in and do a full hang check just behind launch right before I go. I was also taught to do a hooked in check right before starting my run, lifting or letting the wind lift the glider to feel the tug of the leg loops.

So I used their method and I'm hooked in, carrying my glider to launch and someone yells "dust devil!" Everyone around runs for their gliders (most of which are tied down,) and I'm left standing alone in the middle of the Butte with a huge monster wandering around. I heard later that it was well over 300' tall, and some saw lightning at the top. After that it was clear that no one is going to decide for me or deride me for my own safety methods, someone else's could have easily got me killed.

For a start I can hardly get in and out of my harness if I'm doing it in my kitchen.

I've actually found it EASIER - with my pod anyway - to get in when the harness is being partially held up by the glider. But that procedure has absolutely NOTHING to do with my confirmation of hook-in status.

At our cliff sites, with a 25mph wind, I would stand no chance.

I'm sorry, but your situation is incompatible with our religion.

Also, as it happens, I have no desire to be attached to my glider until I am more or less at launch point, I have watched too many ground loops with pilots attached.

I'm sorry, but your data is incompatible with our religion.

Perhaps I'm too old school but I don't want to be part of my glider until the last minute and I don't want to be struggling climbing in to my attached harness while perched on the top of a cliff.

It's a lot safer when the Coriolis Effect spins things the other way.

Even at the tow site if I land not so near T/O I can't see me struggling in a 15mph wind climbing out of my harness. My first instinct (and safest option) is to get unclipped from the glider ASAP.

Aussie Methodism isn't about safety - it's about faith and purity.

Most of all the above "never detach" method does nothing if you miss your leg loops.

bulls***.

Relate2 - 2006/09/19

Personally I feel the only way of making sure that your harness is attached to your glider when you launch is to hook it up to your glider during your set up of the glider. As someone else mentioned though it does not take care of your leg loops etc.

Talking of leg loops I did a scooter tow clinic on the weekend and fell into the trap of moving my glider into the line getting ready to get towed up. Luckily the instructor spotted that I had not climbed into my leg loops.

Although under the Aussie system you're not permitted to do a lift and tug just prior to launch there's usually an instructor around to spot that you have not climbed into your leg loops.

If you are climbing in an out of your harness all day you have more of opportunity to do this.

Tad Eareckson - 2009/09/15

To properly adhere to the Aussie Method a practitioner must exit the harness to deal with any problem - such as a misrouted suspension line or a basetube clearance problem that might be remedied with a wrap of the hang strap or a clip into the next rung of a ladder suspension - that cannot be handled while connected. This approach discounts the factor that the more times a person has to perform a complex task, the more opportunities he has to screw it up. Twice as many suit-ups, twice as many opportunities to miss the leg loops.

"Never detach" seems like a sledge hammer to crack a nut, but even then, you miss the nut half the time.

It's just more of the crap that inevitably floats to the top in a sport run by total idiots.

Bob,

Except for one tandem towing flight, all of my flying has been foot-launched. So I've got a slightly different set of concerns at launch time.

Mike's talking about foot launched flying. Dolly and platform launched tow people are pretty much immune to this issue but foot launched tow people can wind up just as dead as cliff launched free flyers.

But Tad's suggestion of always imagining (and fearing) that you're NOT hooked in...

I don't SUGGEST *IMAGINING* - anything. You ARE NOT HOOKED IN. Period. The gun IS LOADED and the safety IS OFF.

I'm on the ramp, I lift and tug. The wind picks up and crosses from the left. The glider goes back down on my shoulders while I and my crew wait it out for fifteen seconds. I AM unhooked 'cause I can't afford not to be.

If you - AND YOUR CREW - are just IMAGINING you're unhooked during that interval your chances of survival are dipping south.

...seems like it should be helpful in either case.

There's absolutely no "seems" or "should be" about it.

1. NO ONE who was, two seconds BEFORE leaving the ramp, scared shitless of launching unhooked has ever been scared shitless two seconds AFTER leaving the ramp.

2. EVERYONE who was, two seconds AFTER leaving the ramp, scared shitless was relaxed, sure, confident two seconds BEFORE leaving the ramp.

So pick one. Pick the two second intervals during which you'd prefer to be scared shitless and relaxed, sure, and confident.

Fear of launching unhooked is a good thing.

Fear of launching - PERIOD - is a good thing. ALL fixed wing aircraft launches - and landings - ARE dangerous. If you're not a little scared for each one you probably shouldn't be doing them. Fear is what helps you keep checking the ribbons and pitch and roll trim and thinking about how well you've done your assembly and preflight. It's REAL EASY to add a dash of thought about Bills Priday and Floyd into the mix.

But eventually, even imagining that you're never hooked in will lose its fear-factor, because we get used to it.

That's why I never play make-believe at launch. I wait until I'm in the air before I convince myself that I'm invulnerable to everything except kryptonite (and fly low over nudist camps so I can pretend I have x-ray vision).

Rob Kells - 2005/12

My partners (Steve Pearson and Mike Meier) and I have over 25,000 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 5000 flights). Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods outlined above. Not one of us regularly uses either of the two most popular methods 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.

You have not been a practitioner, you have not wired yourself, you are stating a supposition as fact, and you are WRONG.

1. I'm a total airhead. If there's something I can possibly screw up I will. I've been permanently blacklisted by every health care, boat, auto, and fire insurance company in the country. I burnt down my first major city at the age of nine.

2. The moment I first learned of the failure to hook in issue in 1980 I was immediately scared shitless.

3. The moment I learned of lift and tug when I was teaching on the dunes late that season was the moment I stopped doing hang checks and immediately became hardwired and bulletproof.

4. In 1982 I taught on the dunes for a long full season. I did a zillion short demo hops on low shallow slopes in light air over very soft sand. If ANYTHING was EVER gonna desensitize ANYBODY that woulda done it. It NEVER came anywhere close.

The guys that get this understand that it's combat. They don't hafta REMEMBER or PRETEND to be scared in combat. They ARE scared.

It's gonna be the goddam God's Gifts To Aviation like...

I have tried to launch unhooked on aerotow and scooter tow. In both cases the glider came immediately high off my shoulders and that was the end of the tow.

...Davis and...

In a video, he was seen to hold on to the glider for about fifty meters before hitting power lines.

...Rooney that this is most likely to happen to. (If only it would happen a little more frequently and higher.)

You're also discounting a HUGE part of the equation.

The half dozen pilots who've been properly trained and the dozen who've properly trained themselves have hardwired their brains for a muscle memory response to the beginning of the launch sequence. The glider goes up and stops before the foot moves. It's as hardwired as the hang checkers' and Aussie Methodists' procedure of doing nothing before the foot moves.

You've got redundancy.

And the fear reinforces the lift and tug and the lift and tug reinforces the fear. So you've also got a very powerful positive feedback loop going on. That's the difference between a Rob Kells and a Martin Apopot. Well... ONE of the differences.

Lemme quote you again:

Fear of launching unhooked is a good thing.

Now...

Crotch - EnSURE that your legs are in the leg loops
Connection - EnSURE that you're hooked in...

Merriam-Webster's

ensure - verb transitive: to make sure, certain, or safe : GUARANTEE

Synonyms

ENSURE, INSURE, ASSURE, SECURE mean to make a thing or person sure. ENSURE, INSURE, and ASSURE are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or inevitable of an outcome, but INSURE sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand, and ASSURE distinctively implies the removal of doubt and suspense from a person's mind. SECURE implies action taken to guard against attack or loss.

SO MUCH FOR FEAR!!! What's to worry? From that point on you're SURE, CERTAIN that you've got your leg loops and are hooked in! Everything's SAFE! And, hell, even in the EXTREMELY remote possibility that it's not - you've got a GUARANTEE! You get your lessons money back! AND a twenty-five dollar coupon towards the purchase of a new glider if you can't find the old one after it comes down (ten minutes after you do).

Fear of launching unhooked - and/or unlooped - is a GOOD THING.

The hang check - as you learned it from Joe - TOTALLY ELIMINATES fear of launching unhooked - and/or unlooped.

So what's that make the hang check?

(And the Aussie Method? In which the whole approach is to adhere to a strict discipline such that any time one is in a harness there can be no doubt whatsoever that one is also connected to a glider?)

I don't know what every school teaches, but I know that Joe Greblo teaches "the 4 C's" as part of a hang check:

Chinstrap (be sure you have helmet and it's fastened)
Crotch (ensure that your legs are going through the legloops)
Clearance (ensure proper height above the bar)
Connection (visually ensure that you are properly connected to the glider)

One way or the other, Joe Greblo screwed the pooch bigtime on this one - he either taught you the wrong thing or failed to teach you the right thing.

1. Helmet / chin strap... Clutter on the list. Nobody's forgetting helmets and it doesn't matter whether or not it's buckled. Too much noise to signal ratio.

2. Clearance. Yeah, it'll do that. So what? Hang gliding has NEVER ONCE in its entire history had a problem worth mentioning as a consequence of somebody going off with an improper clearance. It has HUGE lethal problems with people going off without wheels. More clutter. People don't need it on the list.

We've gone through half the Cs and we've got NUTHIN. And we're about to head WAY south.

3. THE SINGLE MOST DANGEROUS THING you can do in hang gliding is to assure yourself or be assured that you're properly connected to the glider and secured in your harness at any time prior to two to five seconds before launch. And this is EXACTLY what you're using the remaining half of the Cs to do.

4. THE GREATEST DISSERVICE you can do in hang gliding to a fellow pilot is to assume he's properly connected to his glider and secured in his harness when he's on the ramp and allow him to launch without last instant verification. And I don't give a rat's a** what you assumed happened, think you remembered seeing happen, or actually saw happen thirty seconds ago at the back of the ramp. Everybody's learning that it's OK to play with unloaded guns and once every couple of years - like clockwork - somebody gets his freakin' head blown off.

Somewhere between 99.90 and 99.99 percent of hang checks performed are done between the setup area and the back of the ramp to CONFIRM that the pilot is properly connected to his glider and secured in his harness at the moment of launch.

Quinn Cornwell
Safety Officer
Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association of Canada

2009/01/24

The hang check we do is the final pass at making sure you get in the air.

(Making sure you GET in the air probably isn't what you wanna have at the top of your list of priorities, Mister Safety Officer.

1. It is NEVER all that freakin' important to get a goddam hang glider in the air; and

2. You might wanna give a little more thought to the issues of you and it both STAYING in the air.)

Fear of launching unhooked is a good thing.

The hang check LOWERS the fear of launching unhooked and that's a REALLY REALLY REALLY *BAD* thing.

Steve Kinsley - 2005/10/04

A hang check is part of preflighting your equipment. You do it in the setup area, not on the launch or the ramp. When you get in line you are hooked in and ready to go. No going down for a hang check cum hook-in check. A hook-in check is a procedure that every pilot performs on his own. Having another pilot hold the nose is not an acceptable hook-in check (because it requires another person). Your wire crew does not ask you anything unless they see something wrong. "Do you know you are not hooked in?"

1. A hang check - IF YOU HAVE A REAL REASON TO DO IT - is part of PREFLIGHTING your equipment. You do it in the setup area, not on the launch or the ramp.

2. When you get in line you are hooked in and ready to go. Actually... You are NOT hooked in and ready to go. But you've done your best with assembly and preflight so that you're probably gonna be OK if you do run off the ramp at this point.

3. No going down for a hang check cum hook-in check. But if you're incapable of doing a lift and tug it's as perfectly OK to use your crew to help you confirm as it is to use it to help you launch. But do the confirmation at launch position and as close to launch time as possible - WITHOUT GOING DOWN FOR A HANG CHECK CUM HOOK-IN CHECK.

4. Your wire crew does not ask you anything unless they see something wrong. "Do you know you are not hooked in?"

No Steve, fer chrisake don't ask him that.

Mavi Gogun - 2011/04/28
Istanbul

First couple years of flying: I had the glider on my shoulders and was just repositioning my feet when stopped by a pilot. He had watched as I skipped the hang check and allowed me get all the way to commitment before sounding the alarm. I was unhooked. I couldn't stop shaking for the better part of an hour.

Stand in front of him (assuming he's not Davis or Jim) on the ramp and ask him to lift the glider as high as he can. Scare the CRAP out of him. (If it's Davis or Jim they can get the crap scared out two seconds AFTER launch - and serve their fellow flyers by way of example.)

5. But your wire crew DOES focus on your hook-in status above everything else, lets no one off the front end of the ramp without a lift and tug or reasonable facsimile, and has the rating of anybody who DOES violate that provision suspended.

6. Do not ever teach hang checks, ask someone if he's had a hang check, ask if he wants help with a hang check, or include hang checks on checklists. If for some reason it's to someone's advantage to do one he'll do one - but they're mostly useless and dangerous.

What's THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT element of a glider (excluding harness) preflight?

Hint: It's - naturally - something the vast majority of glider divers don't do.

[Bob Kuczewski]

But Tad's suggestion of always imagining (and fearing) that you're NOT hooked in...

I don't SUGGEST *IMAGINING* - anything. You ARE NOT HOOKED IN. Period.

I'm sorry Tad, but most people who walk up to launch thinking they're hooked in are actually hooked in. So what you're asking them to do is either imagine (and fear) that they're not hooked in or to actually lie to themselves that they're not hooked in.

I appreciate your insistence on this, but it's incorrect to say that people "ARE NOT HOOKED IN" when they actually are hooked in. People are not that stupid, and they know that 99.x% of the time they really are hooked in as they stand at launch. So a repeated insistence that they're "NOT HOOKED IN" (when they know darned well that they are) will be rejected as being false. It might work for some people who are good at lying to themselves (and believing it), but I think most people will reject that approach because they find that the statement "You ARE NOT HOOKED IN" is just false most of the time.

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

( repeat 1000 times )

OK, now what credibility can you give to Tad's message? Human nature will give it very little credibility and then we're back where we started.

So I don't support a system that requires us to lie to ourselves repeatedly. I don't mind visualizing that I'm unhooked, because that creates the healthy fear that will hopefully keep me vigilant at every launch. And I think the lift and tug is a good thing to learn early and to have ingrained in one's launch routine. But I believe the constant statement that "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN" will become useless as people repeatedly lift and tug to find it's just not true.

Anyway, that's my opinion. We don't have to agree, and I think anyone reading this topic has heard enough to make their own decision. If they find that telling themselves they're never hooked in helps, then that's great. If they can't buy into that self-deception, then maybe they can take a second before launch to imagine that they are not hooked in, and visualize the consequences.

I support whatever works for people to reduce their chances of launching unhooked.

[TadEareckson]

I'm sorry Tad, but most people who walk up to launch thinking they're hooked in are actually hooked in.

Yep, MOST of the people MOST of the time. That's how come we only kill somebody once every couple of years instead of two or three times a weekend.

So what you're asking them to do is either imagine (and fear) that they're not hooked in or to actually lie to themselves that they're not hooked in.

Sorry, I misspoke and insulted the vast majority of my audience. Only those people who have carabiners dangling behind their knees at the edge of the ramp should either imagine (and fear) that they're not hooked in or actually lie to themselves that they're not hooked in. All you Hang Checkers and Aussie Methodists - you people who really have your shitt together - make sure your varios, GPS receivers, radios, and cameras are good to go. And don't forget to check your chin straps one last time - just in case.

I appreciate your insistence on this, but it's incorrect to say that people "ARE NOT HOOKED IN" when they actually are hooked in.

1. How do you - and they - KNOW they're actually hooked in? Are you - and they - POSITIVE they're hooked in?

Ya know what EVERY SINGLE PERSON who's ended up dead on the rocks below a launch ramp had in common? Five seconds before impact every last one of them was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT POSITIVE that he was hooked in. (And so was EVERYONE on his crew.)

and/or

2. Yeah? So? Is a correct or to-the-best-of-my-knowledge statement the one most likely to produce the desired results?

"Yes, Lieutenant. I cannot tell a lie. I actually AM harboring a couple of Jewish families in my attic. Thank you. It was good to get that off my chest."

"No, we'll be landing at Normandy early tomorrow morning. Not Calais - even though it's a lot closer."

Lying to the enemy has its place and advantages. And on the hook-in issue...

We have met the enemy and he is US.

Wanna try to pin THIS one on Saddam Hussein?

People are not that stupid...

1. Yeah. That's something ELSE that all those people who ended their lives on the rocks have all had in common. NONE of them were stupid.

It's NEVER the idiots like Steve Kinsley, George Stebbins, Jim Lawrence, and yours truly that get pulped. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR! Oh well, what are ya gonna do? C'est la vie.

Luen Miller - 1994/09

The second pilot was distracted by backing off launch to get his helmet, which he had forgotten. While doing so he thought of a pilot who launched unhooked at Lookout Mountain as a result of the distraction of retrieving his helmet. Our pilot then proceeded to launch unhooked.

2. Nah. People are not that stupid. Well, MOST people. Can't imagine any of US doing anything anywhere NEAR that stupid. (Good thing he remembered his helmet. Hope he got it strapped.)

...and they know that 99.x% of the time they really are hooked in as they stand at launch.

And 99.x (where, I'd estimate, x=8) percent of the time they're RIGHT!!!

And 99.x percent of the time we're WRONG!!!

Doesn't the naked injustice of that situation just make your blood BOIL!

So a repeated insistence that they're "NOT HOOKED IN" (when they know darned well that they are) will be rejected as being false.

OBVIOUSLY!!! Jeesh - it ain't rocket science.

This is one of many reasons I'm almost universally despised in the hang gliding community - especially in Australia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mX2HNwVr9g

It might work for some people who are good at lying to themselves (and believing it), but I think most people will reject that approach because they find that the statement "You ARE NOT HOOKED IN" is just false most of the time.

1. Yeah, kinda like Davis and Jack controlling the airwaves 'cause they're total lying scumbags. Seems like EVERYWHERE you look it's ALWAYS the nice guys who finish last.

2. And there's no doubt WHATSOEVER that most people WILL reject that approach. Just watch the videos and read the fatality reports.

The Wallaby Ranch Aerotowing Primer for Experienced Pilots
1998/02

If you fail to maintain the correct tow position (centered, with the wheels of the tug on the horizon), the weak link will break before you can get into too much trouble.

3. Since when did the a**holes who constitute 99.x percent of this sport start rejecting stuff just 'cause it's astronomically false? They've been buying that line for thirty years. Bernie Madoff should've apprenticed at an aerotow park.

Tad's message says: "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN"
Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

( repeat 1000 times )

LIGHTBULB!!! As long as I'm good at lying to myself thousands of time and am really good at believing it I should be saying:

"I am not hooked in AND I make Brad Pitt look like something the cat dragged in."

I'm feeling better already! Owe ya bigtime, buddy.

OK, now what credibility can you give to Tad's message?

Yeah. Screw Tad. (I mean literally. You'll be doing yourself a favor. He makes Brad Pitt look like something the cat dragged in.)

Human nature will give it very little credibility and then we're back where we started.

1. Humans climbed out of the freakin' trees about five or six million years ago and haven't done real well with altitude ever since then. Humans are evolved to respond to danger by backing away from the cliff or picking up a stick and hiding under a rock. An untrained human on a glider is gonna instinctively respond to perceived danger by getting low and slowing down. And when the glider starts dropping like a brick the prudent thing to do is get that nose back up to arrest the fall, right?)

Human nature is what we need to overcome and fight against if we wanna try to do passable bird imitations once a weekend or so.

Golden Eagles are NEVER scared perched on the edges of cliffs. They don't need to be.

We do - ALWAYS.

If you wanna engage in an activity that's REAL human nature friendly - baseball is probably your best bet.

2. Human nature is such that people will believe ANYTHING anyone in a position of authority tells them to.

Jim Rooney - 2011/06/12

Most common HG injury... spiral fracture of the humerus.

But if you tell people in this wacko religious cult that the only safe and acceptable way to land a hang glider is to whipstall it two feet off the ground with your hands way up on the downtubes they'll do it decade after decade after decade and NEVER question the legitimacy of the approach or its terrible cost.

Lift and tug says: "YOU ARE HOOKED IN"

Not to Tad it doesn't. To Tad it says:

You know you're a total idiot and really have no business participating in a dangerous demanding sport like this, don't you?

Did you check that the carabiner is FULLY engaging the hang strap THIS TIME?

How 'bout the sidewires? Did you preflight the sidewires? Or did you get to talking with someone about weak links and forget about it - LIKE THE LAST TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW?

Really think you got most of that this time? Alright... MAYBE you're hooked in and ready to put this thing in the air. I still think this is a BAD idea but, hey, it's your life (loser).

Good luck. (Your shoe's untied.)

But I believe the constant statement that "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN" will become useless as people repeatedly lift and tug to find it's just not true.

That's your BELIEF. Now find somebody - like me - who did it for a decade or two but for whom the constant statement that "YOU ARE NOT HOOKED IN" became useless as he repeatedly lifted and tugged to find it just wasn't true.

Every once in a while it's a good idea to have a smidgen of data to support one's beliefs so's that hang gliding can be run a little more like a legitimate branch of aviation and a little less like a dangerous wacko religious cult.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

Synonym for belief, right?

If you want OPINIONS then go to:

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=22233

and read what Davis has to say on one versus two point aerotowing.

If you want DATA then read the aerotow fatality report in the 2005/01 issue of Hang Gliding magazine.

We don't have to agree...

IF our goal is to establish the best/safest procedures and training standards and there is overwhelming or even strong evidence that one approach is superior to another then - as far as I'm concerned - we DO have to agree.

1. This is a gun-is-always-loaded issue.

2. Nobody in firearms training has ever said:

"The gun is ALWAYS loaded! But don't think of it that way because most of the time it really isn't and if you keep deceiving and lying to yourself and finding out that it really isn't that mindset will become useless."

3. So if the "The Gun Is Always Loaded" mindset - minus any fine print - is legitimate and paramount then so is "You Are Not Hooked In. Period."

4. The "The Gun Is Always Loaded" and "You Are Not Hooked In" cornerstones of safety strategy are fear driven.

5. Diminish the fear element and the number of blown off and smashed heads goes up.

6. Hang Checkers and Aussie Methodists gear their strategies to ELIMINATE fear FROM the ramp by following various religious rituals BEHIND the ramp - with the infallibility of The Pope.

7. Hang Checkers and Aussie Methodists are idiots.

8. KNOWING you aren't hooked in at the edge of the ramp is a lot scarier than IMAGINING you aren't hooked in at the edge of the ramp.

9. Higher fear level. Good thing.

...and I think anyone reading this topic has heard enough to make their own decision.

I don't like people making their own decisions in aviation. I've been watching people do it in hang gliding for over thirty years and they always seem to gravitate towards the worst imaginable ones and pretend that they don't negatively affect other people.

I don't like people who think they're hooked into gliders standing on the edges of ramps. True, it occasionally gives you a shot at taking out a Jim Rooney but it also:

a) leaves his passenger with a lukewarm impression of the sport; and

b) sets a poor example for a Bill Priday or Kunio Yoshimura - and I might have been friends with one or two of them if things had turned out differently.

If they can't buy into that self-deception, then maybe they can take a second before launch to imagine that they are not hooked in, and visualize the consequences.

IF people can't buy into the self-deception that the gun is always loaded, then MAYBE they can take a SECOND before they point it at someone's head and pull the trigger to imagine that it's loaded, and visualize the consequences.

1. Ifs, maybes, and seconds don't quite do it for me. I'm more into universal, optimized, proven procedures and constantly.

In my universe I ask someone on the edge of the ramp if he's hooked in and if he says anything but "NO! Are you nuts or something?!" he gets his rating suspended and his instructor loses his ticket permanently.

2. Self-deception?

Al Mulazzi
Robert Sage
Richard Thomson
Hans Heumannn
Klaus Crummenauer
Zuglian Walter
Ray Galan
Dick Stark
Tim Schwarzenberg
Leon Williams
Sam White
Clay Lockett
Jerome DuPrey
Rob Dunn
John Shook
John Preston
George DePerrio
Eric Oppie
Werner Graf
Mark Kerns
Richard Zadorozny
Bill Priday
Kunio Yoshimura
Yossi Tsarfaty

Self-deception is the lunatic conceit that you're a more intelligent, better disciplined pilot and person than any or all of those folk.

Self-deception is the lunatic belief that your memory of what happened fifteen seconds before launch commitment is gonna be infallible for five hundred launches in a row.

Self-deception is the confidence that you have that you're gonna be able to safely wire somebody off every time you crew if you're operating on the assumption that he's connected to his glider when he's on the ramp.

I deceived myself into believing I wasn't hooked into the glider and was wrong over fifteen hundred times - and nobody got hurt.

ONE TIME it wasn't a self-deception. I was right - and still nobody got hurt.

Kunio NEVER did the self-deception thing in his entire hang gliding career and was right about his hook-in status for ALL of his launches - except for one.

Mike Bomstad - 2009/09/13
Spokane

Then mentality should be "I'm NOT hooked in" rather then "I know I am".

George Stebbins - 2010/02/16

I've been known to mutter under my breath as I walk to launch: "I am not hooked in, I am not hooked in." Hey, it can't hurt! (And I've been caught doing it louder than under my breath a time or two...)

Helen McKerral - 2010/04/26
South Australia

Good to hear you had a lucky escape. I've launched with one legloop off, but not both.

I've always done a hangcheck which includes running my hands around the legloops but for the last six months or so I have been trying to ingrain Tad's "lift and tug" but it is very hard to make it a habit. Tad's manner could be annoying but I think his message was right. A lift and tug done immediately prior to every launch (not before you walk to launch, or do your hang check; the key is immediately prior to launch), every time, would help prevent these incidents (both unhooked AND leg loops, because you feel the legloops when you lift and tug, as well as the tight hangstrap).

But as I said, I'm currently remembering to do it *most* of the time, but not *all* of the time, which isn't good enough. I have to somehow link it in with the idea that I'm NOT hooked in (or legloops done up), until that very last check a second or two before launch. If I'm standing on launch for five minutes, or put the glider down, or pick it up again, I should lift and tug again. But it's very hard to retrain your mind, I've discovered!

Helen McKerral - 2010/09/06

Basically, the idea is that no matter whether you use the Aussie method or not (another emotive topic), or how you do your hang check (step through or hang, look, feel, whatever) the VERY LAST THING you do immediately before every launch is to lift the glider up off your shoulders so the hangstrap goes tight and you FEEL the tug of your legloops around your groin/thighs.

More important, I think, is a change in mindset: that you constantly assume that you are NOT hooked in. That is the default mindset and only after you've done the lift and tug - immediately before every launch - do you decide you're hooked in. Also, because the default assumption is negative rather than positive, you are much less likely to start any run unhooked.

The way I've tried to incorporate it is to make L&T the first part of the physical act of lifting the glider to my shoulders in preparation for launch ie instead of lifting it to my shoulders, I lift it higher (L&T), then lower it to my shoulders, then start my run. In strong conditions this is more difficult but I often launch with a tight hangstrap then anyway (always in the Malibu, occasionally in the Litesport).

I've adopted the lift and tug but I'm an old dog learning a new trick and I still forget to do it some of the time. However, although I've found that it's very hard to remember to do if you try to remember 'L&T', if you change your mindset to, "I'm not hooked in", it's easier to recall. It would be easier if I had learned it from the start, so it was a physical muscle memory instilled from my first days on the training hill, just like the grapevine grip changing to bottle.

Allen Sparks - 2010/09/06
Evergreen, Colorado

Helen,

Thanks for the Tad 'lift and tug' reminder.

I have launched unhooked and experienced the horror of hanging by my fingers over jagged rocks ... and the surreal result - i.e. not being significantly injured.

I am a firm believer in 'lift and tug' and the mindset of assuming I am not hooked in. It is motivated by the recurring memory of my own experience ... and the tragic deaths and life-altering injuries of good friends.

Rob Kells - 2005/12

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.

That's some of my EVIDENCE that this is an approach and mindset that works better than anything else.

Where's yours that it doesn't?

Where's yours that there is EVER a downside to believing a gun isn't loaded? (* Except, of course, when you really NEED to blow someone's head off.)

Find me a SINGLE PERSON who has conformed to the "you are not hooked in" burnout path you're predicting.

Find me a SINGLE "you are not hooked in" mindsetter who is the tiniest bit less scared of launching unhooked at the edge of the ramp than he was ten or twenty years ago.

I've got a thousand bucks that says that NOBODY on the crew of the next person who ends up in a lifeless heap at the bottom of the escarpment was a subscriber to the "you are not hooked in" approach to ramp launches - and EVERYBODY on the crew will be involved in a Hang Checker / Aussie Methodist religious war an hour and a half after the glider is recovered and strapped back on the racks.

I support whatever works for people to reduce their chances of launching unhooked.

1. Wow, there's a radical take on the issue.

2. Then you ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE that gliderless plummets will forever continue at their current rates.

Hang checks at backs of ramps and the Aussie Method DO WORK for many people in many circumstances to REDUCE their chances of launching unhooked. They also INCREASE the chances of some people in many circumstances launching unhooked.

And BOTH the hang check and the Aussie Method annihilate the effectiveness of the ramp and tow crews as supplemental deterrents.

So you support whatever works for reduction and undermine what people who know what they're talking about KNOW will work for virtually total eradication of the problem.

Do you also support WHATEVER works for people to REDUCE their chances of getting killed in a lockout?

A pair of Davis bent pin barrel releases on your shoulders will do that.

Of course you could almost entirely eliminate them with bite controlled releases but why bother if you're OK with killing someone just once every couple of years or so? So go ahead and help Davis flood the market with his shitrigged crap, let people make their own decisions without any regard to regulations and standards, and force people like me who are trying to do things right into oblivion.

Use the best procedures and equipment available or stay the hell out of the air and the advice columns.

Ernest King

Historically... it is traditional and habitual for us to be inadequately prepared. Thus is the combined result of a number factors, the character of which is only indicated: democracy, which tends to make everyone believe that he knows it all; the preponderance (inherent in democracy) of people whose real interest is in their own welfare as individuals; the glorification of our own victories in war and the corresponding ignorance of our defeats (and disgraces) and of their basic causes; the inability of the average individual (the man in the street) to understand the cause and effect not only in foreign but domestic affairs, as well as his lack of interest in such matters. Added to these elements is the manner in which our representative (republican) form of government has developed as to put a premium on mediocrity and to emphasise the defects of the electorate already mentioned.

The air is no place for democracy, free speech, beliefs, and opinions. It demands competence - full time.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Tad,

I'm going to quote myself here:

Good comments Mike!!

Except for one tandem towing flight, all of my flying has been foot-launched. So I've got a slightly different set of concerns at launch time.

But Tad's suggestion of always imagining (and fearing) that you're not hooked in seems like it should be helpful in either case. Fear of launching unhooked is a good thing.

The real problem, of course, is that we humans are really good at habituating anything. Anything - no matter how dangerous - can become routine, and as it becomes routine, it becomes "invisible" to the conscious portions of our brains. So anything that helps jolt our subconscious patterns of behavior into conscious scrutiny will be helpful. But eventually, even imagining that you're never hooked in will lose its fear-factor, because we get used to it.

I stand by that entire statement. The key is having the self-discipline to carry out a safety check (lift and tug, hook in check, etc) even when your brain is absolutely certain that you don't need to do so. The key is self-discipline ... not self-deception. However, if some people find that the best way to achieve self-discipline is through self-deception, then I endorse what works for them.

[TadEareckson]

I stand by that entire statement.

Do you have ANY idea how many people have been killed in hang gliding as a direct consequence of people standing by entire statements? Donnell Hewett's got the record on this one hands down. Give me a dust devil any day - at least I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm up against.

In order for it to be a good thing that an entire statement be stood by one needs to make DAMN sure that it's accurate. To do that one needs to examine its logic and accumulate and examine as much data as possible which appears to support AND contradict the statement.

Anything - no matter how dangerous - can become routine, and as it becomes routine, it becomes "invisible" to the conscious portions of our brains.

NEVER, in my entire life, has a wasp that hovered around my face or landed on my arm become "invisible" - times a thousand with respect to one that's pissed off.

Some people have irrational phobias - the baby Rat Snake in the back yard will induce the person to lock himself in the bathroom, stuff towels in the crack under the door, and stay there for three days or until the first major snowfall.

Some of these people pay shrinks tens of thousands of dollars to cure these phobias. If they can cure irrational phobias we can induce and cultivate rational ones NO PROBLEM and make them permanent. (Worked for me.)

But eventually, even imagining that you're never hooked in will lose its fear-factor, because we get used to it.

I'm a LIVING flat contradiction of that ASSUMPTION. I COULD be lying but I'm having a hard time figuring out what my motivation would be.

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.

Funny that Rob didn't mention that ASSUMPTION of yours as being a problem anywhere in his article.

Funny that NONE of the Not-Hooked-In Mindsetters EVER mention this as being a problem.

The key is having the self-discipline to carry out a safety check (lift and tug, hook in check, etc)...

Yeah, right.

That list of two dozen ex pilots in my previous post... A thousand bucks a copy says that each of them had ten times the self-discipline of Yours Truly. I don't have the self-discipline to get out of a burning house before a commercial if I'm watching a good Simpsons episode and the ice cream hasn't vaporized out of the bowl yet. Self-discipline is the problem - muscle memory and fear are the solutions.

...even when your brain is absolutely certain that you don't need to do so.

You got a brain good enough to ALWAYS be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN of stuff that happened - OR DIDN'T - fifteen seconds ago? Where were you fabricated? Japan? China? Korea? A nearby solar system?

...not self-deception.

Another ASSUMPTION.

1. I'm on the ramp, I'm about to launch into light air, I'm holding my suspension tight, the wind picks up from the left, I drop the glider back down on my shoulders.

2. Fifteen seconds later it lightens and straightens.

a) Am I ready to launch?

b) I "KNOW" I just confirmed my connection status twenty seconds ago.

c) Have I ever had an inaccurate or false recollection of an event twenty seconds in the past?

d) Did I ACTUALLY do that verification twenty seconds ago?

I lift the glider again to tension the suspension and THIS TIME the glider KEEPS GOING UP. Heart pounding, adrenalin overload.

HOW COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?!?!?!

The guy on my keel quietly disconnected my auto locking carabiner during the gust.

Now tell me there's no possibility of that happening.

So is "self-deception" a great way to describe this mindset? If so, fine - I can live with the negative spin.

So, what the hell, let's call it "self-deception".

The key is SELF-DISCIPLINE ... not SELF-DECEPTION.

You got some DATA to support that statement?

I'm gonna take a decent flock of young people and turn them all into a bunch of bastards who will look you straight in the eye and LIE to you about not being hooked in when it's PERFECTLY OBVIOUS that THEY ARE!

You're gonna take your flock and nurture their moral fiber and build their self-discipline. They're gonna be confident they're hooked in and will (to the best of their knowledge) answer truthfully when you ask about their status. But, even though they're not really scared, they'll maintain discipline and check at the edge EVERY TIME.

You're ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that you're gonna produce better results than I am?

True, my lying scumbags will all burn in hell for all eternity - but they may start doing it a lot later than some of your guys will start playing harps.

However, if some people find that the best way to achieve self-discipline is through self-deception, then I endorse what works for them.

If we let people do - and teach - what "they" "find" "works" for "them" to be the "best" way of doing things they will use bent pin releases, half G weak links, discipline themselves to do hang checks somewhere between the back of the ramp and the setup area five to twenty minutes before launch, skip hook-in checks at the edge just prior to launch, and remain oblivious to their friends who are one "Clear!" command away from fatal plummets.

We can't be letting all the goddam Toms, Dicks, and Davisses decide to do "what works for them" - most of the time. We need to be looking at the fatality reports to determine what DIDN'T work for those people ONCE and stop offering it as a personal lifestyle option.

I say that self-discipline and the reliance on and expectation of it is a strategy well documented to create and sustain hook-in failure carnage.

There's a new bicycle out that's gonna replace everything out there. It behaves normally if you mount it from the left. If, however, you mount it from the right it automatically swerves into oncoming traffic at the first opportunity.

We would see no increase in the fatality rate 'cause NOBODY mounts bicycles from the right and it feels really weird and unnatural when somebody does. That has NOTHING to do with self-discipline and EVERYTHING to do with (self) training and muscle memory.

We can bring the fatality rate increase down from zero to REALLY zero with a little bit of training in kindergarten to get the right-mounting weirdos on the right page using Twinkies for when they get it right and remote controlled electrodes on the saddle for when they don't.

First day hang gliding students will learn and hardwire ANYTHING we tell them - no matter what they subsequently read, see, and break.

I say that the message and strategy that will keep the most people from killing themselves and letting their friends kill themselves has "You are NEVER hooked in." ("The gun is ALWAYS loaded.") at its core and that that MUST be a fundamental and non negotiable element of ALL training and standard for operating at the ramp. All the EVIDENCE - including my extensive personal experience - is that it works and I'm still waiting to hear a shred of something besides baseless BELIEFS, OPINIONS, and ASSUMPTIONS that it doesn't.