`    [Lift archive index

Breaking news: Frank Colver is still with us; he is
just planning ahead while making a great statement in hang gliding history!
 

Lift
August 2011

World Hang Gliding Association
World ParaGliding Association
builds during the month by reader inputs to
Lift@WorldHangGlidingAssociation.org


(Non-airframed string-controlled canopy free-flight piloted kites are invited to explore the PDMC.)

Notes are welcome during the month from all;
give some lift to an aspect of hang gliding =>
Lift@WorldHangGlidingAssociation.org

Condolences to the family and friends of
Enio Wilson
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24924

Easy Riser Hang Glider Training Film

neat-link find contributed by lifting roving reporter Neil Larson

Discuss and extend history of Easy Riser lore:

  • * Easy Riser - was a formidable "improved copy" of the Kiceniuk - Icarus I and II design tailless bi-plane.

    Supplying the high performance hang glider market of the mid-Seventies, Easy Riser was a unique marketing success. Redesigned from its contemporary Icarus II, with many advancements in construction and design to give greater stability, handling, and allowance for faster set-up time.

    The Easy Riser took advantage of the rapid advancements in hang glider construction. The upper wing was substantially wider than the lower. This airship gained popularity with a high impact advertising campaign in hang glider magazines of the day. The cigarette paper company Easy Wider , launched an ad campaign in conjunction with Easy Riser, and also sponsored a fleet of these hang gliders to be entered in several hang glider competitions in the late 70's.     ~~ contributed by Neil Larson

  • v

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Welcome mat is out for Tom Valentine's radiance ...[ ]
Hang gliding and balloon/kytoon interfaces in past, present, and future?    Lifts are invited.
  • Past
    • Dropping parachutists who had some gliding capacity in the detached gliding chute.
    •  
    • v
    • v
  • Contemporary
    • v
    • v
    • v
    • v
  • Future
    • v
    • v
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    • v

Stéphane Rousson

AeroTechnics.eu   Jet powered Hangglider (Skyjet-3000).mpg

 

Knots

Amphibious electric ultralight by Dale C. Kramer

Eddie Paul and his shop : E.P. Industries Business Matters! segment                                EPI

 

Jack Shroeder
  • "The "Hairy Dude #2" is the infamous Jack Schroeder, the Quicksilver competition pilot who later broke his back on an Icarus 5 [sic, Icarus V] and sued the State of California for allowing him to fly at Pt. Fermin state beach - with serious repercussions for California's hang glider pilots."   Rickmas     
  • [ ] Brief of that lawsuit?  File number?
  •      

Uploaded by on Jul 18, 2011

Bob takes the latest Sensor 610F5, with its New Air Foil, out for a test run on a beautiful spring day in the mountains behind Santa Barbara. Working on the Leading Edge Cant, and other little specific modifications to the sail design, that has made this Hangglider, one of the most efficient king posted gliders in the world. Also Bob has a chance to meet up with some pilots at Torrey Pines for the Annual Demo Days. John Heiney , Chris Bolfing, and many others showed up to enjoy the fruits of Bob's Labor.

    Crestline Hawks
Yosemite Hang Glider...
http://youtu.be/cAiAyBAeVsU

Recently posted (August 2011) launch sequence off high cliff wall in Yosemite Valley-
contributed by -~ Neil Larson
Deltaplano  (general study)
Fold a sail ...     ... a Wingtech note
How will the end look for PG?

http://www.ted.com/talks/a_robot_that_flies_like_a_bird.html   

Aug 12, 2011 -  A paragliding flight instructor, flying tandem with a cameraman, has outraged the German tourist industry by causing the most expensive rescue operation in the history of free-flight and potentially causing millions of dollars of damage to one of Germany's most prized gondola lifts. Ignoring the regulation prohibiting flying near the gondola cable to the world famous castle of Crown Prince Ludwig II, Castle Neuschwanstein, the pilot illegally approached a gondola filled with 20 tourists, including five children, and was driven into it at 80 meters altitude by what he claimed was "a freak gust of wind." The cameraman was injured. The paraglider's sail became entangled in the cable rollers, causing them to seize and slide on the cable. The cable lift operators, fearing that the seized wheels might have damaged the cable, endangering perhaps one hundred people along the length of the lift, immediately shut it down. As thousands watched from the valley, two hundred and fifty rescue workers and three helicopters arrived to attempt the dangerous rescues but were delayed until dawn by strong winds and rain. One hundred and thirty two tourists were brought down from the summit, some by helicopter. The twenty tourists in the damaged gondola and thirty in a nearby gondola were trapped for eighteen hours. Franz Bucher, CEO of Tegelbergbahn in Schwangau, is quoted as saying "I'm mad as hell!" He accuses the "very experienced" paraglider pilot of "gross negligence." He claims there was no "gust of wind" responsible for the accident, but that the pilot had intentionally crossed the cables for the purpose of filming, an action that incurs criminal responsibility. He is working with the authorities to identify "a circle of people" involved in the illegal filming attempt. He said the gondola lift, one of Germany's top tourist attractions, would have to be shut down for several days because experts would have to remove the "ball of fabric" from the trolley and carefully inspect the cable for damage. If damage is found, he added, it would take months to replace the entire multi-million dollar cable. Because this incident proves beyond doubt that paraglider pilots cannot police themselves, and because the risk of huge losses to third parties has now been demonstrated to be real, there is a substantial possibility that paragliding will be banned at this famous free-flight venue just as it recently was at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera. Hang gliding activities are always at risk of being lumped in with the irresponsible behavior of paraglider pilots and the myriad uncontrollability issues stemming from their frameless wings, but the astronomical costs involved in this incident could conceivably drive the universally-required third-party liability insurance premium far beyond the reach of all free-flight participants. VIDEO

 ~~CometClones

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/09/personal-flight/shute-text
WHGA encourages airframed hang gliders. 

 

   Mitja

August 21, 2011

Hi All,

I received word this morning that my granite bench HG history marker is done and in place, on the hillside in Pacific View Memorial Park. I'll get over there early next week and get some photos to e-mail. It turns out that it has been there for a couple of weeks and they failed to let me know. I sent an e-mail yesterday, complaining that after all the money I spent I expected some action on this. I got an apology for not letting me know it is already in place and; "looks good". I'm anxious to see it.

In addition to a close up, to show the inscription, I'll get a shot from higher on the hill and we can compare it to the video. I personally think it is very close to a spot on the hillside where Richard Miller flew over, on the flight where he flew over Taras and others.

Bill, you were going to send me a clip of your copy of the 1971 video so I can take it out there on my computer and view it on site. That would help a lot to figure out the alignment.

Frank Colver

Experimental (clip)

SWIFT development paper

Busables for local gliding fun?
Join the movement.
Tell your story.
Up and down exercise! 
Your HG packs with you on city and regional buses as you go to parks, slopes, and special launches for some exercise and flying fun.

Be part of the coming eHG movement where the airframe itself is a storage-of-electricity component with recharge from sun, wind, grid-supplied kitricity, excess lift, pilot motions, and pilot exercise.   There will be starkly less use of cars, trucks, and gasoline-to-launch-point activity. And millions of launch points will open.

What will you bring to this party flow?

Accomplished:

Ken writes:

Ken de Russy's Hang Gliding Museum Event - A Conversation With John Dickenson and Barry Palmer - To Be Streamed Live!

The historic meeting between two towering hang gliding pioneers will take place Saturday 27 August 2011 beginning at 2:00PM Pacific and will run 2 to 3 hours. Barry Palmer and John Dickenson will tell of their pioneering work that launched the modern sport of hang gliding. The presentation will be followed by questions and answers after which you will have the opportunity to speak and socialize with these two great innovators. 

 This event will be videotaped and simultaneously Streamed live. To view the event go to Ustream.tv  and enter Sharpe1 in the search window. The 2:00PM Pacific time frame is during waking hours for much of the world

If you wish to Skype in a question please try to request to be added to my Skype contact list by 8:00PM Pacific Friday 26 August if you can to give me time to add your name to my Skype list. My Skype name is ken.de.russy
Your Skype video will be projected on a large screen viewable by our speakers and those in attendance.
 
You may also e-mail a question to weflyuniv@aol.com. I will do my best to read all questions and select the best ones to present to Barry and John.
 
For those attending in person the address is 6812 Carolina Street, Anacortes, WA 98221

From Interstate 5 in Burlington Washington take exit 230 and travel west on Highway 20 11 miles and turn south toward Whidbey Island. After .5 miles turn left on Gibralter Road. Go 2.5 miles and turn right on Gibralter Drive. Make you first right onto Nebraska and go to the end. Turn left on Carolina. The third structure on the left from the corner of Nebraska and Carolina is the Hang Gliding Museum. Parking in this semi rural neighborhood should be done with consideration. Please avoid driveways and dangerous shoulder parking. Nebraska street is fairly wide and is very close to the venue.

Please repost this notice for maximum exposure. 
 
Ken de Russy
USHGA Life/Charter Member #5114
Hang Gliding Museum Collector Guy
Anacortes, WA
360 293 8621

Skype Me ken.de.russy

Discussion points:  (your comments are welcome)

  • Great job, Ken, and all visitors!
     
  • What was said has many interesting points.
     
  • What was not said is probably significant also.
     
  • JD confirmed that he had the Bensen gyro-copter plans and Bensen kited-control flying experience before he entered the Rogallo-Wing-based kite.  What was not said in his practiced report was the recognition that Bensen had in early 1950s demonstrated and world-published pilot-seated-penduluming with TCF in front of pilot for weight-shift control of kite or same in gliding mode (same function as the the 1908 Breslau hang glider that held what is common in hang gliders today. Important omission!  JD admitted Rogallo Wing was part of his foundations in pics, but he stuck with the canopy-pix-only story, despite the life-long wish to fly like a bird and already Ryan and NASA world-publishing for framed bi-conical Rogallo-promoted kite-glider wings; the flow of Bensen literature came from where-???--such was not mentioned; such flows and interest apparently missed the already-present-in-Australia stiffened NASA-report-based wings of Mike Burns, JD meeting the Burns facts only later, JD said.   Finally, JD did not echo the loud GH "invention" pseudo-title of the construction; maybe finally the GH-JD camp is recognizing that the mechanics were globally not inventible at such late date as 1963, as such was already know, in use, demonstrated, flown, versioned, modified, photographed, etc. by others far before JD.
     
  • JD had a PG favoring that gave wince to many. Apparently he did not appreciate the PDMC.
     
  • JD had his arms hard crossed for almost all of the couple of hours.  Hmmm?  I would be in some pain seeing all the BHP camp foot-launch hang glider flying being shown during a large part of the streaming discussion.
     
  • BHP confirmed his first sessions of design had TCF with cables in design view via sketches; he already had ouch cable experiences and opted to go without TCF with cables; he wanted quicker construction where he could adjust body position to get quickly to "sweet spot" for control.   And control he and friends did as ample video was showing.   Helmets were absent. Some fun landings were interesting; quick step aways after stand-up landings.
     
  • Ken seemed to not recognize a full 100 years worth of hang gliding design; a two-second mention of Jan Lavezzari's "bi-conical" with a dismissing tone was disappointing. Hundreds of hang gliders of the first decade of the 1900s gave the world much hang glider foundations, including our TCF cable-stayed and wings that had washout, etc., and also the flexible wing bi-conicals.
     
  • A miss was the non-mention of the NASA Paresev program with eight top pilots doing kited flying and released gliding in stiffened bi-conical "Rogallo"-promoted-based wings much prior to the Burns and JD efforts. Ryan Aeronautical world-blanketed images were not mentioned.
     
  • BHP emphasized September 1961, not just December 1961, had real off-ground mini flights; two years solid before JD's Rod Fuller kited at Grafton; JD crashed and got dragged in the first day where Rod flew; only boat-towed kited launching. Then release gliding began to develop.   No one asked why and how the later 1964 October drawings had the nomenclature much earlier found nearly identical to some NASA drawings; such is cause for doubt of some of the story. 
     
  • Missing was mention of William Beeson's 1887 patent which exhibited the keys to the mechanical arts involved.
     
  • Ken mentions that there was "at least two" flows of influence for the explosion of hang gliding in the 70s. However, it has been in Ken's view for years that at least ten flows of significant influence flowed to effect the expansion of hundred-year-old hang gliding activity.  The flow from the works of Mr. Worth was not mentioned.
     
  • GH is expert on minutia of JD along with carrying gross over-claim for JD; his transnational presence on back screen in the show was mostly with self-comments, missing time to bring out JD facts.
     
  • Not-mentioned was the fact that not a shred or nuance of the JD-BB-BM strand was present in the great Otto Meet of Newport Beach on May 23, 2011, that Neil Larson has brought in mind in the last several years for all.  Rather advanced washout in Miller's flying wing from Horton imbibe, monoplane HG from 60 years of monoplane gliders, BHP influence, Chanute influence, NASA influence, etc. was present; zero from the Aussie ski kites.  The showmen did their part, but the not-them forces were hugely key; synergy began to occur, but the boat people certainly did not bring on the huge flow that came with non-Aussie influential flows.   The Otto Meet brought in the flows of robust gliding history. 
     
Hi Joe,

I concur with your points below. In particular the " blindness" of JD to the stiffened Rogallo or Ryan wing is something GH has brought about to denigrate Rogallo/NASA. The letter from JD to FR clearly states that he saw a picture of the Ryan aircraft before building his own wing. The fact that the Burns wing was so similar to the JD wing, at the same time and place, would lead to the conclusion that both were influenced by the same information source. It is very strange that Burns has not made any comment on the whole issue. There is no love lost between JD and Burns as JD claims Aerostructures never paid him  for all the "Dickenson Wings" that they produced. Why does Burns not put the record straight?

The JD/BHP meeting was set up by Ken to enable the JD camp to deal with prior claims of BHP without loosing too much from their own claims. Very little else came out of the meeting from an historic standpoint.

I will view it again to see if there is anything I missed as it was late when it first was shown.

Tony

From: Joe Faust <Editor@UpperWindpower.com>
To: Tony Prentice
Sent: Tuesday, 30 August, 2011 0:28:54
Subject: Re: Ustream of JD, BHP, Peter Brock, and others


Spelling-of-name correction, Tony:
William Beeson patent in 1887. (he had several aviation patents).


On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 1:19 PM, Joe Faust <Editor@upperwindpower.com> wrote:

Hi Tony,
I was able to view up to the big pause; later I will aim to finish the video viewing.
There are some key points for attention by those interested, in time. Below is rough first blush; later I will more carefully get the text of what was said.

1. At this late date, Ken seems still pointedly to discount a hundred years of hang gliding history as though it did not exist, but for a spot liftoff of Jan L. While doing such, he pointedly lauds GH as the most knowledgeable hang gliding historian. [[It should have been qualified to point to a deep focus on one person, not the whole of hang gliding history. GH has yet to even recognize a huge flow of hang gliding history as he must to try to support pseudo claims for just one individual. ]]

2. BHP pointedly "drew" and chose not to build, the arrangement of control found in today's hang gliders; such drawing was done before he build his Rogallo.

3. BHP built monoplane HG and participated in a Chanute HG before his Rogallos.

4. Ken is with "bi-conical" overdrive. Flexible cylindricals of NASA seems beyond Ken's view.

5. Paresev did not get mentioned.

6. The deep Mike Burns prior Australian effort got one sentence with an effort to focus on "control stick", yet the whole of Burns effort before JD started-- fully knew TCF arrangement.

7. JD confirmed that his Bensen gyro beach kiting was prior to his builds of the flexible-sailed kite. Such would firm that the Bensen airframe control of pendulumed pilot was in JD's mind and bones prior to his entering the Rogallo kite build. Bensen had on free-flight (off tow) the airframed frontal TCF with pendulum pilot in early 1950s. No mention of the Breslau 1908 mechanical achievement of the TCF with hung pilot. Nor the Spratt. Or 1887 patents of William Beeson. Wenham and Pilcher were absent, etc.

8. JD practiced his reply. He "imagined" stiffening the canopy he saw pics of (Rogallo wing) ... yet stiffening had been broadcasted around the world ...and even present in Australia over the ski waters. For a guy who wanted to fly like a bird since age 5 from seeing intimately the seagulls, to see the Rogallo wing limp canopy pics, and not to have seen what was ...or talked over ... that which alreadywas in his nation and in international views of papers where Bensen matters would be....:::>> Still hard to believe his blindness to the stiffened Rogallo or Ryan wing; his nomenclature, drawings, and production had astronomical coincidence with that which was in NASA reports; his countryman Burns priorly had the reports.

9. Peter Brock did not recognize that Miller at Otto Meet had deliberate washout. To Brock, Roy Haggard was "first" for such. Of course, at least Jose Weiss and others very early knew flying-wing washout. Hey, where is a Horton when you need one?

10. BHP confirmed that September held some actual flying practice. 1961.
11. BHP confirmed some seat flying.
12. The heavy amount of time that JD had his arms fully crossed might be explored by a profiler. I am not expert; but recently I have heard on a documentary that such posture greatly reduces pain that one is challenged with. It appeared to me that it was painful for JD to see so much foot-launch flying by the BHP camp.

13. Lack of helmets ...
14. Ken very much interrupted JD. Wanted: more JD, less Ken.
15.
... later, after some future fuller listening to the stream.
Lift,
Joe
  •  
  • ?   MORE COMMENT IS WELCOME..
Weak-link futurisms?      [IMAGE]
_____________________

[ ] ?: Smart weak links? Pilot would be given realtime status report of the precise remaining strength of the weak link installed. The full shock history of a particular weak link would be recorded and computed in the consideration.

[ ] ?: No-knot weak links that are with the above smarts.

[ ] ?: Dial-a-weak-link's-strength weak links that have the above two characteristics.

[ ] ?: Tracked standardized manufacture of weak links having the above three characteristics.

Shocks of small-to-large size begin changes in any given particular weak link.

What is the present condition of safety critical lines? How will the condition be reported? How will the system react to the given data? Etc.

Start:
http://www.gleistein.com/assets/pdfs/Smart-RopEx-Project-Description.pdf

See: Safety links in tether-set assemblies for kiting systems           
tags:  no knot, knotless, weak link, weak links, towing safety, No-knot weak links

Ban reprieve at Oz Report hang gliding forum? Mon, Aug 29 2011, 4:05:14 pm
Some posters are banned from Oz Report.
===========
Is there a path for return of some of them?
What will it take to bring back some of our fellows?
Who has been banned?
Each case might have a Davis-return procedure.
Forgiveness? Conduct restriction? Posting style? Frequency?

I, for one, miss the gifts of some of the posters that have been banned.
How about you? What do you want? I wince at "good riddance" expressions,
as I hope for value from each interested person, despite challenges in conduct.
Deep abusers of some policy points simply extract themselves firmly. But what
about the fuzzy edge of banning? Has enough time passed where some posters
can be given another entry?                 ~JpF          Posted in Oz Report.  Posted reference note in US Hawks
Paraglider Dead Man's Curve.
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17743&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
pitch based dynamic maneuvering,   Gary Osoba   Invited him to AWE for possible flow of investment.
Doug Prather (aka Rotor) Crashing at Dunlap Jan 15th 2011

Recovering effort heroic.   You have blessed me, Doug.

[ CSnSTCF]

   Hang Glider spin and crash                    Discuss.

[ CSnSTCF perhaps floating canard and ski] 

【8/19、19時】2011鳥人間コンテスト     Advanced efforts off the pier!

http://tinyurl.com/BirdmanRally2011

Hang Glider Lock-Out!     Discus.

http://live.feedjit.com/live/cometclones.com/0/
http://www.cometclones.com/xcpilots.htm#playground
Jim Rooney:
I'll answer actual questions if you're keen to actually hear the answers, …
Jim

Thanks, Jim.

Been following the thread and don't recall if the following question has been faced:
Has the tow line torque been studied and measured for hang glider towing operations? The line untensed as base; then upon tensing, the line develops some torque; without swivel the torque is there.

What significance would line torque be at release-- intentional or not, at weak link break? Bille made a quick comment to one of mine in the thread surrounding the occasion of wrap of weak link.

Listening. I do not have answers or links on the above questions.
JoeF
OP-0

Thanks for your time and attention on the questions, Jim. Appreciated. 
I will do some due diligence to see if anyone has faced the questions. 
Maybe line torque in various towing scenes, line torque with connected mixed lines,
etc. has been carefully studied; some of what I might find might bring on matter
that could help set a higher bar. The wrap at weak-link break and the various
release-recoil reports bother me; and I suspect line torque in mixed-line assemblies
may be part of what might be in any design toward a higher bar for HG towing. I will bring items
forward, if found; maybe with something …you or others could also move toward
a higher bar. The change of conditions of lines used (tow line, weak-link, bridle)
over time and use and storage might affect immediate line torque and performance. 

I suspect releasing and weak-link breaking experiments could be done to a 
significant extent without risking human life. I have a tall pecan tree in my rear yard
and some water bags; perhaps shock and recoil of mixed lines could be done with 
these… to complement what others may have found. 

Knowing the immediate weak link's remaining integrity and strength would be neat.
Smart weak-link system futurism, as earlier post in this thread noted, is of interest.
No-knot weak links interests me; I'd like to see the systems not have to deal with 
the knot variations and the shock history at the knot. 
Dialing a weak-link's precise G rating for the immediate tow attracts my attention.

Specifying the lines used in a set of experiments would be baseline, as each 
line will have its line-torque character. 

Thanks Jim, for bringing up the term "higher bar" to this old high jumper. Smile 
Reminds me of the tens of thousands of times I aimed to clear higher bars. And 
this just reminded me of Quicksilver HG designer
Bob Lovejoy; we high jumped 
against one another in high school and then later I and my wife flew his first Quicksilver. 

Lift, 
Joe
OP-0

PS: Jim, in anticipation of a higher bar, part of the higher bar exploration has been given a new topic thread for exploration: 
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=101581#101581 for No-knot weak links

After asking the question, participants may bring in discussion points about the questions. So far:

  • "torsional interaction problems that can occur when ropes of different types are joined together" Source.
  • torsional properties of ropes
  • swivels
  • Do we want another part like a swivel in the HG tow systems? Could the drive for simplicity have us be too simple?
  • Could we reach for near zero torque in the line, so the there is almost no line torque upon weak-leak breaking?
  • How many ways are on the thinking table to obtain no-knot weak links at specified breaking strengths?
  • How might we have a smart weak link that reports its real time remaining strength?  
  • Is there a way to record the shocks that a weak link has in its history?
  • What is a "torque-balanced fibre rope" 
  • Are braided lines with line torque upon tensing without swiveled torque escapement?
  • Upon connecting two dissimilar lines, what are the torque dynamics at the connection? What happens to the line ends at breaking when residual line torque exists?
  • http://www.phillystran.com/130.htm
  • braided polyester jacket.
  • CAUTION: Break Strength: The breaking strength of a rope is the load at which a new rope will break when tested under laboratory conditions. Break strength should not be mistaken for safe working load. Safe Working Load: Because of the wide range of rope use, rope condition and the degree of risk of life or property, it is not possible to make a blanket recommendation for safe working load. It is ultimately dependent on the rope user to determine what percentage of break strength is their own safe working load. Wear: Ropes wear out with use; the more severe the usage, the greater the wear. It is often not possible to detect wear on a rope by visible signs alone. Therefore, it is recommended that the rope user determine a retirement criteria for ropes in their application.  Source is http://www.phillystran.com/186.htm
  • Degradation of lines used: bridle, tow line, weak link     
    • Wear from ground drag
    • Inadvertent cuts
    • UV quantity
    • Storage-method effects
    • Shocks
    • Creep
    • Chemical environment of the line? Composition of the chemicals affecting the line during operations and during storage?  Has the material for weak link been well handled since its manufacture?
    • ?
  • Why would a tow occur when a full inspection of the lines was not made just prior to one's tow? Do we really know that the assembly is adequate for OUR tow up?
  • Snapback and recoil of tow line at release, at weak link breaking, and at bridle released?
  • See the note on weak-link futurisms above in this issue of Lift.

  •  
  • No-knot weak links 
    No-knot safety links
    Knotless safety links

    Open topic for all interested. 
    An intention is to put up on the table a comprehensive exploration of specified options in preparation for feasibility experiments. 

    I have not any "the answer" and will explore and work in parallel with others. What could occur here in Oz Report is a strong tool toward no-knot weak links (no-knot safety links). The hope is getting a weak link option set that improves over the knotted weak link option set. Whether we find and prove out anything better than the extant knotted choices or anything better than the no-knot sailplane weak links is something to be known with hindsight. Meanwhile have fun brainstorming, researching and posting, proposing, discussing, etc. Just maybe Jim's "higher bar" in this detail might be reached. What have we? This thread hopefully will remain open until a strong vision is reached about the matter. 

    Starting: 
    ==In Oz "weak link" :: http://tinyurl.com/InOzReportWEAKLINK
    ==Tost: http://www.wingsandwheels.com/page30.htm
    ==General: http://tinyurl.com/TowingWEAKLINKgeneral

    My personal start without having raked the above garden: Two rough-draft brainstormed phrasing needing opening effort:
    1. Two-grabs, two hidden capstans, guarded weak-link segment preventing wrap. A quality well-specified base cord could be used. This is a broad paintbrush phrasing without deep exploration yet; perhaps others will open up my flash. 

    2. Endless-fiber cord ring specially manufactured from a high-quality fiber set in urethane matrix. The fine fiber would ring many times to form macro ring; the ringing would be unifed and softened by the specified urethane molding. Macro appearance would be as a rubber band, but imprinted or tagged with date of manufacture and name and strength specification. Number of cycles of ringing would end in a specific strength; more cycles to get a strong safety link. Perhaps color coding. The run diameter (?term) of the torus could redundantly specify the strength. Store in clean UV-protected moisture-free and dust-free bag out of sun and heat. Use one per tow, then cut it up, so it cannot be used again for any purpose. [[Microscopically this proposal actuallyas two ends to the used fiber, but ringing cycles and matrix diminish the "end" effects.]] Anyone is welcome to open up this flash. Thanks.

    What have we? Take your time. Have fun 
    Smile 

Powered-anchor kiting

World Paragliding Association
WPA
  ||||   string control of limp canopy   ||||

 

We now defer only to hang gliders using airframes
and airframe control
until the PDMC is overcome for sport.

Condolence to the family and friends of Chen Rong-hong!

Visit==> THE SLAUGHTER CONTINUES
2011 global PG fatalities = 60 (incomplete)

He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of the gods
. -- Aeschylus

Aug 31, 2011, Chen Rong-hong, 53, Yilan, TAIWAN
Fell from harness at 30 m.  Suffered a severe lung injury due to broken ribs, chest injury, and heavy bleeding. Died in coma after 5 hours in hospital. Rong-hong was Chairman of Raydium Semiconductor Corp, an affiliate of flat panel maker AU Optronics with the highest share value of any Taiwanese IC provider. This accident stands as the most high-profile incident in the history of paragliding.
http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aSOC&ID=201109010025

The PDMC is not relevant in this case. It was a harness accident. Same as not hooking in in a hang glider. Or perhaps the buckle broke. A similar accident could have occurred on any footlaunch aircraft or parachute. That said, I don't understand why so many people are falling out of paragliders.

 See airframed option:  WHGA

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