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#31
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Letter to the FAA
On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 12:19:11 PM UTC-6, wrote:
In other words, your saying, let's not talk about Seminole Lake Gliderport terminating poor Walt for bringing up safety concerns after 2 near accidents. That's clearly a deflection to avoid embarrassment. If you want to deflect the conversation, then let's talk about how contestants violate airspace regulations and get penalized 1,060 points. What lessons can we learn from that too?? Perhaps a letter to the SSA is in order to block contest sanctioning to gliderports that have a know history of disregarding legitimate safety concerns. Maybe there are safer operations available that can host the 18M nationals? Wilbur, no one violated FAA airspace per the penalty you speak of. Its a SSA contest overfly penalty. The lesson learned is once again you speak with your head in the darkness of your ass. Best. #711. |
#32
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Letter to the FAA
At 14:09 25 May 2017, Charlie M. UH & 002 owner/pilot wrote:
Make the numbers matter, do a world list, I wonder if we would even break a dozen broken ships even worldwide.....let alone fatalities. Open canopies probably break more gliders. That might not help much. I have seen a schweizer hook on a tug in the UK but not lately, I have seen lots of TOST hooks. The other part of this was ensuring that the release in the tug is as close as possible to the throttle, in the UK this is mandatory, mainly as the result of a tug upset in which a good friend of mine is killed. If there are people in gliding who are more concerned with commercial concerns than the safety of pilots, that is a real problem. If the problem cannot be solved voluntarily what is left. If this is the case then goon on yer Walt, make them have it! |
#33
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Letter to the FAA
The potential for very bad unintended consequences resulting from your well meaning contact with the FAA is large enough to ask you to re-think contacting them.
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#34
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Letter to the FAA
SF and Burt are right - there is not a lot of knowledge on the FAA regulatory side about soaring so the opportunity for unintended consequences is large.
Let's fix the problem internally. Let's demand and expect higher proficiency on areotow, up our game as a sport with a focus on safety overall, provide clear expectations for pilot performance, provide high quality instruction, manage the risk through evidence based interventions/procedures and educate/empower/protect our tow-pilots rather than treating them as expendable or a necessary evil. Checklists - canopies, spoilers! If you fly a single place ship and only fly with a CFI-G the minimum amount "required" - go fly with an instructor, box the wake and so on - get some objective perspective on your flying and work on the fundamentals. Ask Burt to do a site visit and seriously consider his input. Question the "that's the way we've always done it" or the "back in the old days" mentality. I'd never tow with anything other than a Tost hook, btw. Fly safe! Tom |
#35
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Letter to the FAA
Did you read what I wrote? I am actively trying to get my club to install a Tost hook. I think it's the right thing to do. However, there are many other things competing for our limited funds and time. Some of those things may actually yield a greater gain in safety than a Tost hook. I am not omniscient, are you? Do you know, with certainty, that what you want is the best thing for everyone else? How about working to persuade rather than advocate for the use of government force?
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#37
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Letter to the FAA
Grammar, the difference between knowing your ****, and knowing you're ****.
On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 7:47:01 PM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote: How can anyone be taken seriously who doesn't know the difference between "your" and "you're"? Or "its" and "It's", or used double (and more) punctuation marks? Or uses "their" instead of "his" (except when the gender is known to be feminine) in the singular case? And all the while using an alias to hide his identity? Didn't listen to your English teacher? And yes, I know several of the above are sentence fragments. On 5/25/2017 12:19 PM, wrote: In other words, your saying, let's not talk about Seminole Lake Gliderport terminating poor Walt for bringing up safety concerns after 2 near accidents. That's clearly a deflection to avoid embarrassment. If you want to deflect the conversation, then let's talk about how contestants violate airspace regulations and get penalized 1,060 points. What lessons can we learn from that too?? Perhaps a letter to the SSA is in order to block contest sanctioning to gliderports that have a know history of disregarding legitimate safety concerns. Maybe there are safer operations available that can host the 18M nationals? -- Dan, 5J |
#38
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Quote:
Page 9, Soaring Safety Foundation, Tow Pilot Training. The following is in RED: DEPENDING ON THE INSTALLATION OF THE TOW HITCH, IT MAY BE POSSIBLE FOR THE RELEASE MECHANISM TO BECOME JAMMED DUE TO THE EXCESSIVELY HIGH POSITION OF THE GLIDER. (AMERICAN STYLE HOOK) In addition the Advisory Circular, Date 3/3/08, AC No 43.13-2B, page 76 says: WHEN THE GLIDER UNDER TOW OPERATES ABOVE A CERTAIN ANGLE TO THE TOW PLANE, THE RING MAY SLIDE UPWARDS ON THE HOOK CAUSING EXCESSIVE LOAD ON THE HOOK AND DIFFICULTY IN RELEASING THE TOW ROPE RING. This confirms that the industry is well aware of the problems with this device and as one who has experienced it first hand I can attest and concur. Why is this known to this degree and has little to nothing been done. In short, the industry is not as self regulating as perhaps it should be. I found myself 300 feet in the air, pointed at the ground, attached to a student pilot who was not reacting and I was unable to release for more reasons than just the Schweizer hook. Had the rope not broken this conversation would not be taking place. I would have been a statistic and a glider port would be facing my lawyer brother. Recurrent training would have not been helpful with a 15 year old student on her 3rd solo. Low tow is not helpful when the towplane is just a few feet off the ground over the runway. Do you deny that there have been fatalities in this country due to this mechanism at a critical point? I found some of your commets to be condescending. Canopies, tail dollys, medical certificates. These do not address the problem I have outlined and only serve to confuse the issue. I take flying very seriously, I flew almost 7000 tows in 2 years and 8 months without scratching the paint or putting a wheel wrong. I enjoyed my time at SLGP and wish them nothing but the safest and best going forward. Walt |
#39
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Letter to the FAA
There are reports of "unexpected release" and "failure to release" for the Tost release as well, how do the two compare? Anything mechanical is prone to failure so to say the Schweizer is worse than any other release without some type of statistical analysis is kind of meaningless.
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 5:43:10 PM UTC-7, Walt Connelly wrote: Before I send my letter to the FAA I'd like to ask if anyone has ever attempted to get them to see the light and end the use of Schweizer hooks on tow planes here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is a well known fact and clearly stated in the SSA/SSF and FAA circulars and literature that under certain conditions (the exact condition that the tow pilot will need to release) that it can be near impossible to release the glider. Tow planes have crashed, lives have been lost and at the same time everyone knows that this is a dangerous situation. Along with the conversion to Tost hooks I'd like to see it made mandatory that the release handles be up high, near the throttle and quickly available to the tow pilot with adequate mechanical advantage. I can assure you that one does not have the time to go ducking and reaching and feeling for a handle down on the floor of a Pawnee while the glider kites in back of you. The idea of requiring nose hooks on all gliders does not seem to be feasible although it has been brought up to me as something that needs to be addressed. My understanding is that the CG hook is meant for ground/winch launch operations, however I have probably done thousands of CG hook aero tows with no problem. For the most part these are ships being flown by the best and most aware pilots. I'd like more input from experience pilots on this point. I currently have a number of highly experienced pilots from all levels of aviation in agreement with me and willing to help me in this cause. If one life is saved as a result of this endeavor then it will be well worth it. Walt Connelly -- Walt Connelly |
#40
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Letter to the FAA
Rich,
Wilbur Wright is another Sean alias. I'll be interested to know if he's willing to deny his aliases to your face.. 2C On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 2:55:35 PM UTC-4, Rich Owen wrote: We don't know your name and I'm sure you won't email me to find the real story. When Walt brought up the issue we researched all factors and then made the decision to switch to Tost release systems on our towplanes. The safety of all the pilots that operate out of Seminole Lake, which includes our employees and staff, is our number one concern. Walt made a good case and we thought he was right. The Tost hooks are on back order but we expect to have them our ships within 4 weeks. We have spoken to our instructors and reviewed our procedures for losing sight of the towplanes/out of position on tow. We had the same conversation with our tow pilots. The staff here are professionals and take there job very seriously. They also read Rec Aviation Soaring and are getting frustrated that a small number of anonymous posters make comments that sully their reputation. I hope you do write the SSA so you will finally be out in the open. Our employees would like an opportunity to discuss the good we do for the sport. Rich Owen |
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