So,
You Want to Design, Build, Test, Inspect, Fly, Maintain, and Repair Your
Own Hang Glider!
So, You Want to be a Hang Glider
Manufacturer!
So, You Want to be a Lift
Explorer!
So, You Want to Advance in
Flatland Long Gliding!
So, You Want to Flike!
So, You Want to be a Safe Hang
Glider Pilot!
So, You Want to Operate a Hang
Glider Park!
So, You Want to be a Hang Glider
Historian!
So, You Want to Buy Hang Glider
Lessons!
So, You Want to be a Hang Glider
Instructor!
So, You Want to be a Member of the
World Hang Gliding Association!
So, You Want to be a Member of
Your National Hang Gliding Association!
So, You Want to be a Member of a
Hang Glider Club Close to Your Home!
So, You Want to Kite-Glide Across
Lakes, Seas, or Oceans!
So, You Want to Launch From Flats
with Green-Electric Assist!
So, You Want a Hang Glider
Question Answered!
So, You Want a Hang Gliding
Question Answered!
So, You Want to see clearly
How the Hang Glider as a Kite!
So, You Want to know who in 1908 had a cable-stayed triangle control
frame on a HG while he hung from the HG keel! We often still use
the same system on today's HGs!
So, You Want to be a specialist
manufacturer of hang glider airframes!
So, You Want to be a specialist
manufacturer of hang glider sails!
So, You Want to be a specialist
manufacturer of hang glider harnesses!
So, You Want to sell your personal
hang glider!
So, You Want to buy a used hang
glider!
So, You Want to inspect the
integrity of the flying cables of your hang glider!
So, You Want to store your hang
glider to keep its integrity!
So, You Want to be consistent in
excellent launches and landings!
So, You Want to give some needed financial lift to Lift by
making a donation from time to time!
So, You Want to give some text and image lift to Lift by
e-mailing to the editors! ( Good on you!)
So, You Want to radio-control your hang glider after you exit for
a self-soar skydive?
So, what do you want? Be part of the
answering and fulfillment.
Your lift for others viaLift is welcome.
Film: Mt. McKinley Hang Gliding Expedition
April 27, 2011
7:30pm-9:30pm Maverick Center Auditorium, Room 155
12th & Bennett
Grand Junction, CO map Admission: free
In May 1976, 12 climbers
spent 36 days carrying four hang gliders to a glider's descent. Three
pilots were successful in setting records in high places.
Jim Hale, expedition leader, recaptures the
event. Come see what it was like to climb a huge mountain over 30 years
ago.
Sponsored by MSC Outdoor Education Program
Rupert gives an update to us: April, 2011:
Hi Joe,
I am experimenting with electric and air motors for in-flight
recharging.
My favourite is air because it is much safer.
I won 2011 Ideal Inventor of the Year last week.
Thanks for your support!!!
Rupert
Ideal Inventor of the Year!
Congratulations, Rupert!
Sources of energy (including the awakeness, alertness,
and health benefit of the exercise) for a hang glider flight for use in
very limited needs or extensive needs, depending on the size of system,
extent of charging opportunity, and purpose (from very modest purpose to
long flike purposes):
Pilot muscle power (oscillating one-way clutch to generator or
pedaling to generator)
Hang-line (HG short kite tether rotates about its base; format small
lever that drives one-way clutch for driving generator for constant
trickle charging of batteries or ultracapacitors)
Sail upper surface made of solar-energy-conversion flats for
charging batteries or ultracapacitors
Potential energy from current position in the sky
Kinetic energy of the gust environment (Osoba-Kiceniuk)
Regenerative braking during conversion of excess potential energy of
position
Charging of batteries or ultracapacitors prior to flight by use of
pilot muscle power
Charging of batteries or ultracapacitors prior to flight by use of
propeller set in the wind
Thermal lift, of course
__?
flipper
Sold!Powered Harness
for Sale
Explorer
Very clean
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RedHead cylinder head
Tuned exhaust (Radne)
Manual start
Tunable carb with choke
Includes:
Quantum 440 parachute
Carbon fiber prop
Two folding prop hubs
3 external fuel tanks
Tachometer (TinyTac)
Mouth/speed-bar & foot throttles
Several new carb rebuild kits and other parts
Located in Wisconsin, USA.
Can help you arrange for shipping at buyer's expense or delivery within
the Midwest.
$3,000 cash or PayPal
xxxxxxxxxxxSOLD!!!!! to someone in Illinois
Files of HGAusa have now moved
fully inside EnergyKiteSystems
on April 2, 2011. HERE.
In the PhotoFly image: Frank is standing holding significant
model of what is in front of him; in front of him is Richard Miller in
squat holding an advanced model .. situated inside the uncovered left
wing of Frank's Skysail. Far front is left Irv Culver, top drawer
aerodynamicist, and right front Volmer Jensen.
Colver variometer
... made by Frank Colver and used some in early modern hang gliding
renaissance. Frank Colver still has one; he showed the instrument at
Torrey Pines Gliderport on April 2, 2011, when he also showed his 20'
Eipper FlexiFloater. "I brought the only Colver
Variometer that I still own, to set on the table for historical display.
The only HG I still have is my 20' Eipper FlexiFloater and I set it up
for display. It got a lot of attention because it was the largest
"standard" Rogallo in the Eipper product lineup and not very many were
built. Even though I had flown that glider a lot, it is still in very
good condition and several people took little hops down the grassy hill
there. One guy, who was there, said he probably built my glider when he
was at Eipper." "it was the first aircraft
instrument ever to be designed and produced exclusively for hang
gliders. In watching the DVD I would spot one of them every once in
awhile on a glider in the scene. Over the years about 5,000 of them were
sold."
Call for action by
attendees or spectators of the great meet:
In the short term big push effort
to move the city of Newport Beach, California to recognize the city's
involvement
in the historic event of May23, 1971, on the upcoming 40th
Anniversary of the
First Universal HG Championships, it is suggested that those actual
participants
and spectators present on the day write a first person narrative in the
most illuminating
and detailed fashion.
Your personal documentation of that day
will assist our effort to establish
an historic landmark to be presented by the hang gliding community at
large
to Newport Beach City Council during an upcoming meeting.
Your first person narrative story will be part of this
effort.
When you finish -PLEASE - e-mail me a copy of your story or
contribute directly to -Newport Beach Historical Society - "stories"
submission page
online
http://newportbeachhistorical.com/submit-your-story
We will send you a follow-up e-mail soon to let you know more about this
Project. We are very please to share a major
breakthrough in the Project:
A recently added new member to our California HG Landmark project: Frank Colver - a very real Pioneer of Hang Gliding *Spectator at
the Otto Lilienthal 1st Annual Universal Hang
gliding Championships and one of the primary founding members of the
USHPA
(#7original SCHGA member). Frank lives in Newport Beach and is
interested in lending
a hand to our project.
Our most esteemed best wishes and sincere
thanks are humbly acknowledged to
Frank Colver for 40 years of interest and work in hang gliding; his help
may soon bring
our dream of a monument marker to a reality!
Thank You, Frank.
Standing By-
Neil Larson USHPA #24 -
project contact person
Neil@WorldHangGlidingAssociation.org
Now 40 years ago May 23rd -- I was soon graduating from a local Southern California
High School. It was a warm Spring Sunday morning. Perhaps because I was the
middle child or perhaps because I was a High School Senior, at any rate my
parents both agreed to escort me for a family drive to Newport Beach. It was
a pretty big deal because I was without my own means of auto transport,
actually my Mom had persuaded Dad to do this favor for his son, at any rate
we drove down the San Diego Freeway into Orange County. I did feel awkward
because the reason for the trip to Newport Beach was practically impossible
to explain to my Father. I had begged them to make an afternoon family
outing so I could attend the special event that day, all I knew was what had
been told to me by my Hawthorne High School friend, Tom Valentine.
Tom was an avid sailplane pilot who subscribed to the
Soaring Society of America (SSA) magazine Soaring
which displayed a small ad in the back for a upcoming hang gliding meet.
Up to that point in human history there had never taken place such an event
as was too occur on a Pacific-facing hillside in Newport Beach. But to find
the exact manner of verbally communicating to my parents, what a hang glider
was. The only reference my father could possibly have had was if he had seen
one of a half dozen odd issues of Popular Mechanix or Science &
Mechanics or Popular Science over the past 10 years with articles
about homemade one-man flying machines or light weight homebuilt gliders.
What was about to occur-what I finally convinced
my Mother of-was the sincere truth that, indeed,
if they went to this "thing" they would not be sorry; and I guaranteed them
it would be worth the time, gas, and effort to make this trip.
Along with the SSA magazine Tom had shown me the night
before in his garage was a hand printed "flyer" announcing this event-so
it had to be true. Of course my father-being
of the right wing affiliation-was more-or-less
resigned to think this was some wild crazy hippie experience that would be
an utter waste of time.
On the drive down to Newport Beach. I sat in the
back of the Ford leaning up over the front seat feeling like the tail
wagging the dog, because if this turned out to be a farce and wasted Sunday
afternoon ...believe me: I would not hear the end of it.
After several vain attempts to locate the site of what
should be many people on a hill somewhere near Fashion Island Mall , we
managed to find our way along a rough spot on the road-a
gravel unpaved level section of what is MacArthur Blvd. Eureka ...Yes!
The event was a reality; we could see a hillside of tall dry grass dotted
with persons and an assortment of "winged" contraptions. As my father parked
along with a growing mass of onlookers, I couldn't wait to get out of the
car. My overwhelming desire to get a closer look at these airships and
find my buddy Tom was quashed all at once when Mom said, ..."Neil, you
don't go up there you'll only be in the way; I don't want you getting hurt."
Dad nodded in agreement, so I was relegated to
standing in the dust watching the Flying Circus at a distance of perhaps 200
yards.
That was
the day, the day which now is recognized by the international
aviation community as the beginning of the sport of modern hang gliding.
The hand-printed mimeographed handbill/pamphlet which gave a complete
after-action report of the event in great detail by editor Joe Faust, one of
three men responsible for the vision and foresight to dream up this event
... "Never can there be another First Modern Universal Hang Glider
Championship ---opening to the world a refreshing renewal of that relentless
desire of man, woman, and child to fly freely into the ether that is our
home--all the purity of intention commensurate with the historic
significance of the big event...
So it happened that I was one of about 1,000
persons to witness this mostly unrecognized event in the history of
aviation, of human flight, and of modern technology; it was to be known as-
The Great Universal Hang-Glider Championships -Celebrating the 123rd
Birthday of Otto Lilienthal -Sunday May 23rd 1971.
Keeping with the counter-culture spirit of the times when
Sit-Ins & Be-Ins and spontaneous Hippie gatherings were common
place, this location had been selected at a last minute in an attempt to
avoid being entangled in a bureaucracy of formal red-tape permission and
legality. The actual handbill flyer gave Capistrano Beach as the original
site of an upcoming man-kite meet, with the preface and stipulation
that last minute changes may force this event to be moved to a more suitable
location.
Looking back and knowing my father as I do, it is a
miracle that he agreed to sponsor this outing at all. What remains is the
fact of the matter with the evidence of that event. The Los Angeles Times
for Monday, May24, 1971 carried photo of pilot from San Luis Obispo: John
Hancock flying during the event on the cover of the morning
issue.
Later the Vol. 141, No. 2, February 1972, NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC Magazine printed a seven-page (pp. 286-292) article with
photos and a detailed story Happy Birthday Otto Lilienthal!
This coverage sent the joyful celebration around the world.
Far-and-away the best report is carried in an archive edition of
Low & Slow magazine, the publication of the Self-Soar Association
(S-SA) - edited by Joe Faust. This is a part of a PDF document set of six
DVD's sold by the USHPA/USHGA as a complete magazine Collection 1971-2004.
We have a comprehensive list of those who received the
tangible written certificates of award handed out and signed by Jack Lambie,
Lloyd Licher, and Joe Faust, the three organizers. About half of the
flying man-carrying aero-craft launched or present on that
hill were derivations of Jack's "HANG LOOSE" design bi-plane hang
glider, which he was selling plans through the US mail at the time for $3.00
a set. Jack, a part-time middle school science teacher, had used the biplane
as a summer school student participation project the year before.
Several of the entries in the event were either students
Jack instructed or from those with plans purchased and mailed out. I visited
Jack Lambie, over 12 years later, in 1983; he had a large box up in his
garage with stacks of ready-to-mail plan sets for the Hang Loose. He
told me even after three address moves, people still contacted him to buy
Hang Loose plans.
Now we have come 40 years; the world has passed by what
occurred on that Buffalo Hills Estates slope overlooking MacArthur Blvd. In
2008, I took a drive up to walk around through the wonderful peaceful
residential park atop that hill. Knowing I was probably the only person who
attended the "Otto Meet" of 1971 to go back to that location since the
Fly-In.
I send this story because it is my great hope that the
memory of such an important historic event will now be brought to the
attention of those living in Newport Beach City. It is my desire to
establish a respectfully designated tribute marker that will recognize the
historic place and perhaps a simple stone marker of granite will be placed
nearby that hillside to give honor and dignity to such a worthwhile
celebration of flight and human endeavor.
*** I have much more interesting details and background
information concerning the Otto Hill Fly-In of 1971 :: The Great Universal
Hang-Glider Championship Celebrating the 123rd Birthday of Otto
Lilienthal on Sunday, May 23, 1971.
~~Signed:
Neil Larson, USHPA Charter Member
#24, and first SCHGA Historian, United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding
Association #24.
E-mail:
Neil@WorldHangGlidingAssociation.org
Happy Birthday, Otto Lilienthal!
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine , Vol. 141, No. 2.
Publication: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine feature
article
Title:
Happy Birthday, Otto Lilienthal!
Date of publication: Feb. 1972
Pages: 286-292 (seven pages with photographs)
Contributor(s): Hawkes, Russell (Author)
Collison, James (Photographer)
Subject(s): Lilienthal, Otto, Aircraft, Aviation, Experimental
aircraft, Hang gliders, Recreational aircraft, Sailplanes,
California; Newport Beach, California
Green charge your e-FLPHG
Muscle power of pilot drives generator near launch. Charge up
batteries of your E-FLPHG with pilot power.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/26089
Pioneers were helped by their windmills. Modify something at
launch that will charge the batteries of your e-FLPHG.
Link given by roving editor Neil Larson. Thanks Neil, neat museum
in Lubbock, Texas. More and more Texans may one day
charge the batteries of their e-FLPHG. And upon landing out, a windmill
might be close to get a re-charge!
I'm already listed below but I thought I would "check in". I attended with
my son Matt and his friend Ernest with their bamboo and plastic HG. As
shown below they won the Youngest Flying Team award. I was "crew". I had
not built a glider but I went on to design and build the Colver Skysail.
This design was inspired by Richard Miller's Conduit Condor at the meet.
Richard and I became good friends and my first successful flight in my
Skysail was from a hill near where he lived, in Vista CA. He was present
for my wonderful day since I had taught myself to fly on this higher
performance glider with which I bashed the ground many times before I got
it right. It would have been much easier to learn to fly on a standard
Rogallo!
After I decided that my Colver Skysail was no longer airworthy (due to all
that ground bashing;
the Colver Skysail burned up in the fire that destroyed the original San
Diego Aerospace Museum.). I went on to fly an Eipper FlexiFloater, a big 20'
"standard" Rogallo (largest in Eipper's product line). I displayed this HG
at the recent 40th anniversary meet at Torrey pines CA. My next HG was a
Wills Swallow Tail and lastly I owned the original Wills SST prototype
that Bob Wills had flown (stress tested) in Hawaii. I flew that HG a lot,
soaring mountains and sand dunes alike until I switched from hang gliding
to a foot launched, single place, hot air balloon of my own design and
build (Piccard envelope).
In addition to building and flying HGs, I designed and manufactured the
Colver Soaring Instruments variometer. The original prototype for that
instrument was used by son Matt and also Taras K in the first Annie
Greensprings contest at Sylmar CA. Taras commented, after his amazing high
altitude thermal flight that day, that he had to start using my vario to
find sink so he could get back down to land. I estimate that about 5000 of
the varios were sold before it went out of production. I also displayed
the only one I now still own at the Torrey pines 40th anniversary meet. I
estimate that about 5000 of them were sold over the product lifetime. I
often see them on control bars in old photos and movies (spotted one in
the photo gallery in this month's, April 2011, HG&P magazine). As far as I
know it was the first aircraft instrument to be designed and manufactured
exclusively for hang gliders. It was so sensitive it would indicate the
change in air pressure when the toilet was flushed next to my testing room
or someone walking across the wood floor. I continued to use mine during
the years I was flying my balloon.
~Frank Colver
April 6, 2011
Spring Air Festival
SHGA celebrates the end of winter and the return of silent soaring above
the local mountains.
This year the Festival is scheduled for
Saturday May 14.
Activities will include:
• Flying and spot landing contests
• Activities for kids
• The famous Guacathon guacamole contest, with precise rules, regulations,
caveats, and disclaimers similar to last year
• and of course a barbecue!
Roving lifting contributing editor Neil Larson selected a video ...
while thinking about next month's Otto Lilienthal birthday:
For several months there has been an effort underway
to place a marker on the site of the 1971 Otto Lilienthal
Hang Gliding Celebration (featured in Bill Liscomb's
"Big
Blue Sky").
May 23rd will be the 40th anniversary of that
historic hang gliding event.
I'm writing to let you know that the team working on the
project is conducting a poll for the wording of a plaque
that might be installed at that site. If you would like to
vote on the wording or contribute your thoughts on the
project, please visit the "Otto Site Marker" forum at:
One of the first snags in the 1970s were the
hooks on boots snagging rear flying cables. Ouch!
Early garage-built HGs used aircraft cable
purchased through local surplus outlets. These spool-end discard
windings would come in variety of thickness and lengths usually twist
tied or wrapped with tape. The upscale
Nicopress® Tool and Manual Swage
Vise were not readily available to many "Garage Builders" in the early
70's. Builders would "swage" or crimp their own cables to blueprint
lengths. Often home builders lacked the tools to do a perfect job. In
the case of cables, a variety of cutting methods were attempted,
including hammer & chisel smash cuts and using side cutters or pliers.
Often the cable would be left with jagged edges & frayed ends. These
wire clusters left frayed on the swaged loop ends of the cable were
notorious for snagging everything. In the haste to be on the
slope on Saturday morning with a HG, many of the early HGs neglected to
have 100% safety checks. The single focus on getting a scratch built HG
assembled could bypass secondary issues such as smooth cable ends.
As HGs began to conform to HGMA standards, these Garage
Build Hang Gliders with assorted snag issues. Snags occurred at the tail
end of the cable loop where the cable ends terminated past the
cable-compression sleeves. Grabbing a homebuilt HG to assist a local
pilot in walking his "kite" back up a slope would invariably result in
grabbing a wing spar tube or cross tube or tail boom near a cable,
always leaving the "helper" to suffer minor cuts and gouges on fingers
and palms. A small price to pay for the reward of being allowed to fly
visitors' HG during a busy day on a training hill. Snagging would occur
when these cable ends would catch on HG bags and protective car-top HG
covers.
*Contributed by SCHGA #24 Neil Larson
Textile ways and means in hang gliding:
What was? What is? What may be coming?
Smart textiles? Energy-storing textiles? Solar-energy-conversion
textiles? Gust-responding textile complexes? UV
resistance progress? For XOHG textiles?
Self-integrity-status-reporting textiles? Thermal-sniffing-reporting
textiles?? Digitally programmable illuminable textile?
Clothing, harness, sails, flike adds, double-use pack bags (e.g. morph to
harness, morph to float, ...)
Discussion is
on going. Critique on above includes a need to respect that
Otto Lilienthal pointedly in published text and in practice began the
sport of hang gliding. We began a robust renaissance in sport
hang gliding. The
glyph would grab too much if it said simply that on the hill began the
sport of hang gliding (a non-fact). We do not want to ever apologize for
secondary meanings, like began ... in the lives living at that time, etc.
Final
offer from Neil Larson:
"We commemorate this hill where sport hang gliding began on May 23,
1971 at the Great Universal Hang Glider Championships celebrating Otto
Lilienthal's 123rd birthday."
Discussion on this and other offers is still open from anyone in the
world. Otto Meet 1971 Project at US
Hawks
Would people still read
that as an affront to sport hang gliding having been started by Otto
Lilienthal and then others in various nations in early 1900s also?
What we did was emphatically start a persistent renaissance in world
sport hang gliding: no small matter! How might such be
expressed?
Discussion points by Neil
Larson:
: Reply to mention of
the use of the words MODERN & SPORT----
An excerpt from the US Hawks - dialogue on the
Landmark Project-
The use of the word 'MODERN" in describing this issue is
very interesting since by including "SPORT" in the term the
essence of the description is made . There was never an
ancient Sport of Hang Gliding , however De Vinci & Icarus
left their (myth) mark on culture & science & history. The
simple association of the "OTTO MEET " with previous
patented testing of hang glider / man flight devices down
through time can be made -Yes.
But the significant differences that separate & set apart
the "OTTO MEET" from other earlier events is clear.
1)- publicized / published invitation
2)- multiple flying machines
3)- documented certificates of award for performance etc
4)- a wholesome competitive spirit between qualifiers
5)- a common knowledge by the confirmation of general
agreement (after 40 years of elapsed time) that the May 23rd
1971 Newport Beach Hang Glider Championships set a benchmark
in the overall historic timeline of aviation progress.
This Landmark Project is not meant to scuttle or highjack or
re-write true history.
This project is undertaken with the evidence of nearly half
a century of confirmation.
We seek to give proper homage & dignity to the
aforementioned event regarding the time the place & the
people who actually took part either by participation or by
witness to the "SPORT HANG GLIDING" experienced that day.
When Colonel Yeager flew the X15 at Mach 1 in the California
desert, his achievement was not listed in any "SPORT"
almanacs, but the Schneider Cup Races of 1913 through 1931
were listed as SPORT Aviation competition. There has always
been a distinction between testing for research & the
gathering of mankind to celebrate a "SPORT"- The " OTTO MEET
" can then be allowed to be recognized by history as the
beginning of SPORT HANG GLIDING without the prefix of adding
the word MODERN.
JoeF: "But clearly Otto
himself gave text about sport hang gliding and he also practiced sport
hang
gliding. Later in US and Germany (first few decades of 1900s),
at least, there were definitive sport hang gliding meets with
announcements and prizes for foot-launch event while other divisions
in gliding were occurring. Wasserkuppe. Harvard. And more.
The 1971 was starkly definitive for a renaissance after a fat lull;
and the new energy became even more international than other prior
international hang gliding meets. The Otto Meet of 1971 sparked
an explosion of investment around the world that has persisted. We in
1971 sparked a persistent renaissance for sport hang gliding; we were
not the first to do international-announced-and-prized sport hang
gliding. How might we express this?"
We commemorate the
First Annual Great Universal Hang Glider Championships Celebrating
Otto Lilienthal's 123rd birthday of May 23, 1971. Men flew from this
hill. Discussion on this and other offers is still
open from anyone in the world. Otto Meet 1971 Project at US
Hawks
Offer:
Off this hill
on
23 May 1971
people foot launched to fly
at the
First Annual Great
Universal Hang Glider Championships
celebrating
Otto Lilienthal's 123rd birthday,
sparking a
persistent renaissance
in world sport hang gliding.
Bendetson Meter:
11,719 and counting.
~~ Bob April 13, 2011
I've posted some of the
photos from last weekend's
Vintage Glider/Pilot fly-in which was organized by
Chris Bolfing. Thanks Chris!!!
Just a quick reminder to let you know that the Texas Single-Surface
Shoot-Out in Luling, TX is set again for the last week of May.
May 21-22 Practice days
May 23-28 Racing days
A couple of highlights:
1. This event has been reclassified from a regional event to a National
Event. As such we will be naming the US Single-Surface National Champion.
2. Jonny Durand Jr. has signed up for the meet and will be flying a Malibu
188. It'll be interesting to see how it's been prepped for the meet. This
will be a great chance for all pilot's to have a chance to fly and learn
from The Top Dog!
3. Steve Kroop from Flytec is sending a really awesome goodie box of great
stuff to be awarded to pilots, to include the "Most Improved H-3" award.
4. New stealth developments from Northwing and Wills Wing.
In Otto Lilienthal's normal or standard hang glider,
a bow frame or "Prellbügel" was used to reduce the impact in case
of a crash.
Current anti-whack snouts, etc. have a root in Otto, perhaps!
Later the "normal glider" was refined to a biplane hang glider.
Otto Marker Project Action Log
If you were there, your story is invited. There may also be a way for
anyone in any nation to advance the project that is underway.
Dear Lift -
I have been following the information thread about WHACK:
a problem of impact and sudden halt to aircraft on landing
which disposes the hang glider pilot into an abrupt forward
moment -(continuation of "flight" speed and direction by pilot)
after the HG has stopped traveling.
Otherwise known as a crash, the term
WHACK was coined
because the pilot would receive notable injuries to the head, skull, or
face
as a result of impacting either the ground or a portion of the
aircraft. Also WHACK includes bruises sustained to the hands
arms and torso; after these sudden impacts with the ground pin
the digits between the control bar lower horizontal section
and the solid earth.
A study of all these WHACK precautions demonstrate many
ingenious solutions to prevent or "soften" a WHACK-ATTACK.
The ongoing discussions and reveals of assorted anti-WHACK
devices will help minimize this regrettable possibility.
One category of WHACK that has not been focused on is
the
"NEGATIVE WHACK." I can't
think of another more fitting term for this event.
Specifically when the pilot comes to a stop before the
aircraft and thus the vehicle continues forward and strikes
the pilot from "behind." I make no joke: this first came to
my attention in about 1973 while Volmer Jensen was flying
one of his masterpiece designs--I believe a Swing Wing. Upon
a rather hard landing Volmer lost his footing and had to do
a belly-landing crash. The lower fuselage/cockpit of this
type Swing Wing retained a horizontal cross brace between
the "Arm Supports" or Hang Bars.
Volmer sustained a severe injury to his spine because
the
impact of this rigid cross brace did not allow for pilot
positioning; so he was pretty much wedged down on the
ground and pressed flat. The impact was sort of a WHACK
WHIPLASH effect. A redesigned version of that hang glider
eliminated the rear crossbar and gave provision for the
pilot to be free from contact with structure in the event of
a Belly Landing. Taras Kiceniuk employed this same
alteration in his Icarus cockpit designs after Volmer's
"NEGATIVE WHACK," clearing an opening in the frame to
allow the pilot to be free from spinal impact. Sent in by Neil Larson , LIFT Contributor
April 19, 2011
Inertia
[Neil, a similar challenge existed in:
My flight in the Miller-Carmichael aluminum-poly San
Clemente bird.
A cavity or full opening is needed in foot-landed hang
gliders, so the spine is not broken in a negative-whack. In the
most simple 1908 Breslau cable-stayed triangle control frame with pilot
hung from keep --the method used now in most hang gliders, there is full
open space between aft flying wires.]
Cases of planned deliberate downslope landing? Scenarios
are invited.
Asphalt street near home is slope just enough for
ground-effect gliding, but there is not any non-slope area. So, the
landings will be downslope. Spoon snout and braking broad sled skid
beneath TCF basebar are planned. The frontal spoon canard would
anti-whack stabilize pitch during the slowing. The broad sled skid would
use up material in the braking process.
Rich's Launch(Madison site in 2010)
(Rich Sacher lost his cancer battle and passed away April
20, 2011.
Condolences to his friends and family.)
"Thanks to Rich Sacher for
building a wonderful reel design
used by many of the Reel Pilots."
Source.
"Site records: 1988 was an
awesome year at Bong. Rich Sacher skied out at 9200'agl"
Source.
