[Bob Kuczewski]

Daedalus, the superior craftsman, was exiled because he gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew[2] (or ball of string) in order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

As I recall the myth, Daedalus was placed in the Labyrinth for constructing the hollow wooden cow which allowed the wife of Minos to "have relations" with the Cretan Bull. The result of those "relations" was the Minotaur (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur):

After he ascended the throne of Crete, Minos struggled with his brothers for the right to rule. Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of approval. He was to sacrifice the bull in honor of Poseidon but decided to keep it instead because of its beauty. To punish Minos, Aphrodite made Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, fall madly in love with the bull from the sea, the Cretan Bull.[6] She had the archetypal craftsman Daedalus make a hollow wooden cow for her. Pasiphaë climbed into this wooden cow in order to copulate with the white bull. The offspring of their coupling was the monstrous Minotaur. Pasiphaë nursed him in his infancy, but he grew and became ferocious; being the unnatural offspring of man and beast, he had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured man for sustenance. Minos, after getting advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur.

As I recall, Daedalus and Icarus were placed in the Labyrinth for the "wooden cow caper" rather than a ball of string. But maybe the story exists in different forms. In some versions of "The Three little Pigs" the wolf eats piggy 1 and piggy 2. In other versions they escape to the brick house of piggy3.

[TadEareckson]

Bill C. - 2011/08/03

Re: It's a wrap

I'm thinking that Sam K. could be right. The knot on the weak link is not a grapevine (double fisherman's).

The loop of the weak link may have "Key holed" over the type of knot that was used.

Yeah, they used a Thumb Knot 'cause they couldn't be bothered to tie a Fisherman's and that didn't help.

But the freakin' weak link was three times longer than it needed to be. Any discussion beyond that pertaining to what caused the wrap is pretty much a waste of bandwidth and a distraction from getting this blindingly obvious and stupid problem fixed.

We need to be focusing on not making the weak link three times longer than it needs to be rather than what kind of knot you should use when you're making the weak link three times longer than it needs to be.

(Reminds me of discussions about what you should do after you decide to not verify that you're hooked in JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.)

[Bill Cummings]

Bill C. - 2011/08/03

Re: It's a wrap

I'm thinking that Sam K. could be right. The knot on the weak link is not a grapevine (double fisherman's).

The loop of the weak link may have "Key holed" over the type of knot that was used.

Yeah, they used a Thumb Knot 'cause they couldn't be bothered to tie a Fisherman's and that didn't help.

But the freakin' weak link was three times longer than it needed to be. Any discussion beyond that pertaining to what caused the wrap is pretty much a waste of bandwidth and a distraction from getting this blindingly obvious and stupid problem fixed.

We need to be focusing on not making the weak link three times longer than it needs to be rather than what kind of knot you should use when you're making the weak link three times longer than it needs to be.

(Reminds me of discussions about what you should do after you decide to not verify that you're hooked in JUST PRIOR TO LAUNCH.)

Tad's and my comments pertain to the "It's a wrap," post on the OZ Report:
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24534

[TadEareckson]

And on that thread to date...

1. It should also be painfully obvious that neither Lauren nor Paul nor any of the other bozos in the discussion have the SLIGHTEST CLUE what the breaking strengths of the weak links they're using are or how that translates to towline tension and what's appropriate for the gliders and tug.

2. The component which will guarantee the greatest number of crashes in an aerotow operation is a single loop of 130 pound Greenspot on a bridle end. And - not surprisingly - that's the component that Quest, Ridgely, and all of the other Flight Park Mafia douchebags "educate", coerce, and force all solo gliders to incorporate. It's at least a thousand times more dangerous than not using a weak link at all.

3. I'd be MOST interested in hearing your comments - here or (preferably) on The Davis Show - regarding Lauren's response to Ridgerodent's question about the function*of the weak link. That's the REAL problem we need to get sorted out.

[TadEareckson]

Bill Cummings - 2011/08/04

Sam,

Could John Woiwode have had a similar Malfunction?

Replying over here 'cause I've been banned from SW Texas (I'm up to seven now)...

I rather doubt it 'cause:

1. Neither John not Toni (the driver) reported an abrupt lock.

2. The 250 to 300 pound / 1.0 to 1.2 G weak link held. That's not great evidence but:

a) Martin's blew.

b) The tow tension was dangerously light (seventy pounds - too much time spent in the death zone), the line would've been paying out fast, and I'm thinking there would've been a pretty nasty jolt if the winch had fully locked.

3. The surge in tension was not serious enough for John to consider aborting the tow.

4. Ken Cavanaugh did an extensive and thorough report, it sounded like he really wanted to find out and publicize what went wrong, and it's probably a pretty safe bet that if there were subsequent locks on his tow system he'd have publicized them - probably along with a diagnosis of the problem.

John Woiwode was the main malfunction*on this one and if he had allowed his glider to maintain proper position he could almost certainly have dealt with any winch malfunction*issue and possibly even continued the tow.