Aerotowing Rogallo Hang Gliders. Pilot-Induced Oscillation & Lockout Index. - A History of Aero-Towing.
The 3-Axis/Weight-Shift Interface is a tricky, dangerous, & sometimes deadly place.
The only people I was aware of who'd made a success of Aerotowing Tailless Flying Wings, was the Luftwaffe in WW2,
using Me-110s to tow Me-163 Rocket Fighters... And they had Yaw-Controls, unlike Weight-Shift Rogallos.
And the Luftwaffe had to have the Observer in the back of the Twin-Engined Tow-Plane be in Command of the Tow...
Because, Swept-Wing Tailless-Aeroplanes are unstable when under tow...
Whìch is what inspired old mate to ask me to join Aerotowing Adventures Australia, and act as Aerotow Launch-Controller /Safety Officer...
(ERROR WARNING... 2 mistakes in the Clip. Firstly, the Prototype was 100 HOURS old, when it came to the Tablelands - not "100 years"...
And, also, the Inglewood Fly-In happens in May, not March... Oopsie !).
We decorated the Sky with 500 Hang Gliders. Some days we cleared the paddock, and put all 5, 12, or once 19 of them, up there, all at once...
We charged $10 to take-Off & climb to 1000 Ft, plus another $1 per hundred Ft thereafter, with the Release into a Thermal...
I was taken, transported, accomodated, & fed ; & given 25% of the Tow Fee.
It was great, until realising that we were safer than everybody else in the game; and yet they didn' like to adopt Radios & Lockout Indexed Ground Control...
One reason, rumoured, involved "...avoiding the appearance of a Post-Facto admission of Negligence..." by adopting a safer way... I was polite, for a couple of years.
Then A.A.A. quit Aerotowing due to some Skullduggery involving Tailnumbers, & Waivers to tow anything behind an Ultralight, anyway....;
and, the What If / No Insurance / Forseeable Lawsuits issues won the day.
In mid '97 I stopped being polite, I sent to d--- Smith (the then Head of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority), the results of our 500 (illegal) Aerotows,
with the Crash Analysis of the Neophyte, & a Draft of an Operations-Manual.
I offered to give Evidence at the next Coronor's Inquest. 5 days later I had a Thankyou Note & reciept; & 5 months after that,
a letter that my method had been made "Mandatory Industry Standard, for all Aerotowing Training Operations ..." Whìch was an improvement.
But, after the President of a Hang Gliding Club was later killed, being Aerotowed without a Radio; then, my method became the only approved way to go.
Finally....... My figures indicate that the PIO &Lockout Index saves 10 T./O. Prangs, per year, in Australia.
Allowing 1 Fatal, 2 High Quadriplegics, 3 Paraplegics in Wheelchairs, & 4 more Broken Yuppies (who earnt enough to be able to afford a Hang Glider
to scare themselves with), who aren't fit for work for a year or two.... Best guess is, by giving away my best work, I save the Great Full nation of Oz
somewhere around $31 million /Year. In uncomposted & unbroken Hang Glider Pilots, Loss of Income, & Medical Expenses, & After-Care-Costs.
Whìch is, maybe, why Centrelink tell me I'm the most productive Nutter they have on the Disability Support Pension...
So, go & view the 'SunFoil Short-Talk', & 'SunFoil Science' clips, at my vids ( or search those titles)... The SunFoil Project is better than the Lockout Index..!
Enjoy. Ciao.
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