It's obvious that they rehearsed this many times to get all the bugs
out of their act. It wasn't a one-time thing. The only way to do it
this fast is to do it exactly right. The winch launch was to prove
they had indeed done it right. I'm applauding their show.

I'd be less concerned about a botched assembly than a smashed
finger. In fact, the assembly errors I've seen come from a too-slow,
interrupted assembly than from an intensely focused fast one.

Some of the oldtimers may recall that contest re-lights used to be
allowed after a nearby off-field landing and a lightning fast
retrieve. Crews actually practiced this sort of thing so they could
get their pilot re-launched before the start gate closed.

I did one while crewing for Bill Ivans and his Sisu 1A at the 1964
Nationals at McCook, Nebraska. It went like this:

Launch Bill at 12:00
Bill lands 5 miles out at 12:30 with Don Wimple and I on hand.
We de-rig the Sisu and hit the road at 12:40
Sisu re-rigged at McCook by 12:55
Launch Bill again at 13:00

Bill D


On Nov 14, 12:17*pm, jcarlyle wrote:
I don't think they did a positive control check. Not too smart...but
oh, well, it was a record attempt, don't you know?

-John

On Nov 14, 12:49 pm, KevinFinke wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Huk_WOxk1oc

After seeing this video, I think I'm going to try and recruit 5 people
to help me assemble my ship instead of just one....