Super fast assembly and launch...

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....

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....

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?


hah..................you read my mind...........just for a wind-up I
thought I would post this on our clubs BB, sit back and watch the
safety monkeys come un-glued.

Brad

On Nov 14, 2:46*pm, Brad 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?

hah..................you read my mind...........just for a wind-up I
thought I would post this on our clubs BB, sit back and watch the
safety monkeys come un-glued.

Brad

This is merely reckless, and only moderately so, at that. Any fool
can be reckless. I want to see recklessness that requires real skill
to survive.
At the very least he could have finished the flight with a redline
pass under a bridge.

-T8

On Nov 14, 12:14*pm, wrote:
On Nov 14, 2:46*pm, Brad 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?

hah..................you read my mind...........just for a wind-up I
thought I would post this on our clubs BB, sit back and watch the
safety monkeys come un-glued.

Brad

This is merely reckless, and only moderately so, at that. *Any fool
can be reckless. *I want to see recklessness that requires real skill
to survive.
At the very least he could have finished the flight with a redline
pass under a bridge.

-T8

inverted

Be careful Brad. Some of the safety primates read this site too...

I noticed the lack of a PCC as well, and thought that was kind of poor
form. They did do a control check, meaning that they made sure things
moved and opened and closed. The Discus and many other modern
sailplanes all now have automatic control hookups. So what is the risk
of not performing a PCC with automatic hookups? Has anyone with one of
these modern ships ever had a problem that was discovered during a
PCC?

On Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:17:11 -0800 (PST), 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?

I'd say it set a record, but not precisely the kind they were looking
for.

Wonder if they still have an insurance company?

rj

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....

At the Marfa World Soaring Contest in 1970, four of us pulled a
Libelle out of the factory trailer, rigged it and it was rolling on
tow in 4 minutes 5 seconds. That included a positive control check.
The pilot, from New Zealand, had waited longer than he should and was
trapped by overdelopment in the local area. He took 12 or 13 tows that
day - landing off base at the Marfa Muni airport at least 6 times. By
the time we did the fast rig we had already practiced it about half a
dozen times. Needless to say, he was flying dry. Rigging a Libelle was
pretty easy!

Albert Thomas

"4"

snip
four of us pulled a Libelle out of the factory trailer, rigged it and
it was rolling on
tow in 4 minutes 5 seconds.
/snip

Two questions:
(1) what do you mean by "out of the factory trailer"? (I hope it's not
the first thing that comes to mind
(2) Who thought to have a stop watch running on the first go?!

snip
He took 12 or 13 tows that day
/snip

Oh my. That's got to be the record by a long shot. Anyone else come
close?

When I was a student (solo) pilot I tried to kill a December Saturday
by just taking pattern tows all day. I was just warming up when the
instructor asked me how many flights I'd had. A dozen, I replied. He
said "That's more than enough. Call it a day."

I didn't argue but I was a little miffed driving home!

~ted/2NO