ANOTHER STORY

A Japanese pilot was attempting to earn a T1. I was the T3 conducting the

flight test. Several tandem flights and training had preceeded this check

flight over a 3 day period.

I adopted the stupid passenger demeanor for the check ride. He was having a

rough go of ground handling the tandem wing in very light 6 to 7 mph late

day air at Marshall. He exited his harness to straighten the wing out then

came back and climbed back into his harness. I remained in the forward

launch position while he did this.

Soon we had our forward inflation and we were off. About 6 seconds into the

flight I noticed he (the pilot) was very low behind me. His head was about

my waist height. 1 second later Dianne (my wife) radioed to me that she

thought the pilot didn't have his leg straps on and was falling out. The

pilot in his broken "engrish" asked for ME to take the brakes just a second

after Dianne started talking. Everything happened very quickly. I hastily

grabbed the brakes and started a turn to the left considering a crossing

tailwind sidehill landing in the thick thorn bushes 50' below launch.

Evaluating that it could take up to 30 seconds to fly further east of the

fire break and 180 back for a cleaner side hill landing more into the wind

and that I believed the pilot could now hang on for this period of time I

chose the 30 second flight plan and conducted the 180 and uneventful landing

allowing to flare at 4' higher than normal to allow the pilot to not be

slammed into the ground behind and below me.

Rating was not issued. (duh)

Many witnesses said I saved the day. However most T3's in the same situation

would have done just the same I believe.

Rob Mc (thank you Rob)

YET ANOTHER STORY

I was preparing for a high-ish wind launch on the South Launch of Baldy(Sun Valley Ski Area). I had a female passenger and we were facing forward. I reached forward, hooked her in on one side, then then the other. I was turning, to do a reverse inflation when, the slack that had developed when I passed the riser over head, allowed the trailing edge to come up(like trailing edges do). Still, the hill was so steep and the wind so strong, that the glider started to come up on the side that had been slack. By then, that side was on it's way up, the girl was down, we were starting to go up the hill together and it became clear that there was only one option. The one option was to let it come up and to expedite a launch. Had I tried to disable the glider, we would have gone for a drag, up the hill. A tug on an A riser, a pull on a brake, a swap of the brakes and some dance steps later, we were airborne. We were airborne and neither of us knew that we were even ready to go. The rest of the flight was normal except that when we landed, she confessed that she was four months pregnant.

So;

-high wind can be very challenging and potentially dangerous

-things happen quicker on steep launches

-the way that we hook in, can be very important(plug for hooking up pilot and passenger with spreaders and then the glider)

-if I/ we had been plucked into the air with only one side of the spreaders connected to her, the glider would have been un-manageable and we would have hooked into the side of the hill sooner or later

-we need to qualify our passengers (i.e."is there anything that I should know about you physically or mentally that might be important" sort of question)

-sometimes, knowing how to do all of the different launch techniques can benefit a pro tandem pilot as they make some creative inputs that happen instinctually and that sometimes save the day

-on steep, windy launches it is less important to emphasize the "running" aspect of the launch for the passenger as often times they only take a step or two and are even sometimes "plucked." It can even be benefitial to consider the merits of having a passenger "sink:" his/her weight into the glider as soon as they feel the intital pull backwards. I know, it sounds wierd, but it works like a charm on a windy launch whether it's flat or steep(in my experience). Notice; I am trying to stir the pot here...

-probably something valuable to learn here that I haven't realized(please help)

-Chris Santacroce

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