TadEareckson wrote:I flatly deny the characterization and ask you for any scrap of evidence that I've EVER said otherwise ...
TadEareckson on Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:58 pm wrote:Lift and tug is MANDATORY *IF* you can physically do it - there's NO legitimate excuse for not doing it.
TadEareckson on Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:58 pm wrote:
A. If you allow a student under your supervision to launch without doing a hook-in check within the previous five seconds you will lose instructor certification for three years on the first offense, permanently on the second.
B. If you launch without doing a hook-in check within the previous five seconds you will have your rating suspended for three months on the first offense, one year on the second, and permanently revoked on the third.
C. If you witness noncompliant launches without reporting them within 48 hours you will be penalized to the same extent as if you yourself violated the protocol from One to Three.
Lift and tug is MANDATORY *IF* you can physically do it - there's NO legitimate excuse for not doing it.
Somebody make a case otherwise.
Think that might work a little better than thirty years worth of talking about it?
Tad Eareckson - 2011/06/05
Lift and tug is MANDATORY *IF* you can physically do it - there's NO legitimate excuse for not doing it.
Bob Kuczewski - 2011/11/04
A - REQUIRE ALL pilots to launch with a tight hang strap in ALL conditions.
This would preclude, for example, the "turn and look" hook-in check that Joe Greblo teaches because 5 seconds would easily elapse between that check and getting the glider back into position to launch.
Luen Miller - 1994/11
After a short flight the pilot carried his glider back up a slope to relaunch. The wind was "about 10 mph or so, blowing straight in." Just before launch he reached back to make sure his carabiner was locked. A "crosswind" blew through, his right wing lifted, and before he was able to react he was gusted 60' to the left side of launch into a pile of "nasty-looking rocks." He suffered a compound fracture (bone sticking out through the skin) of his upper right leg. "Rookie mistake cost me my job and my summer. I have a lot of medical bills and will be on crutches for about five months."
Furthermore, please list the names of ANY pilots (including yourself) who've NEVER violated these requirements in their lifetimes.
That would be the number of people in the sport of hang gliding if you got your way.
Zack C - 2011/11/07Everybody and his dog knows what "just prior" means.
I disagree. Almost exactly one year ago HHPA debated this furiously.
I think the reason no one enforces USHPA's regulation is that it's too vague to be enforceable.
I've had it once where the pin had bent inside the barrel from excessive tow force. My weaklink was still intact.
How about we change 'just prior' to 'within ten seconds'?
I doubt it will completely satisfy anyone here but I think even an effort to teach this if not enforce it will make a big dent in the number of hook in failures.
Teaching - not enforcement at the ramp - is key.
We do the enforcement on the goddam "instructors" - brutally.
But we've gotta hit 'em on Day One
bobk wrote:Your suggested 5 second time limit between hook-in check and launch is unreasonably short...
Rob Kells - 2005/12
Last Thought Before You Start Your Launch Run: Hooked In?
The Best Insurance Is To Believe It Can Happen To You!
I believe that there is no "one method" that is best for all pilots or situations. If fact, we use different methods at different times.
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.
George Stebbins - 2010/02/16
I've known Tad a long time. Tad often annoys me. I frequently disagree with him. But I think he's (mostly) right here. A lift-and-tug (what Greblo calls a "hook in check", as opposed to a "hang check.") is a low cost, high reward tool. Using it is a simple decision. And when you can't do it for some odd reason, you should get a red flag that says to do something else to (temporarily) replace it. BTW, there's nothing wrong with using other stuff too, including the above mentioned visual check, and a hang check. But never assume you are hooked in.
The key point that Tad is trying to make in his annoyingly prolific and pedantic fashion is the assumption made. Always assume you aren't hooked in except immediately after you've checked it. After a few seconds, you have to assume you aren't hooked in again. If you know you are, you are at risk. 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 - 2010/09/07
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.
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 - 2010/09/07
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.
Sam Kellner - 2011/11/07
Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in
TadEareckson on Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:58 pm wrote:Lift and tug is MANDATORY *IF* you can physically do it - there's NO legitimate excuse for not doing it.
TadEareckson on Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:58 pm wrote:
A. If you allow a student under your supervision to launch without doing a hook-in check within the previous five seconds you will lose instructor certification for three years on the first offense, permanently on the second.
B. If you launch without doing a hook-in check within the previous five seconds you will have your rating suspended for three months on the first offense, one year on the second, and permanently revoked on the third.
C. If you witness noncompliant launches without reporting them within 48 hours you will be penalized to the same extent as if you yourself violated the protocol from One to Three.
SamKellner wrote:IMO, There are many other final checks, weather/wind check, instruments, LZ, etc. It would take 5sec to perform a hookcheck. At 5sec intervals?
If we all did that we would all be launch potatoes
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