... serial killers ... legions of adoring zombies.... crap ... asshole ... dangerous ... absolutely deadly ... illegal practices ... stupid herd ... idiot glider drivers ... junk ... coat-hanger together ... multitudes of other wastes of space ... bulls*** ... ferchrisake ... crap ... Sleazebag Matt ... a lot of lies ... stupidity ... bigotry ... intolerance
1. How much of that is inaccurate?
2. Some of it's subjective, some of it ain't.
3. "asshole" was taken from a quote from miguel. (Although, yeah, I'm totally cool with the characterization in that context.)
But to some folks ... that's all they see.
Yeah, probably not a great idea for those folk to be flying. PILOTS always hafta be looking at the BIG and WHOLE pictures and constantly assessing where the REAL threats are coming from. I can name you lotsa fatal crashes which were direct consequences of tunnel vision.
You have your own sensitivities to certain words.
Not in the slightest. I always look at the context and intent.
Why can't you see that others might find your words offensive?
Who says I can't see it? Anywhere you go where people have keyboards somebody's gonna punch out a combination that somebody else is gonna find offensive. Free speech is a real bitch that way.
Well it's all right now.
I've learned my lesson well.
...
Miguel was right on target...
1. And yet people seem to have so much fun with crossword puzzles. Go figure.
2. Maybe the bile and brimstone are some of the most important parts of the message. Certainly manage to draw in and motivate the crowds in lotsa churches. Hasn't done bad in getting lotsa a people long stays in the White House either.
Tad, your quote of Diev doesn't disprove Miguel's statement for me.
OK, I'll be happy to walk you through it.
Do you know Diev beyond what he posts?
Nope, that's all I ever need.
...but his posts haven't struck me as someone deserving to be blasted as you've done.
You haven't been to as many tow funerals as I have.
What's the worst thing that you've seen him post anywhere that justifies calling him such names?
The WORST thing? Please don't ask me to pick favorites. Let's just do 'em all.
I'm AT (Tad)...
..."well now if you had my mouth release this would have never even been an issue"...
The same goes for the finger string on the basetube release for that matter...
01. I don't like being mocked - especially by incompetent twits.
02. I don't have a "mouth release". I like to take off, fly, land, and break down with my mouth right where it's been for most of my flying career - lower front part of my head.
03. I have a Four-String Secondary/Emergency Release with a trigger line I hold in my teeth until I clear two hundred feet. It could spell instant death if I blew it out of sequence so it's highly unlikely that I'd do that in that - or ANY - situation.
04. I DO have a lanyard between the fingers of my left hand which will blow the primary if you twitch it. Believe it or not, that can be a good thing when you're three seconds away from lockout death.
05. Steve Elliott died on 2009/01/03 after a dolly related problem for the sole reason that his crap Davis style release wouldn't allow him to abort the tow any better than Davis could on 2004/08/02 during a dolly related problem with crap Davis and crap Wallaby style releases.
06. So I don't think this issue is so goddam funny.
http://ozreport.com/pub/fingerlakesaccident.shtml07. 'Cept, of course, when it's Davis getting his face rearranged.
08. This glider DOES have a basetube mounted release lever and thus - in theory anyway - CAN be blown off tow at any moment after the driver makes the decision and reacts.
09. But release is neither called for nor appropriate in this situation so the issue of actuator accessibility is completely irrelevant anyway
10. The video depicts Allen Sparks - not someone of whom I hold a terribly high opinion, as a flyer or person, and a buddy of Rooney's:
a) being pulled off the dolly at a little under normal launch speed as a consequence of having neglected to grasp the hold-downs;
b) lightly kissing the dirt runway with the wheels at the bottom of a shallow dip;
c) becoming airborne just fine as if nothing had happened;
d) but then blowing his idiot 130 pound Greenspot loop weak link under normal tow tension - under half a G; and
e) rotating to the downtubes for a late inadequate flare resulting in an all out run behind the glider with a dropped basetube to finish things off.
11. Sparky's equipped with a backup suspension strap and Quallaby (spinnaker shackle, cable, brake lever, velcro) two point aerotow release anchored at the carabiner and UNDOUBTEDLY a Bailey bent pin secondary / backup release (when you've got a Quallaby at the top the release at the bottom must be considered a backup) or two, standard crap primary bridle with no thimble at the bottom, standard overlength crap secondary bridle between his shoulders, and single loop 130 pound Greenspot weak link at the top end of the primary bridle. I know I'm gonna piss off and alienate just about everyone with this statement but every single one of those items is a badge of incompetence.
Hang check
12. I got news for ya... If you're dolly launching - and if you're NOT dolly launching for aerotow you're an idiot - you're gonna be doing a hang check whether you want to or not.
carabiner closed...
13. Good.
...and locked
14. Bad. Locked carabiners and the mechanism which locks them ONLY make hang gliding MORE dangerous.
in leg loops
15. Good, but in dolly launched aerotowing they really don't matter much. They're not gonna make ANY difference at launch and if you do a good landing - which means staying prone or close to it down into ground effect - they're not gonna make a helluva lot of difference at that end of the flight either.
harness closed...
16. Meaning buckled. Good but the ONLY time it MAY matter is in a hard parachute opening shock.
(leg doors open)
17. If you're flying without wheels - and unless you've got a REAL GOOD reason for flying without wheels (like going for an XC or consecutive loops record) - you're an idiot, OK.
18. Otherwise... Zip up the pod like I do. If it's a good operation (which it isn't) the ONLY reason you're gonna hafta do an emergency landing is an engine failure at launch. And even then you're safer just rolling in than trying to do a bunch of bulls*** gymnastics like Sparky managed to pull off almost passably.
19. Even if you don't have wheels bellying in is probably the safer landing option.
hang height verified
20. Yeah, it might have changed since last weekend. And if you're doing a different glider/harness combo and so stupid that you need to be told to do this you WILL be finding out if you're significantly off WELL before you launch. Who cares? It's more useless clutter on an important list.
chute secured
21. Replace the pins with short lengths of eighth inch leechline which don't slide out when you breathe on them.
helmet secured
22. Who cares?
no loose lines or cords
23. Good.
Instrument check...
24. Fine. Not a safety issue.
Equipment check: overview scan of glider (this does NOT replace a careful preflight!!) and launch cart.
25. Good. Never hurts to keep checking and thinking.
release function
26. What's that mean? You're gonna load it up to weak link and see if you can pry it open?
I have had issues with them releasing under load. So I don't try to release it under a lot of load now.
You already know that just about the most critical item on the checklist so far flunks so I'm not seeing much point in bothering with a checklist at all. No problem slamming into the runway at the conclusion of your lockout - as long as you've got the helmet buckled!
check weak link
27. What's the point?
Diev Hart - 2007/07/17
I've had a weaklink break 10 ft off the cart.
You already know you're using a dangerous weak link which will fail for no reason whatsoever at the most dangerous part of a normal tow - EXACTLY like Sparky's did in the video - and WILL kill you WHEN it blows in a dangerous tow, you have no idea what a weak link is or how it translates to G rating - so why bother?
bridle line routing (over the base tube and not twisted)
28. Fine.
location of hook knife.
29. Anybody who thinks of a hook knife at the glider end as a piece of towing equipment and/or believes there is the slightest possibility of it being useful as compensation for the equipment he's using is a total idiot who has no business towing.
Verify no loose parachute
30. Didn't we do that already?
or loose lines or cords (especially VG lines or harness cords) that could get caught on the launch cart.
31. Good.
Note wind speed and direction
32. And forget thermals and dust devils. No REAL need to put ribbons along the runway 'cause...
Davis - 2000/01/12
Mike Nooy takes off to our left, and he launches right into a dust devil. Like I said, they've been coming in every ten minutes or so, and you can't see them as the paddock is pretty green.
...thermals and dust devils are rarely problems on launch.
scan for traffic in pattern
33. Fine.
...mentally prepare for tow and emergency actions.
34. Why bother? You've already decided to use a loop of Greenspot which can't reliably get you more than ten feet off the cart so you won't be able to count on staying on in any situation that demands it from under half a G and on up and you've decided to use a release that won't let you off tow in anything over a major fraction of your pathetic weak link. All you're doing is playing Russian roulette with a lot of chambers - luck based aviation. But don't worry - almost everybody gets away with it almost all of the time.
Summary/review...
Some of the most dangerous things in hang gliding are unhooked launches, understrength weak links, shitrigged releases, and standup landings. Dollies automatically take the first issue out of the equation for him but he's putting the other three together and trying to develop and promote the combination as an art form.
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