US Hawks Hang Gliding Association • View topic - To tow or not to tow

by **Bob Kuczewski** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 8:12 am

Hook in failures and release failures.

The simplest things continue to be the source of so many problems. :eh:

by **wingspan33** » Sun Jul 19, 2015 9:33 am

Of the 7 HG pilot fatalities (reported to the USHPA) over the last 31 months, beginning in Jan. 2013, 4 were directly connected with towing activities and 1 was closely associated with towing activities.

The 1 of those 7 that I might exclude is a Novice pilot who, after release, drifted too far downwind to make the usual LZ and hit power lines on his approach to his (poorly?) chosen secondary LZ.

But in that case, as a Novice pilot, had he foot launched from a hill, the designated LZ would/should have been clearly in sight. Other optional LZs could/should have pointed out to him - including their associated obstacles and hazards. Where he should NOT attempt a landing could also have been pointed out, described and explained.

Towing involves complications that multiply the possibilities of accidents - including the extreme/fatal type.

Subtracting tow related deaths, the sport of hang gliding (in the US, at least) has suffered only 2 Foot Launch fatalities over the last 31 months.

by **Bill Cummings** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:57 am

In this video I can hear the wind noise in the microphone steadily getting louder and increasing in (sound) pitch.

This is the strong circumstantial evidence indicated to me by the audio and together with the visual evidence much can be safely determined:
1) As the pilot topped out his airspeed was increasing. (Too much.)
2) The line tension was increasing. (Too much.)
3) The parasitic drag was increasing. (Understandably but this excess drag can help set you free from tow.)
4) Under these circumstances, the weak link should have broken. It did not due to its strength. (Too much.)
5) The release failed. (In spite of multiple attempts and possibly due to too line tension. Too much.) Also the release cord could have tangled.
6) With increased line tension the sweet spot (left and right, short of lock out.) narrows.
7) Steering with one hand with the pilots attention focused on the failed release, very likely, started the lock out to the left.

Note: Static Pro towing with single surface glider, with too strong of a weaklink, (and no climb restricting “V” bridle attached to the keel) can render a parachute save ineffectual when things go wrong at the start of tow.

by **brianscharp** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 5:34 pm

2013/06/15 - Tres Pinos - jammed release
Posted by Tad Eareckson » 2015/03/02 16:00:00 UTC
http://www.kitestrings.org/topic81.html

Continuing discussion:http://www.kitestrings.org/topic81-10.html

by **Frank Colver** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:16 pm

Please forgive what is probably a stupid question. I have never been towed in a hang glider and don't intend to be towed, so maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Why didn't the tow operator release the line at his end when he saw that it wasn't being released at the glider end? :?:

Frank C.

by **brianscharp** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:00 pm

https://vimeo.com/68791399

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=29415
Holy Crap
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32776
Can't release the tow line

by **Bob Kuczewski** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 10:47 pm

For the record, I've gotten the following private message about Brian's reposting from Tad Eareckson's site:

I suspect the private message is correct. However, this should be a matter for the Board to consider and debate. I'm not sure where I would stand in that debate.

As time passes, I've been considering the roles of forums and speech in hang gliding. It's clear that being banned from a relatively small site (like Tad's forum or even the US Hawks) does not do much damage to the person being banned. But being banned from a major site (like hanggliding.org) or from one's ability to fly (like USHPA) is a much greater injustice due to the virtual monopolies that they each hold. It doesn't bother me one bit that Tad banned me, and I could easily live the rest of my life without posting there. I hope he feels the same about the US Hawks. Both of us are working for causes that we believe in, and that's as it should be. It's a complete waste of time for either of us to be sniping at each other, and it's counter productive to our stated goals. I am hopeful that Brian's motivation for posting was positive, and I'll look at it from that perspective.

The US Hawks is much like the early United States. Many of the people who've found their way to this site have had their fill of "kingdoms" from the "old world". Indeed, many of us have been banned from those "old world" sites because we refused to bow to the powers that controlled them. And it's fair to say that just as with the early settlers of the US, many of us are staunch individualists and are not often willing to yield our personal sovereignty to others. As with the early US, this makes us a very strong group of people ... if we can figure out how to work together. I often see my job as trying to do the best I can to bring together the talented and individualistic people who will build a great new hang gliding organization. In that regard, I consider it as my own failure that I was not able to harness Tad's energies to improve the sport of hang gliding here within the US Hawks. I hope I can do better with some of our other detractors.

by **JoeF** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:33 am

1. The link to Tad's identical long run of clips would have been sufficient.
2. Then hereon, new discussion on that linked matter would be neat.
3. Consider respect for Tad's work at his forum for the topic. That work could be respected by the simple link followed with discussion here.
4. Duplicating such long work could be seen as a waste of Internet and forum bandwidth and resources.
5. Tad's work has some kind of copyright about it, not sure of details. He might even have a legal means to force deletion of the duplicated work. But respecting such labor-intensive work by Tad to make the stills from the video seems like a fraternal way of proceeding.
6. There is no need fundamentally to bring all of Tad's site by duplication here. Links with added value discussion would be easy. Linking takes a click.
7. Brian, would you consider posting just the link and then post again any added discussion that you bring to the matter. Many of us easily visit Tad's site and look for the definite positive values that are woven there along with his rough words. Brian, then would you consider letting the USHawks moderator delete the heavy bandwidth duplication post leaving just the link to the topic at Tad's site?

by **brianscharp** » Tue Jul 21, 2015 8:59 am

It was and thanks. In the original post the linked video was poor quality and in a foreign language. Lin's vimeo link is a higher quality and is accompanied with his own description and discussion with others. The images of the wrongly rigged release might help prevent a repeat. At the very least it shows what caused the problem.

OK, but how about leaving the images of the release?

To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Re: To tow or not to tow - that is the question

Who is online

Options