Humans have a long history of creating power structures which end up serving those in power. The US Constitution was a high water mark in building power structures which serve the people. It took some very smart people a considerable amount of time to strike a balance of power that's served us for 200 years. That's what we should strive to do in the US Hawks.
1. The US Constitution has done a pretty good job of serving SOME of "us" - "the people" - over the course of the past couple plus centuries, and a total shitt job of serving others.
2. It was set up - in no small part - to prevent the elected representatives from doing the will of the country's idiot citizenry.
Nobody (Steve)
2011/07/21
Complicated? 99% of this stuff a ten-year-old could figure out in a day or two.
2011/07/23
Unreal! What's wrong with some of these people?
2011/07/27
Is this all a real bad dream I'm having? I want to wake up now, please let me wake up now!
2011/08/28
It ONLY took six weak link breaks (in a row) to figure out something was wrong.
I am impressed. It's truly amazing. A fine display of perception, logic, and quick thinking.
2011/09/04
I cannot understand how these people can be so dumb. How do they manage to feed and clothe themselves?
2011/09/16
These people are just too stupid to deal with. Nothing I say makes a dent.
3. An aviation organization composed virtually entirely of and controlled by pilots will, inevitably, be an unmitigated disaster - as we've seen decade after decade the world over.
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Wheels and no backup suspension, locking carabiner, and hook knife.
Backup suspension, locking carabiner, and hook knife and no wheels.
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Runway landing in field on wheels.
Spot landing on feet.
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Hook-in check on ramp two seconds before launch.
Hang check in setup area five minutes before launch.
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Koch two stage.
Hewett 2:1 Bridle.
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Release actuator on basetube.
Release actuator on downtube.
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Straight pin release.
Bent pin release.
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1.5 G weak link which blows only when stuff starts getting stressed (read never).
Straub/Rooney Link which blows six launches in a row.
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Lighter weak link on the glider.
Lighter weak link on the tug.
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Engineer to keep the glider on tow when it's standing on its tail.
Engineer to blow the glider off tow when it's standing on its tail.
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When some obvious piece o' shitt mechanism fails at altitude, ground it and put out an advisory.
When some obvious piece o' shitt mechanism fails at altitude, keep flying it, tell no one, wait until someone's killed when it fails low, blame it all on pilot error, pray for the victim's family, and keep flying it.
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Towing based on established aviation, logic, numbers, solid understanding of the dynamics.
Jim Rooney - 2011/08/25 04:55:25
It always amazes to hear know it all pilots arguing with the professional pilots.
I mean seriously, this is our job.
We do more tows in a day than they do in a month (year for most).
We *might* have an idea of how this stuff works.
They *might* do well to listen.
Not that they will, mind you... cuz they *know*.
I mean seriously... ridgerodent's going to inform me as to what Kroop has to say on this? Seriously? Steve's a good friend of mine. I've worked at Quest with him. We've had this discussion ... IN PERSON. And many other ones that get misunderstood by the general public. It's laughable.
Don't even get me started on Tad. That obnoxious blow hard has gotten himself banned from every flying site that he used to visit... he doesn't fly anymore... because he has no where to fly. His theories were annoying at best and downright dangerous most of the time. Good riddance.
So, argue all you like.
I don't care.
I've been through all these arguments a million times... this is my job.
I could be more political about it, but screw it... I'm not in the mood to put up with tender sensibilities... Some weekend warrior isn't about to inform me about jack sh*t when it comes to towing. I've got thousands upon thousands of tows under my belt. I don't know everything, but I'll wager the house that I've got it sussed a bit better than an armchair warrior.
Towing based on blind faith in and subservience to The Priesthood.
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Pilots are gonna opt for stupid at every opportunity and, even if they don't, stupid and evil is gonna ooze its way to the top and take control - with the full, enthusiastic, and very vocal support of Rooney Followers, like Jim Gaar, and Rooney Harmonizers, like Sam Kellner.
It took some very smart people a considerable amount of time...
PRE CISELY.
We DO NOT want very stupid people with very short attention spans who have neither the interest in reading long winded "explanations" nor a ghost of a chance of understanding them if they did in on laying the foundations for how we operate in the air and on the ground. Otherwise we end up as USHGA 2 - fast.
Here's a model for a start on doing one thing RIGHT...
Code of Federal Regulations
Title 14, Volume 2
Revised as of 2011/01/01
CITE:
14CFR91.309
TITLE 14--AERONAUTICS AND SPACE
CHAPTER I--FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
PART 91--GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES
Subpart D--Special Flight Operations
Sec. 91.309
Towing:
Gliders and unpowered ultralight vehicles.
(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft towing a glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle unless--
-(1) The pilot in command of the towing aircraft is qualified under Sec. 61.69 of this chapter;
-(2) The towing aircraft is equipped with a tow-hitch of a kind, and installed in a manner, that is approved by the Administrator;
-(3) The towline used has breaking strength not less than 80 percent of the maximum certificated operating weight of the glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle and not more than twice this operating weight. However, the towline used may have a breaking strength more than twice the maximum certificated operating weight of the glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle if--
--(i) A safety link is installed at the point of attachment of the towline to the glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle with a breaking strength not less than 80 percent of the maximum certificated operating weight of the glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle and not greater than twice this operating weight;
--(ii) A safety link is installed at the point of attachment of the towline to the towing aircraft with a breaking strength greater, but not more than 25 percent greater, than that of the safety link at the towed glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle end of the towline and not greater than twice the maximum certificated operating weight of the glider or unpowered ultralight vehicle;
It ain't perfect.
1. It's STUPID to try to use a towline as a weak link - especially when the cost of a good Tost weak link system is - in the picture of a day's worth of towing operation - NOTHING.
2. Eighty percent is way too goddam low for a sailplane and way WAY too goddam low for a hang glider ('cause the lift to drag ratio of a hang glider - relatively speaking - sucks and therefore it requires a much greater percentage of its flying weight coming through the towline to allow it to climb out at a safe rate).
3. It's mathematically impossible for the tug to use a legal weak link when the glider is using a legal 2.0 G weak link.
But... In any case, compare/contrast with this lunatic bulls*** counterpart from USHGA...
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc.
Standard Operating Procedure
12. Rating System
02. Pilot Proficiency System
12. Hang Gliding Aerotow Ratings
-C. Aero Vehicle Requirements
1. The tow vehicle must have a rated thrust of at least 250 lbs.
2. The tow line connection to the towing vehicle must be arranged so as to not hinder the control system of the towing vehicle.
3. A pilot operational release must connect the tow line to the towing vehicle. This release must be operational with zero tow line force up to twice the rated breaking strength of the weak link.
4. A weak link must be placed at both ends of the tow line. The weak link at the glider end must have a breaking strength that will break before the towline tension exceeds twice the weight of the hang glider pilot and glider combination. The weak link at the tow plane end of the towline should break with a towline tension approximately 100 lbs. greater than the glider end.
5. A release must be placed at the hang glider end of the tow line within easy reach of the pilot. This release shall be operational with zero tow line force up to twice the rated breaking strength of the weak link.
6. The purpose of the weak link is to protect the tow equipment, and may not prevent lockouts or other abnormal flight conditions.
1. The towline strength, the performance of the releases at both ends, and the weak link at the front end all being based upon the weak link at the back end. And NO MINIMUM SPECIFICATION for the weak link on the back end. Translation: Use whatever the phuck you feel like anywhere in the towing system.
2. With no minimum weak link why bother specifying minimum rated thrust?
3. The front end weak link SHOULD be "approximately" a hundred pounds over the back end. Translation: Use whatever the phuck you feel like.
4. The release MUST be placed at the hang glider end of the tow line within EASY REACH of the pilot.
Paul Tjaden - 2008/07/22
I have never had a lockout situation happen so quickly and dramatically and had no chance to release as I have always thought I could do.
Carlos Weill - 2008/11/30
The second time it happen I saw the tug line 45 degrees off to the left and was not able to align the glider again I tried to release but my body was off centered and could not reach the release. I kept trying and was close to 90 degrees. All these happen very quickly, as anyone that has experienced a lock out would tell you. I heard a snap, and then just like the sound of a WWII plane just shut down hurdling to the ground, only the ball of fire was missing. The tug weak link broke off at a thousand feet, in less than a second the glider was at five hundred.
"Well, it was within easy reach when I was parked on the launch dolly two minutes ago."
Translation: Put it wherever the phuck you feel like because you - what the hell - your weak link will blow before you can get into too much trouble anyway.
(Hey Rick... Notice any similarities between what happens to these guys and your Paragliding Dead Man's Curve victims?)
The purpose of the weak link is to protect the TOW EQUIPMENT - not the planes. And, thanks to Bart I-really-don't-care-what-the-numbers-are.--I-just-want-my-weaklink-to-break-every-once-in-a-while. Weghorst, we all know just how much the tow EQUIPMENT needs protection. So you're really pushing your luck with an Industry Standard bent pin release and 130 pound Greenspot. And that's BEFORE you've gotta demonstrate your release is operational at twice that. So you might wanna consider dumbing down - just to be on the safe side.
And the weak link MAY not prevent lockouts or other abnormal flight conditions. But then again it MAY. So you probably wanna disregard the carnage you're seeing and experiencing light weak links cause every time you go flying and stay extra fuzzy - just to be on the safe side. And always do exactly what your tug driver orders you to. 'Cause after all...
Jim Rooney - 2011/10/05
...the only exception is when being towed by a registered tug... and it's the tug that has the right of way... you're still considered no more than a banner.
...you're still considered - and treated - no better than a tow banner. You exist and can be eliminated at the whim of whatever total sh*thead you have strapped into the Dragonfly in front of you - or either one of the two pieces of fishing line in the system.
Rick doesn't wanna go up on a wing that can - AND WILL - deflate in a bit of thermal turbulence below usable parachute altitude.
And because I can end up with just as few options and just as dead...
I don't wanna go up behind a tug with a rated thrust - like it says in the SOPs - under 250 pounds. And I want the tug I go up behind to be able to deliver my chunk of that 250 pounds to me at ALL TIMES for as long as it's MY DECISION to stay on tow. I've got enough to worry about without throwing a goddam "SHOULD" into the equation 'cause somebody thinks that "MUST" or "SHALL" is too harsh a restriction on our God Given American Freedoms to do whatever the phuck you want to whomever you want whenever you want for whatever reason you want.
And don't forget that that's thrust and tension that I'VE paid for - in advance.
And - I got news for ya - neither the inherent decency or professionalism of the good Flight Park Mafia people nor the natural progressions of the free market are EVER gonna bring hang glider aerotowing anywhere NEAR the level of the safety, sanity, and fairness enjoyed by someone sitting in the cockpit of a sailplane under all those nasty big government regulations and freedom and innovation stifling restrictions.
It took some very smart people a considerable amount of time to strike a balance of power...
Goddam right it did. They understood that people - for the most part - are stupid and/or evil lying scumbags, kept the lower rungs out of the process for as long as possible, and handed the rabble as bulletproof a set of Standard Operating Procedures as they could manage.
That's what we should strive to do in the US Hawks.
Yeah. We SHOULD. Make that MUST.
Notice that the word "SHOULD" appears in the US Constitution - including the Amendments - a grand total of one times...
But if there SHOULD remain two or more who have equal Votes, the Senate SHALL chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.
...and not in the context of giving people options.
By contrast, the word "SHALL" (see above) appears 306 times.
Also note that the word "SHOULD" appears nowhere in the FAA towing regulations I cited.
So let's take a hint and write our US Hawks SOPs something like this:
The glider SHALL fly with a weak link not less than 1.3 or more than 2.0 times its maximum certified operating weight.
The tug SHALL FLY with a weak link not less than 100 pounds above the glider's.
SHOULD the tug's weak link, towline, bridle, or any equipment upon whose integrity the transmitted tow tension is dependent be found to be - through testing or in-flight failure - incapable of sustaining the tension allowed by the glider's weak link, its pilot SHALL have his rating suspended immediately for a period of thirty days upon the first offense...
That would put a REAL quick end to 99 percent of the problems and dangers we have with aerotowing and the morons who control it.
But if you wanna gut my field SOPs with lotsa SHOULDs in place of SHALLs then please make sure you write your administrative SOPs the same way...
The voting records of the Regional Directors SHOULD be made publicly available as soon as possible after the US Hawks Attorney has screened them for avenues of legal liability and redacted them as necessary or advantageous to the financial security of the organization and/or the business interests of said representatives.
...for the sake of consistency and fairness.
Mountain and coastal hang gliding has been degraded, endangered, and marginalized by a very large influx of paraglider jockeys and interests.
Jim Rooney - 2011/08/28
The frustration of a weaklink break is just that, frustration.
And it can be very frustrating for sure. Especially on a good day, which they tend to be. It seems to be a Murphy favourite. You'll be in a long tug line on a stellar day just itching to fly. The stars are all lining up when *bam*, out of nowhere your trip to happy XC land goes up in a flash. Now you've got to hike it all the way back to the back of the line and wait as the "perfect" window drifts on by.
I get it.
It can be a pisser.
And flatland hang gliding has been degraded, endangered, and marginalized by a very small cult of evil, arrogant, and off the scale stupid tug drivers.
And the use of one or two SHOULDs where SHALLs are clearly called for in either resistance movement is gonna get our legs cut out from under us before we've even begun to accomplish anything.
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