[Frank Colver]

One of the positive things about flying swing seat or suprone is that the binner and hook-in strap are in front of you before launch. Since I've started flying seated again I very much like being able to easily look up at the clipped in binner just before getting ready to launch.

[Bob Kuczewski]

One of the positive things about flying swing seat or suprone is that the binner and hook-in strap are in front of you before launch. Since I've started flying seated again I very much like being able to easily look up at the clipped in binner just before getting ready to launch.

Good point. Even if you walk around unhooked the straps and spreader bar could be easily flopped forward making it quite obvious that you're not hooked in.

[Bill Cummings]

Since our earlier discussions with Tad E. on this topic I've been advocating the hang check and the lift and tug for the new pilots that I mentor.
Also I make it a point to include in all the videos that I post to show a hang check for each flight.
My hope is that new pilots will notice that Robin and I with our combined 80 years of experience
are not yet arrogant enough to step up to launch without a hang check.

[Bill Cummings]

Centurylink, my wire line interrupt provider finally put all of New Mexico and some of the nearby states back on line this late afternoon. They went down sometime near 1:00 am this morning.

The Hawks had another thread about how to fix the taking off without being hooked in problem.
I was going to make a link to that thread but I don't know if my interrupt provider has yet established a firm grasp on the internet or if they are hanging on by their fingernails.
So without the link I'll tell you that I received a call from, "dohara" this evening. He first logged on to the Hawks
Jan 17, 2013.

He was following the, "Redundant hook in check," thread and told me a story that unfolded in 1979
at the launch in Chattanooga. Sky Dog Bob Grant and his friend Malcolm had been waiting for a break in the
clouds to launch. The Duluth Minnesota club, The Skyline Sky Dogs, had given up waiting on the clouds and went to town to find a bar. (Being a Sky Dog myself I'm sure they already knew where most of the bars were.)
Later they learned that Malcolm had launched unhooked and had hung onto the base tube. I'm assuming that hanging from the base tube will speed the glider up a good bit. Malcolm hung on until he came in contact with the tree tops below the launch and then he was stripped from the base tube. There was an estimated 80' fall from the top of the trees to the ground. Malcolm did not survive the fall.
dohara tells me that from then on he always hooked his harness to the glider and then got into the harness.
To leave the glider for any reason he wouldn't unhook but crawl out of the harness leaving it hooked to the glider.

[Bob Kuczewski]

dohara tells me that from then on he always hooked his harness to the glider and then got into the harness.
To leave the glider for any reason he wouldn't unhook but crawl out of the harness leaving it hooked to the glider.

I'm of the belief that each of us should do what we believe will be the safest reasonable choice. I added "reasonable" because the safest thing is to just stay home. I fear the government (or the health insurance companies) will someday mandate that for everyone ... after they've outlawed us driving our own cars.  

If anyone has a system that you feel is good, please feel free to share it and promote it. My objection to Tad's presentation of "lift and tug" was that he wanted to force it on everyone in all circumstances. We're not all the same, and I believe we have a right to make our own decisions when it comes to our personal safety.