Have always wanted a Skyline harness, and when Alisdair offered me
his, with a metamorphosi chute, I jumped at it. While Alsidair was checking the
harness, which has less than 20 hours use, he noticed that both shoulder strap
webbings had worn through at the buckles.
Al Daniels, Rick Duncan and Matt Olive all checked their Skyline harnesses and
Al's and Rick's were worn, Al's almost right through. Matt's was fine, the
buckle had a plastic protector and the webbing was intact.
If you own a Skyline harness it might be in your interest to have a look at the
shoulder harness webbing. It is under the neoprene gap cover so you won't see it
ordinarily. I still intend to buy the Skyline harness.
I checked my Skyline harness and found no wear what-so-ever.
We are really sorry, to hear that there are still harnesses with
worn out shoulder straps out there. After we found out there was a problem we
immediately released a safety warning to all pilots with a Skyline ZDR. It seems
that not everybody received the information, specially people buying harnesses
second hand. Affected are just harnesses built in 2002.
We solved the problem by shortening the back plate and moving the buckle forward
and covered the back plates sharp edges with a special webbing. After those
changes the problem has not occurred any more. However, we would like to ask
pilots with the same problem or difficulties any other kind of, to contact us
immediately so we can arrange repair or substitution.
In the interest of full disclosure I need to say that I traded
advertising space in the Oz Report for my Skyline ZDR harness (http://www.skyline-flightgear.de/english/hangglider/produkte_uebersicht.htm). I also have a fully setup (previously owned by Dustin Martin and Kurt Warren)
Moyes Matrix harness (http://www.moyes.com.au/productdetail.asp?ID=47&Cat=Harnesses)
, which I also traded for ad space with Kenny Brown (see earlier articles on
that harness in the Oz Report). I currently fly with the Skyline harness because
lately I have had trouble zipping up my Matrix and have trouble getting it to
rotate as easily as I would like (Jonny Durand worked on it for me at one point,
but it is still not quite right). I hope to take my harness to Moyes in January
to get these issues addressed with me in the harness.
I put the Styrofoam boot that Dustin Martin made for his (my) Moyes Matrix
harness in the Skyline harness as the one that comes with it is too soft (in my
humble opinion). I'm not sure this is the right way to go as my feet get sore
after a while pushing on this Styrofoam boot (this is not the case when I use it
in my Matrix harness). I try to remember to relax my legs, which definitely
helps.
I have covered the boot ends of both harnesses with Shoe Goo. The boot end of
the Skyline ZDR is soft leather, which I don't understand. The boot end of the
Matrix has a sacrificial cover Velcroed on. I used that for a while that just
spread Shoe Goo over the boot itself. I'm thinking even more Shoe Goo.
Both harnesses have integral zippers, no Velcroed in zippers. This is to allow
the harnesses to be quite tight (which I like). But if the zipper blows, you
have to find someone to fix it. Which is one reason that I have two harnesses.
Both have carbon fiber back plates. The end piece of the Matrix back plate is
hinged, and the ZDR end piece slides over the forward piece. These designs allow
you to get upright on landing. Both work well.
I've noticed recently that a little food grade silicon spray help the slider on
the ZDR.
The ZDR uses a kick butt plate to change the angle of the dangle. It works fine
for me. The Matrix uses a cleat that is released when you arch your shoulders. This is the mechanism that I will get checked at Moyes.
Both harnesses are quite comfortable (after making proper adjustments for the
shoulder straps) and I have had a 10 hour flight in the Moyes Matrix and 7.5
hour flight in the Skyline ZDR.
In order to develop effective strategies for the prevention of
spinning it is initially necessary to recognise when, how and why spinning
occurs. The following points have been put together with the aim of sharpening
the awareness of rigid wing pilots - firstly to help them analyse their
instinctive and conditioned responses learnt from flying flexible hang gliders,
and secondly to help them change or adapt their reactions and responses
accordingly. Additionally, specific constructional details are highlighted which
can result in an increased susceptibility to spinning in rigid wing hang
gliders.
On Sunday, Bart, Walt, and I went up to the south southeast facing
Phillips launch right above Wilson, Wyoming, in Jackson Hole, five miles west of
downtown Jackson. It's on the leeward side of the Tetons and you go there when
you want to foot launch, it's unstable, and the winds from the west haven't come
down to be over the back.
The valley was fog filled until noon. A good sign of light winds. When the fog
cleared there were a few cu's that promised lift. We headed up before noon,
going up the road that is a 10% grade over the Teton pass. We took the dirt road
turn off 3/4 of the way up and followed it the the launch which was reasonably
well maintained. The paragliders had their separate launch right next to the
hang glider launch.
The cu's had thickened up, the lift was coming up the launch, and there was no
over the back action, although we could see the cu's coming from the west. By
the time we were ready, it was shaded and there was no rustling of the leaves on
the trees around us. We had to wait for a break in the clouds to get enough sun
to get a little wind in our faces.
I took off (in my borrowed Wills Wing Falcon 3 -170, the same glider I flew on
Saturday at Alpine) right after Bart (in his earlier version of the Falcon 195)
and the next dark cloud came right over us as we scratched along the hillside. I
was able to hang in there in light lift having a great time flying in the
mountains, but wasn't able to hang out long enough for the sun to return. I
landed about five minutes after Bart at the Fish Creek LZ, near Bart and Tiki's
home.
Walt waited for another hour (hoping it wouldn't go over the back) and was
rewarded with a couple of low saves and then scary strong lift east of Wilson as
he headed out in the valley to go to the east side and the hills over Jackson. He didn't quite make it as he kept running from lift.
We heard from one of the local paraglider pilots who had been at Sun Valley when
I was running the Nationals there, that paraglider pilots had been getting to
20,000' over the Grand Teton the Sunday and Monday before (as we arrived in
Jackson). No oxygen used, as this altitude is rare, except in late August and
early September.
We'll be towing again on Wednesday. It was in the eighties here today, with a
clear blue sky.
I prefer flying the Falcon in this mountain air and with the skinny launches at
8,500'. in light winds. It's great to have a 50 pound glider, instead of using
my 105 pound ATOS VR. Hopefully we will get up over the Grand Teton, but not
land in the park. Bart says that if we do land in the park, land on a road, as
we are using a vehicle, and might get off because of that clause.
EAA is posthumously inducting Bob Lovejoy and Volmer Jensen into
their Ultralight Hall of Fame. Both are mainly known -- at least to me -- as
hang glider guys. But, I want to support EAA's effort to bring these pioneering
names into their Hall of Fame, so I want to help locate their families.
I would think any living relatives might like to know of this prestigious honor. I also believe EAA is seeking any photos of Bob and his Quicksilver design. (They have good photos for Volmer's work, I understand.)
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The Oz Report, a near-daily, world wide hang gliding news ezine, with reports on competitions, pilot rankings, political issues, fly-ins, the latest technology, ultralight sailplanes, reader feedback and anything else from within the global HG community worthy of coverage. Hang gliding, paragliding, hang gliders, paragliders, aerotowing, hang glide, paraglide, platform towing, competitions, fly-ins. Hang gliding and paragliding news from around the world, by Davis Straub.
