Killing the flagman at US Contest

The natural human reply to suggestions of change is to say ' we always did
it this way without a problem.' All very well until someone is killed or
seriously injured, then the lawyers get involved.

In UK we happen to have developed procedures using a dedicated radio
frequency for launching a competition grid. It works, and we can launch
100 gliders in an hour apparently safely (the local collision risk is
another matter, but that's dealt with in other ways).

I wouldn't want to be able to say 'I told you so' in the near future.

At 03:34 02 July 2014, Steve Koerner wrote:
Mark - please don't interpret that I'm complaining about how Moriarty
conte=
st was operated. Not at all. Moriarty was run fantastically well and
I'm
=
very appreciative of that. =20

My issue is generic to all US contests where there's a flagman stationed
in=
front of the launching gliders and that seems to be most contests these
da=
ys. Any person given that job will assuredly become complacent about the
h=
azard after a few hundred gliders have whizzed by without incident. The
ha=
zard is insidious most particularly because it's rare. My issue is that
it=
really won't matter what kind of self preservation instinct someone has
wh=
en there's 50 feet of wing arcing directly towards him at 30 or 40 MPH.
Th=
at really can happen. We need to change the scheme before someone gets
cre=
amed.

On Wednesday, July 2, 2014 4:58:26 AM UTC-5, pete purdie wrote:
The natural human reply to suggestions of change is to say ' we always did

it this way without a problem.' All very well until someone is killed or

seriously injured, then the lawyers get involved.

How fast we forget. Tonopah, Nevada, July 16 2002:

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/br...LA231 &akey=1

Steve is completely right. There is NO need for someone in front of the launch, and any procedure that uses someone in that position should be changed.

Again, as a tow pilot, I would much rather look directly at the glider I'm about to launch than rely on someone else to relay the signal. In a contest, I really only need to watch the rope for slack - it's up to the glider pilot to be ready or release!

Keep it simple and put the responsibility in the hands of those directly involved: the tow pilot and the glider pilot.

Kirk
66

Don't they both have radio?

At the 78 worlds , my wing hit a TV photographer,as I was landing on the
runway, injuring him seriously. He had
walked out to get a better shot. I was leaving room for a glider landing
behind me. It certainly shook me .
JMF

At 12:50 02 July 2014, kirk.stant wrote:
On Wednesday, July 2, 2014 4:58:26 AM UTC-5, pete purdie wrote:
The natural human reply to suggestions of change is to say ' we always
did

it this way without a problem.' All very well until someone is killed
or

seriously injured, then the lawyers get involved.

How fast we forget. Tonopah, Nevada, July 16 2002:

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/br...LA231 &akey=1

Steve is completely right. There is NO need for someone in front of the
launch, and any procedure that uses someone in that position should be
changed.

Again, as a tow pilot, I would much rather look directly at the glider
I'm
about to launch than rely on someone else to relay the signal. In a
contest, I really only need to watch the rope for slack - it's up to the
glider pilot to be ready or release!

Keep it simple and put the responsibility in the hands of those directly
involved: the tow pilot and the glider pilot.

Kirk
66

On Wednesday, July 2, 2014 4:58:26 AM UTC-5, pete purdie wrote:

The natural human reply to suggestions of change is to say ' we always did it this way without a problem.

Last year my local CAP glider program had a number of bored teens to keep engaged so they put a cadet just in front of the tow plane's right wingtip.

I hear you Steve. Valid concern for sure. For some reason I thought that I had read some guidelines in the SSA Contest section of the website recommending at least a 30 degree cone ahead of the glider without people in it. Maybe 45 degrees. Now I can't find that after a short search. Maybe someone else remembers where I saw that. I recall it was in response to the Parowan accident. For a 200 foot rope that would correspond to the flagman at least 115 feet off to the side of the towplane.

On my aborted takeoff at Region 9 in 2013 I was headed right for the corner of the ramp and the runway where the flagman was standing. Crosswind, CG hook, I was heading towards the flagman and the towplane was heading down the runway.

And at the Tonopah contest. He was not a flag man, but an airport worker that had been asked then told to move farther back. But he felt he knew better.