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topic: movie (20 articles)

Dune du Pyla

Sat, May 28 2022, 9:47:07 am MDT

A couple of weeks ago

Alex Brieba|movie

«Alex Brieba» writes:

Very good conditions for hang gliding on the dune du Pyla two weeks ago, here is a little movie of our flights.

http://www.atlantiquedelta.fr/

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On the way to Big Spring

Wed, Dec 22 2021, 7:15:13 am MST

A hangar full

Dragonfly|general aviation|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|movie

"Pete Lehmann" «lplehmann» writes:

This video (below) was made by AOPA, the US general aviation association, and is honoring their retiring chief photographer/videographer. The whole thing is interesting to me, but there is a specific eight-minute section that you all might like. It goes from 5:21 to 13:30 and deals with the videographer's assignment to interview an eccentric but very interesting Texas character that I once ran into in Big Spring, Texas, the site of a major hang gliding event.

A couple of days prior, I had been ferrying a Dragonfly ultralight 400 miles from Zapata, TX north to Big Spring and having to refuel the thing about every 75 miles along the way. As the plane uses normal automobile pump gas, not Avgas, I was flying with plastic five-gallon canisters strapped to the plane. Refueling required finding either a ranch landing strip, field, or unobstructed stretch of road on which to transfer fuel.

As I was approaching the end of my journey to Big Spring, I was getting a bit low on fuel and needed to decide if I could make the last leg without refueling. Ten miles short of my destination, but a mile or two off to my left was a private "ranch" airport (32.07644230223772, -101.56459700045029) with a five-thousand-foot paved runway and owned by a man who I had previously been told was a "character" who had hangars full of interesting airplanes. I was curious to see the place, but had been flying all day in the world's worst cross-country aircraft, and with the tailwind I determined I could make my destination without that last refueling. I have regretted the decision ever since.

A few days later, as the day's hang-gliding event was getting underway, a wonderfully restored amphibious Grumman Albatross landed and taxied into the ramp to fuel for its trip north to the Oshkosh fly-in.

The two pilots climbed out, and while the younger one went to supervise the refueling, I went up to the older guy, Connie Edwards, to ask about the plane. It turned out that this man was the owner of that airstrip which I had passed up on the way to Big Spring, and this Albatross was just one of the planes he kept there. As you will learn from the video, his hangars were stuffed with old Spanish-built Messerschmitt 109s, Spitfires, Mustangs, and all manner of engines and the like. When I told him that I'd nearly dropped in the other day to fuel, he responded that, "We don't normally welcome visitors, but for pilots in need, it'd be OK". Obviously, I'd missed my one and only chance to visit.

The guy had a fascinating background, and we talked for quite a while during which he told me that the ME-109s and Spitfires had come from the 1967 Battle of Britain movie for which he had been the chief pilot and organizer of all the WW2 battles extraordinarily realistic air combat sequences. At the end of the movie the producers had owed him a lot of money, and rather than take an IOU, he negotiated a settlement that left him with a small air force's worth of WW2 fighters and spares.

At another point in his adventurous life, he said he'd been working as a CIA pilot in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua) at a time when several of those air forces still had WW2 Corsairs, Mustangs and P-47s and which he later bought for a song when they were finally retired. I'm not sure how many of those planes were still in the big hangars, unsold, but I greatly regret that I did not land at his ranch. The video clip will give you the flavor of the crusty old guy and a brief look at his hangars.

In the video mention is made of his son's death (in a car accident). That son was the young guy fueling the Albatross on the Big Spring ramp. If I am remembering correctly, years before the son had done his private pilot check ride in the Albatross

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Free Flyers - the movie

Mon, Feb 16 2015, 8:38:37 am EST

Point of the mountain

movie

https://freeflyers.pivotshare.com/media/free-flyers/11250/feature

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Free Flyers movie

Mon, Feb 10 2014, 1:45:40 pm EST

Free Flyers movie

Teaser

movie

https://freeflyers.pivotshare.com/media/free-flyers-movie/6507

$3.57

Anniversary DVD Edition Of Aoli, Comet Clones and Pod People

Wed, Nov 23 2011, 8:08:51 am PST

Rick Master

fatality|George Worthington|history|Mark Smith|movie|Rick Masters|Tommy Thompson

Tommy Thompson «Tommy Thompson» writes:

Here is a great hang glider history webpage by Rick Masters. It seems that people have forgotten what hang gliding was. I'd like to change that. Announcing the 30th anniversary DVD edition of Aoli, Comet Clones and Pod People. In the beginning, there was the airframe, and it was good… http://www.cometclones.com/index.html

On a separate note: http://www.cometclones.com/legend.htm. I just heard yesterday that Mark Smith passed away recently on November 10th, 2011. He had designed and built the wanderer ultralight sailplane that George Worthington was killed in.

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Kenny

December 3, 2010, 8:07:44 PST

Kenny

Aussie humor

movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822389/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822389/plotsummary

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Earthbound - Wallaby Ranch in the movies

Thu, Mar 4 2010, 7:03:22 pm EST

Hollywood comes to Wallaby Ranch

movie|tandem

http://www.wallaby.com/articles/in the movies.htm

EARTHBOUND, a romance film directed by Nicole Kessell (The Woodsman) and starring Kate Hudson, Kathy Bates, Whoopi Goldberg, Gael Garcia Bernal, Treat Williams and Rosemarie DeWitt tells the story of a tough and disillusioned ad executive (Kate Hudson), who battles cancer and falls in love with her doctor (Gael Garcia Bernal).

As part of the story line revolving around her wish to fly, Kate Hudson's character (Marley) and her love interest (Julian) take simultaneous tandem discovery flights at "The Wallaby Ranch Hang Gliding School" and together enjoy an aerial ballet of sorts as they each soar with their tandem instructor.

Ed Cesar obituary (belated)

Wed, Jan 6 2010, 12:36:48 am AEDT

Married on launch at Valle de Bravo

death|Ed Cesar|movie|photo|Roger Hoyt

Roger Hoyt «Roger Hoyt» writes:

First of all, Ed Cesar died on May 24, 2002 of a sudden brain aneurysm at just 55 years of age. Second: the eagle he releases in the movie came from Grants Pass Oregon's Wildlife Images, just 15 minutes from my house. The Bird of Prey sanctuary at Wildlife Images is dedicated in honor of Ed Cesar and bears a plaque with his name (they do not however, carry his movie in the gift shop; I suggested to the manager that they start). WI President Dave Siddon, refers to Ed as a "lifelong friend."

While a hang gliding instructor in Kitty Hawk, NC, Ed Cesar met his future wife Barbara, who also became a hang glider pilot. The two were married atop the hang gliding site at Valle de Bravo, Mexico. The Cesars participated directly in filmmaking via a sister company, EPS Aviation Stages, which built mock-ups for "Jurassic Park," "Face Off," "Seinfeld," "Patriot Games," "True Lies," "Batman and Robin" and "Air Force One."

In every account I could find of Ed Cesar, he is referred to as "International Hang Gliding Champion." I could find no specific citations as to what events he'd actually won, however.

Thanks Ed, for the greatest hang gliding movie ever made.

National Treasure (the sequel)

Tue, Mar 17 2009, 9:07:48 am MST

Getting Nicolas Cage into the air

David Glover|Lucas Ridley|movie|video

http://lateshow.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/wahoo/index/php/20090316.phtml

Nicolas is always on the look for new things. He is getting the itch to try the hang gliding. He remembers seeing it years ago and has always had a desire to get out there and fly like a bird. Years ago, hang gliding was a pretty risky venture but it has become much safer now. That's fine, but I always want to know about the guy who first tried it. When you see someone else do it, you know it can be done. But when you have NEVER seen someone else do it, you can only think it can be done. Dave has seen those guys in a squirrel suit jump from a plane or off a cliff. Is that something Nicolas would consider? No. Cage assures Dave it is not something he would consider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL8ak7A9ejE

3:15 into the video.

Thanks to Lucas Ridley and David Glover

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Big Blue Sky

Tue, Nov 11 2008, 7:36:08 am PST

The Hang Gliding pioneering movie

Harry Sudwischer|Stu Smith|movie

Harry Sudwischer «harry» writes:

“Big Blue Sky” Dreams, Fears, Joy and Tears

Bill Liscomb has managed to reach down into the part of my brain that holds all the emotion I’ve accumulated since I first wanted to leave the Earth and Fly.

The collection of restored 8mm home movies, stills, interviews and the reporting of first-hand participants had me enthralled. Waves of memories dimly recalled have been restored to me. It’s as though a Veil of Gauze was brushed away and I was there rediscovering the most significant moments of my youth. Powerful recollections of the time when I and untold thousands of dreamers realized that the gift of personal flight was there for anybody to take.

The stories of the rediscovery of Hang Gliding includes the context of the 1970’s and the realization that society was ready for this leap of personal freedom. Of course with that freedom came personal tragedy as a movement into the sky for so many included the loss of friends and loved ones. Today we still suffer the loss of friends but not to the extent and scale of the early days of what was sometimes seen a "Death Sport."

The narrative is California centric with a nod to the Eastern pioneers but basically that’s the way Hang Gliding really developed. I got my inspiration from “Low and Slow” and "Ground Skimmer". My enthusiasm for being a Man Bird knew no bounds. Every couple of weeks another publication arrived in the mail and leaps of imagination, techniques, new radical ideas flowed like a drug into my brain. My personal journey included discovering local Hang Gliding junkies by accident. Driving along the Long Island Expressway on my way to work in September 1974 I saw to my amazement 4 or 5 colorful kites in a sand pit to the side of the highway. Forget my job I stood on the brake and swerved off the next exit backtracked to the sand pit and so ended my rational ordinary life. Everybody in that sand pit was as addicted to the notion of personal flight as I was.

The film is true to the feel of the times. Maybe it is best appreciated by those who lived the dreams of the pioneers of Hang Gliding. Fear was also present, when I first found myself thousands of feet above the ground at Mittersil Ski Area in New Hampshire in August of 1975. Hanging under a 43 pound Wills Wing 20/20 Swallowtail Standard Kite with my recently purchased Colver vario screaming UP UP UP. I had the same thoughts as expressed by Sky God Taras Kiceniuk flying his Icarus spiraling up into the big blue sky: "what am I doing here". I wasn’t alone in the sky that day. Just off my left wingtip was Terry Sweeney in the new Sky Sports Kestral. He proceeded to get even higher than me and went XC upwind several miles from the mountain before landing.

My fears of that flight were overcome later that day by joy when it sunk in what I had just done. The next morning I met Tom Peghiny in the LZ at the base of the Ski Slope. I told him I was impressed with the Kestral that he and Terry Sweeney had developed. He was all enthusiastic about the gold colored Colver audio vario hose-clamped to my control bar. I was in the presence of the "Sky Gods", great fellows who shared all they knew and reached out to help anyone who asked for help.

So it continued. I met Stu Smith “Future Sky God” that very same weekend. We rode up the ski lift and he was pumping me for flying tips. I guess he thought I knew what I was doing when all I really knew was how to hang on really tight and let the sky have its way with me. I was extremely lucky to have lived and survived those early days. My tears came years later hearing of the death of Stu Smith at Grandfather Mountain. Stu, a champion gymnast, became disconnected from his wing while doing aerobatic maneuvers and was not able to hang on, I cried again last night.

I am grateful Bill Liscomb was able to capture the time of my and many of my friends lives in this important work of love. It faithfully focuses on the passion of those heady early days. The story is now frozen in time. We can all revisit it and remind ourselves how we really Left Earth.

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Hang Dog, the movie, it's pretty darn good

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 9:41:49 am MDT

Hang Dog

This isn't your regular little pilot's eye view

movie

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11705

The dialog needs a lot of help, although there are already some cool lines. It would be good if a lot of folks checked it out. Tell your friends.

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Hang Dog, the movie

Sat, Apr 26 2008, 7:54:37 am PDT

Hang Dog

Watch the trailer

movie

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11705

One reason no one makes hang gliding movies i.e., feature narratives as opposed to docs is that the sport seems to be declining and Hollywood bean counters think the target audience is too small. Two things are flawed in this thinking. 1) You do not have to play football to enjoy the story line of Rudi or Bicycle race to enjoy Breaking Away. And it stands to reason that hang gliding would be no different 2) Whilst we might feel very special as free flight pilots we have to remember most people are attracted to concept of flying and there is over 107,000 pilots in the U.S. alone (commercial powered craft).

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Cloud Cuckoo Land

Wed, Nov 3 2004, 11:00:04 am EST

Released in 2005.

movie|Steve Varden

Steve Varden «Varden» writes:

www.cloudcuckoolandmovie.com

The movie stars disabled actor Steve Varden (who has cerebral palsy) as Sandy Kenyon, in his first cinema role. Varden, who trained at the Coventry School of Performing Arts, flies his own stunts in the film which tracks the journey of a severely disabled care home resident as he attempts to follow his dream to fly. Supporting cast are Derek Jacobi in the role of Victor, and Boo Pearce as Lucy (her first feature role.) Steve Varden also co-wrote the screenplay with director Matt Dickinson.

Francesco Maselli, President of the EuropaCinema jury, said the following in the concluding press conference of the festival: ‘The jury makes specific reference to the difficult and complex leading role interpreted by Steve Varden and performed with a realism and a depth which are unique in the history of cinema.’

Prior to a wider national general release in early 2005, Cloud Cuckoo Land is currently on limited general release.

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Hang gliders - the interactive movie

Mon, Mar 22 2004, 8:00:02 pm GMT

If you have SeeYou or CompeGPS you can see two rigid wing pilots flying together last Friday in Florida on a 63 mile triangle.

flights

3D|CompeGPS|IGC|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|movie|OLC|SeeYou|triangle

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/
ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=2163&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/
ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=2137&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

Kris Grzyb writes:

We have here in Chicago winter but I could "fly" with you and Ron in 3D animation. Thanks God we are living in 21 century. I download yours and Ron's .igc files from OLC than later with "SeeYou" I could see yours every turn in motion !. Nice fighting in Air ! Congratulate guys for nice triangle and see you soon at Quest.

1. Click on the IGC files found at the locations above.

2. Save both of them to a folder on your computer.

3. Open SeeYou (www.seeyou.ws).

4. Click File, Open and open one of the IGC files.

5. Click View, 3D View.

6. Click Edit, Add Flight, highlight the other flight and click Open.

7. Click the green triangle that represents the "Start Animation" button. Let it play.

8. Use your mouse to change your view.

9. If you see sailplanes instead of hang gliders, in the TeamCU/SeeYou20 folder edit glider.cug to contain "file=hangglider.3ds". Click File, Close All and start again at Step 4.

10. To see how to use the mouse, click Help. It's the last item in the table of content. Practice with the mouse.

11. To change the speed of animation, click the down arrow next to the clock.

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Photo/caption contest »

Sat, Jun 21 2003, 2:03:09 pm EDT

movie|photo|picture|Scott Johnson

Scott Johnson at U. S. AirBorne <usairborne@cableone.net> sends:

Here is a picture of my little birdie buddies movie stars, doing a 45 min training run threw Monument Valley. The snow geese's imprinted mother & myself are enjoying a early A.m. stroll threw the park with the kids.

Picture was taken with my PZ1 35mm on my wing tip. I would do training flights with Snow & Canada geese every A.m. & P.m. when conditions were too bumpy to film. During the filming of Winged Migration I was allowed to take all the still pictures I wanted. I have well over 200 still shots of my little buddies flying with me during the 1½ months I worked for them at Galatee films.

Discuss photos at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

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Short hang gliding videos

Thu, May 8 2003, 4:00:04 pm EDT

Monica Barrett|movie|Oz Report|site|video

A few folks with Apple Mac OS X and Windows 98 (pre second edition) have mentioned the fact that the hang gliding videos that I’ve put up on the Oz Report home page (click HG Videos) won’t play on their computers. This is due to the fact that Windows Movie Maker 2 defaults to a compression/decompression algorithm (#9) that isn’t supported on these computers.

I’ve put up what I think is a video that will work on Mac’s and Windows 98. It uses codec #8. Go to https://OzReport.com/media.php if you have Windows Media Player on a Mac or Windows 98 and tell me if it works. It’s the second version of Adam’s loops.

I’m thinking of placing the videos on another web hosting site www.ipowerweb.com in order to reduce costs. Any thoughts or experience out there with these Santa Monica folks?

Discuss videos at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

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Winged Migration (we are not a movie PR company)

Thu, Apr 17 2003, 3:00:05 pm EDT

David Kissick|movie|video

David Kissick <geckoinc99@yahoo.com> writes:

Just to add another link for those that are interested. Another version of the Winged Migration trailer can be viewed at http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/winged_migration.html

This trailer has better quality audio and video than the one on the official website (which is a must for this trailer). You just have to have Quicktime for it.

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Weather moves from west to east

Wed, Mar 26 2003, 9:00:04 pm GMT

movie|Wayne Michelsen|weather

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?8086

Wayne Michelsen <WMichelsen@attbi.com> writes:

A while back you were discussing the predominant wind patterns. I just stumbled on the link below. Check out the MPEG movie.

Note: The clip is about CO pollution and movement around the globe. I'm not trying to push an agenda. I just think the airmass movements look cool. I'm sure somewhere there is a better clip with visible clouds, instead.

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Winged Migration (Le Peuple Migrateur)

Tue, Feb 18 2003, 11:00:04 am GMT

movie

Nominated for an Academy Award (along with Bowling for Columbine), this French documentary is reputed to be magnificent. You can learn about it at http://www.magiclanternpr.com/films/winged_migration.htm. Click on the button about how the birds were filmed. A review can be found at http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-10001449/reviews.php?critic=movies&sortby=default&page=1&rid=311356 and a trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/winged_migration.html

I believe it will be in general release in the US in mid April. The review above states:

There are no words to describe the poetic beauty of this film. I love how Perrin lets us get lost in the variety of landscapes and birds, having a narrator come in to give some insights only half a dozen times.

One might fear that watching farking birds for 100 minutes would get tiresome, but the movie manages to constantly bring in new marvels, be it how the Fous de Bassan dive in the ocean, how pelicans swallow fishes whole or the way storks do the cute little dances. Then there’s the utterly great distances these feathered little dudes cover…

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Weaklinks

Mon, Dec 20 1999, 6:00:02 pm EST

aerotow|battery|crash|dolly|job|movie|NASA|nylon|power|powered|record|sailplane|tandem|tow|towing|transport|tug|TV|Wallaby Ranch|weaklink|winch

Mark Stucky, «stucky_mark», writes:

Many months ago I wrote to you with the idea of trying to do some hang glider aerotow testing, the intent of which was to define the actual loads encountered under differing conditions of tugs (low and high power), gliders (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), and pilot weights (single and tandem). Due to the magic of your Straub Report, instant interest was gathered and Malcolm at Wallaby Ranch was quick to call, leaving a message that he would be glad to sponsor the testing.

The brains behind the effort was Jim Murray, a NASA engineer who specializes in flight dynamics and is a true-life "Maguiver" with a reputation of being able to instrument a gnat's knee. Early in the Eclipse (aerotowed F-106) program, in which I was the test pilot, the computer simulation revealed the existence of an oscillatory tension mode in the towrope. The computer predicted something like a 12,000-pound steady-state tension value but overlaid on top of it was a continuous cycling value of several thousand pounds. In some cases this "bungee" mode would grow unstable and eventually exceeding the 24,000-pound weaklink. The level of bungee present was dependent upon the two aircraft, the stability characteristics of the tethered pair, the towrope attachment points, and the towrope itself.

Like the Spectra line used in many hang glider tow operations, the exceptionally strong Vectran towrope we were planning on using had low stretch characteristics. This meant low shock absorption and increased chances of encountering the bungee mode. At the other extreme a nylon towrope would have been too springy and it too could result in dramatic (traumatic?) bungee oscillations. The computer predicted a certain level of stretch would give the best tow characteristics. For our initial flights we planned on adding a 50 foot section of nylon strapping in the middle of the 1000 foot length of the ¾" diameter Vectran rope.

There was some skepticism about the mere existence of this bungee mode. The Germans had towed unconventional aircraft during the war years -- large troop-carrying transport aircraft, even multiple aircraft were towed. They also towed the swept wing Me-103 Komet, the first rocket-powered fighter. Pilots hated towing the Komet and a USAF test pilot who got the lucky straw to tow a captured Komet described the tow as the scariest experience of his life. Even NASA's predecessor, NACA had towed a propeller-less P-51 Mustang in an aborted attempt to compare it's real world L/D to what had been obtained through wind tunnel testing. The steel tow cable broke wrapping around the aircraft, interfering with control, and resulting in a crash.

In all these tests there was never any mention of any bungee mode - did it really exist or was it some computer artifact? The answer was to run the simulation using conventional glider and tow aircraft numbers. The simulation indicated the bungee mode existed in normal everyday towing of sailplanes. Some of the old-time sailplane pilots expressed doubt over the simulation because over their years of towing experience they hadn't noticed any bungee mode. One said, "I've never felt no stinking bungee" (or words to that effect).

So Murray made up a couple of battery powered instrumentation packages, each about the size of a lunch box. We put one in a rented Pawnee tug plane and one in a rented Grob sailplane. The one at the front of the towrope read tow tension (using a solid state metal link at the attach point). The package in the Grob read longitudinal acceleration.

We launched in early morning conditions and the tug looked for level flight in smooth air. We flew at a couple different speeds and tow positions but most of the data was gathered at 55 mph, which was published L/D max for the Grob.

The data showed the bungee mode was very evident and I swear I could feel it. It was always present to a minor extent but was easily excited by turbulence or maneuvering, in which case it took several cycles and perhaps twenty to thirty seconds to reduce it back down to it's normal small oscillations. Probably the greatest excitation of the bungee occurred during the takeoff roll, most likely due to bumps in the dirt runway.

So what about the issue of the bungee mode and its effect on the Eclipse program? We found that as predicted, there was a stable region on low tow where the bungee was minimized and where the F-106 was extremely easy to fly on tow. Outside of that stable region the bungee became more of a factor and the F-106 became more and more of a handful to fly. In fact, in a conventional high tow position it was quite unstable and if I wasn't extremely careful the weak link would fail within several seconds.

Without doing any dedicated tests with hang gliders I can only guess but I think it is reasonable to expect the bungee mode is present in hang glider towing. In fact, I think we've all felt it while platform towing, the surging of tension that occurs when the drum is slowly unwinding at the end of the tow. I attributed the pulsing in tension to the difference in the static and dynamic friction coefficients of the disk brake. While this may partly be true, the cycle itself could be caused by the bungee mode of the towrope.

So what does this mean to hang glider towing and weak links? It means that a weak link that is the perfect value on a spectra towline would be the wrong value on a polypropylene rope. It means a weak link that is perfect on a 150 foot towline could be less-than-perfect on a 200 foot length. It means that a weak link that is perfect on a large-diameter wheeled dolly on a concrete runway could be too weak on a rough runway or a less absorbing dolly. It means a weak link that works with a lightweight tug won't be right for a high-power, high mass tug. It means the towrope attachment point can be critical and the effect may be exacerbated if not in the proper tow position or if flying tandem.

It means that towing may be easier and weak links less prone to breaking if a small amount of shock absorption was added to low-stretch towlines. Perhaps a few feet of nylon rope on the end next to the pilot would be sufficient. I remember the smoothest tow I ever had was on a stationary hydraulic winch in Canada. I attributed the smoothness to the hydraulics but perhaps a contributing factor was the twenty feet of ½" nylon rope that was added to the end of the towline so it would hang down below the inside wingtip during turns on a step tow.

One last point to make is the breaking strength of rope is very dependent on the radius of any knot or bend in it. A weak link that is looped around a metal ring will fail at a higher value than one looped around a narrow loop of nylon.

Obviously, the correct weak link depends on many variables and identifying what works best would take a bit flight research (perhaps just a single day worth of smooth air flights). This did not occur because several things happened since I first wrote to you. First, Jim Murray was shipped off to the east coast to work a temporary assignment on the "Mars Flyer" -- a remote aircraft designed to fly in the atmosphere of Mars on the centennial anniversary of the Wright brothers first flight. Secondly, I decided to leave what on the top surface was my dream job as a NASA research pilot to pursue a job with the airlines. There were many reasons for this decision, not the least of which was NASA's continuing aeronautical budget cuts, emphasis on unpiloted aircraft, and their seemingly inability to get things done.

The NASA administrator's "Faster, Better, Cheaper" mantra has become a joke in the industry, reminding me of Jack Nicholson's presidential proclamation in the movie "Mars Attacks" when, in the midst of mass destruction, he gets on national TV and says something along the lines of, "I know I promised you these three things but hey, two out of three ain't bad." Unfortunately, with NASA's current record the quote would be more along the lines of "hey, none out of three ain't bad."

Until we ever do a real hang glider aerotow research project we can only make semi-educated guesses on the bungee mode and its effect on the towing of hang gliders. The intent of this writing was to point out some of the issues and to apologize for my failure to follow through with the research that I hinted at so long ago. A number of pilots sent emails to me at NASA asking me about the status of the project and encouraging me to pursue it. Unfortunately, when I went to retrieve all of those archived messages in my last week at NASA I found I had already been locked me out of the email system so I can't answer those emails individually.

Someday I may be able to get together with Murray and do the research. In the meantime, if you are ever flying the "friendly skies of United" look for me in the right seat of a Boeing 737 (especially if you are flying any of the west coast "Shuttle" routes).

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