Don't look down Oooooh!!!!!!!

[adrian222]

 

Adrian

 

 

[Marty_d]

Jeez that could've been nasty!

 

 

[SDQDI]

Fair dinkum how close was that to the wire?!!

 

 

[onetrack]

It was like - this close!! I hope someone got reamed properly over this almost-fatal example of poor planning, poor organisation, and poor flying!!

 

 

 

[Guest extralite]

i doubt much is reamable. Please no more notams for towing at a lat long to add to the 50 ft obstacle at 3nm notams that we all go through methodically before our octa flight :) just lucky. Low level octa anything can be there..ultralights. gliders. paraglidees. low level nav training..towing, crop dusters. lookout when down there.

 

 

[onetrack]

Yeah .. O.K. .. but .. whatever happened to "keeping a proper lookout"?

 

Perfect visibility - surely he should have seen a paraglider rising directly in front?

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

i doubt much is reamable. Please no more notams for towing at a lat long to add to the 50 ft obstacle at 3nm notams that we all go through methodically before our octa flight :) just lucky. Low level octa anything can be there..ultralights. gliders. paraglidees. low level nav training..towing, crop dusters. lookout when down there.

Yes - and also fast military jets, drones, police helicopters ...

 

Not that long ago I was flying, fully aware and perfectly legally, through a popular paragliding area, maintaining good vertical and horizontal separation from several paragliders, when one of them seemed to panic thinking I might not have seen him. He decided to manoeuver violently, to be more visible presumably, then he caused his chute to collapse which dumped him right in my path ... busy area, all turned out fine but could have been nasty. Vigilance is paramount ...

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

M

 

Yeah .. O.K. .. but .. whatever happened to "keeping a proper lookout"? Perfect visibility - surely he should have seen a paraglider rising directly in front?

Most GA pilots wouldn't understand what they're seeing, if they saw it at all. And if they saw it they'd likely be discussing how that parachute must be caught up in one helluva updraft ...

 

 

[ClintonB]

I doubt that tow line would have broken if he caught it. It would have been a hell of a shock. The still picture shows there would have of been less than half a metre clearance.

 

 

[red750]

Woulda got a shock seeing that cable flash past his wingtip.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Probably never saw it.

 

 

[kaz3g]

Looking at the position of the cable and the HG pilots legs...could have been VERY nasty!

 

Kaz

 

 

[kaz3g]

When I was gliding we used a high tensile wire of about 12 gauge which I suggest would easily remove the wing of a passing aircraft given the chance.

 

Quite a bit of strain can be imposed on the wire during a launch. Two Blaniks easily picked up the back of a Holden Statesman on a dual autotow stunt (I was flying one of them).

 

Kaz

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Before we all imagine the parapilot being wound down into the prop of the plane we should keep in mind that all tow cables have a weak link close to the towed aircraft - just a piece of thin thread of known breaking strain, probably about 150kg for a paraglider - that breaks in just such an event as this might have been.

 

The real, and very terrible danger was to the plane which could have sliced a wing off or wound the cable around the prop hub all the way to the ground!

 

Even worse than Waterworld for anyone that might have seen that hilarious moment.

 

 

[alf jessup]

That was about as close as Fffff fire truck is to swearing

 

Lucky people

 

 

[Alder111]

efore we all imagine the parapilot being wound down into the prop of the plane we should keep in mind that all tow cables have a weak link close to the towed aircraft - just a piece of thin thread of known breaking strain, probably about 150kg for a paraglider - that breaks in just such an event as this might have been.

The description on the Youtube video notes that: "... - We do not use the weak link. ..."

Hopefully the pilot would have been able to actuate the release and have the release work if there had been contact.

 

The description also states "The pilot of the aircraft never perceived the event."

 

 

[Marty_d]

I've done some towing with hangliders (behind an old XA Falcon). The release is pretty good and designed so there's not a lot of load on the release pin, even if there's quite a bit of load on the harness.

 

Hopefully in a situation like that if the wind did hit the cable, the paraglider pilot would have been able to react by jerking the release. Luckily he didn't have to.

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

Doesn't it depend on what the rules are for that airspace? Maybe they should get a radio and use it. Otherwise, comfort yourself that you died and it was not your fault.

 

 

[Oscar]

Flying gliders at Forbes, many years ago.

 

Winch launches.

 

We shared the strip with Darby Munro, the local croppie, who never few more than about 5 metres above the ground - and always headed into his hangar and replenishing site from whatever direction was shortest - circuits? - HA! If you were in the air and saw Darby heading for the field, you could tell where the fences where because the shadow of the Pawnee got momentarily longer as he gave them room.

 

So - every 'all clear above and behind' check before commencing launch, we did a ground-level scrutiny for Darby incoming.

 

One day, we'd done all the checks, the PIC of the Blanik on the wire had given the 'all out' signal, and started rolling. He'd gone abut 10 metres when Noel Winterburn, the CFI, screamed 'BUNG OFF' at the top of his voice - which he did.

 

About 15 seconds later, an F111 blasted down the centreline of the strip at about 10 metres AGL and probably 500+ kts. The noise and airblast was soiled-underpants time for us on the ground.

 

Had the launch continued, the Blanik would have been at maybe 300 feet with the wire centred on the strip. The Tost release on a Blanik MIGHT have shed the wire; might not. Just the wake turbulence of the F111 would have made the Blanik's survival questionable.

 

When we all got our excrement together again, someone asked Noel: 'did you see that (sexually active) F111 incoming?' He said: 'no, but there was a heat haze where there shouldn't have been one'. I believe he saved the lives of the two people in the Blanik at least, by an instinctive reaction. What might have happened to the F111 and the winch crew, I don't want to think.

 

Noel had a subsequent conversation - a very terse conversation - on the phone to the Commandant of the F111 squadron at (I think) Dalby? shortly thereafter.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Yeah .. O.K. .. but .. whatever happened to "keeping a proper lookout"? Perfect visibility - surely he should have seen a paraglider rising directly in front?

It looks like the aircraft is quite a way below him, so the pilot may only have had the cable in the screen aperture

As for the paraglider rising; it looks like he was tethered, so may have been up there viewing the scenery for hours.

 

Here's the Youtube video:

 

If he was tethered then there would have been no radio.

 

Re the talk of a chute release: I went up in one at Hamilton Island behind a boat, and there was no briefing on a chute release, and I think the cable was just attached to the harness by a big carabinier. I would think that would be safer than having a release and nervous tourists deciding to ditch into the sea because they were too high (in their opinion).

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

It looks like the aircraft is quite a way below him, so the pilot may only have had the cable in the screen apertureAs for the paraglider rising; it looks like he was tethered, so may have been up there viewing the scenery for hours.

Here's the Youtube video:

 

I don't think there's any indication he was tethered. See the OP's embedded video, it shows the prep for takeoff, the towed ascent behind a quad bike, the plane almost hitting the cable at the apogee, then he takes a few deep breaths, pings off, takes the control line toggles and flies back to the landing ground. Even so, he may well have been above the plane pilot's view unless he was conducting a proper scan above and below as well as to the front and sides.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I don't think there's any indication he was tethered. See the OP's embedded video, it shows the prep for takeoff, the towed ascent behind a quad bike, the plane almost hitting the cable at the apogee, then he takes a few deep breaths, pings off, takes the control line toggles and flies back to the landing ground. Even so, he may well have been above the plane pilot's view unless he was conducting a proper scan above and below as well as to the front and sides.

Yes, sorry; my copy of the Youtube video had been shortened.

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

It looks like the aircraft is quite a way below him, so the pilot may only have had the cable in the screen apertureAs for the paraglider rising; it looks like he was tethered, so may have been up there viewing the scenery for hours.

Here's the Youtube video:

 

Can't you carry a hand-held radio to let people know what you are doing?

 

 

[turboplanner]

Can't you carry a hand-held radio to let people know what you are doing?

You could, or you could broadcast from the ground, but I don't think people who will haul up a paraglider with a quad bike would really be compliant

The other aspect of this is whether the line was more than 500 ft long, or what height the aircraft was cruising at.

 

 

[APenNameAndThatA]

You could, or you could broadcast from the ground, but I don't think people who will haul up a paraglider with a quad bike would really be compliantThe other aspect of this is whether the line was more than 500 ft long, or what height the aircraft was cruising at.

Both excellent points. If fear is what drives compliance, you could pretty much guarantee "noncompliance".