HangTen

What would you call one that has no dust, (other than an invisible menace)? Is there any meteorological law that says they can't form at a higher altitude and be completely invisible?

Often times pilots are busy with charts, setting instruments or chatting with co-pilots. Sometimes no one in the approaching plane is watching. Considering a closing speed of perhaps 250 - 400 knots, it only takes only a moment to a few seconds or so to get from where they first appear to where you are. it happens. Stay alert. Learn how to judge whether a plane is nearly at your altitude, climbing towards you, or descending away from you.

Awesome. I love this kind of stuff. You are an engineer

This is so sad. 6 seconds of sheer terror. If they were approximately 500 feet (152 meters) in altitude, their approximate velocity at impact would have been ~ 55.7 m/sec or 200 kph (163 ft / sec,....117 mph) Adjusted for drag on the wing......maybe 100mph at impact At 300 ft (91 meters).... 4.5 seconds to impact.....Impact speed approx 85 mph (135 kph) At 200 ft (61 meters).....3.6 seconds to impact......70 mph (112 kph) As you can see, there is not much time to react regardless. And it only take about 2 seconds to reach deadly velocities in a free fall

It would have taken quite a large reserve to bring that much weight down safely? I wonder what their altitude was at the moment the connection let go? I didn't see a reserve anyway in the video. Did you?

I wish that there were separate sections for UK and USA.....sometimes in some ads if they don't put dollars or pounds it's impossible (I think) to know where the item is located. Maybe ther's something I'm missing? Thanks.

Too bad we cant wear some sort of IR goggles and see the thermals.

Namecheap has really good prices on Comodo SSL certs. If you could get everyone to trust you, you could use a free self signed cert (just as secure, does the exact same encrypting)

I spoke with the fella in the video on YouTube. He says he did not pull left brake. It was purely unexpected wind sheer.

In the video above the POV is from the rear. As if he was using a chase cam, but if so it was all over the place. Plus the distance seems to vary? Does this look like footage from a chase cam or was someone behind him in another paramotor? If so, that was awfully close? I agree with Alan_K in that it looked like there was considerable turbulence in the video. At 1:25 you can see both his hands if you set the video to HD. They looked even prior to the collapse and even though his left hand appeared to move forward at the instant of collapse, to me it looked as though it was in response to the collapse. Of course your trained eye may see it differently.

Thanks. Good to know. Did you see him pull left brake in the video? (As a noob I'm wondering how you knew) ? Maybe the wing was already on the verge of a collapse before he pulled Left Brake?

I have not yet begun to enjoy the hobby yet. But hope to start acquiring equipment this fall. So you folks that have lots of hours under an inflatable wing have a great deal of experience with thermals and their effect on wing collapses. Some of my thoughts.... The rising air part of a thermal (core?) seems less dangerous in and of itself than the falling air part of a thermal surrounding the core with relation to an inflatable wing and lift. Seems as though you might be more likely to encounter a down draft before actually encountering the updraft associated with most common thermals. The down draft probably being much more likely to result in a wing collapse. I'm thinking as far as paramotoring is concerned, watching the terrain below for dark areas that might absorb / hold heat should be treated as areas that could potentially hav down drafts surrounding them during summer months? That said, being very aware also of any sudden feeling of losing altitude could possibly indicate (along with ground terrain) that you may be entering a thermal down draft before you enter the strong core up draft? All just food for thought.....what are your thoughts?

A recent example of this. July 2, 2019

If only you knew.....if only..... As "everyone" has submitted to FB, there is no choice if you want to know where everyone will be flying. Unfortunately, everyone is deserting the once popular private forums in favor of FB and the giants. SO SAD

I don't use Facebook. Actually, after hearing of the way FB sells your personal info, I don't want to now. BUT.... I can't find any other way to find out when people in my area will be meeting to fly and where. (South Florida) I went to belle Glade last weekend hoping to meet a few guys there but no one ever showed up. Does anyone know of a place other than FB where people talk about weekend flight get togethers in South Florida? Thanks

How hot does it get at that point where the mounting screw goes through? If rubber would hold up, then I was thinking a 1/4" or 6mm thick circular Nylon grommet made of high heat nylon, drilled so that the bolt is a tight fit through the center hole might help. The Nylon grommet would take the lion's share of the stress and should be infinitely more resistant to cracking than that thin brittle stainless steel. It might at least extend the time between cracks. One problem is that if you cure the cracking at one particular point, it'll just find a new place to crack. Or maybe the rubber would work just as well. Seems like these brackets need to be thicker either way. These exact same type brackets are used on scooter exhausts......with the exact same problem. Question.....if I fabricated a thicker bracket, could I get someone to try it out?

Pics...or this post is worthless lol

Sideslip is exactly what a crosswind landing is. You're "slipping Into" the wind coming from the side in order to stay on the runway center line. If wrong, by all means educate me before I hurt myself

Looky what I stumbled across...... A MUCH more authoritative summary of PPG Carabiners. Don't use Aluminum ones seems to be the general advice.

Ok, so let me backtrack just a bit....... After more reading (and learning), it would probably be more beneficial to find a way to never forget to secure your leg straps, than worry about a carabiner failure. Seems that mistake (forgetting to secure leg straps) is far easier to do and far more likely to get you than a carabiner. This was just a discussion. It's all good.

Cool. Good to know how strong they can be. If the gate is neglected, defective or side loads occur, all bets are off. Six Sigma is the BEST you can hope for. And statistically, the absolute best is 3.4 (approx) failures per million. REALLY low odds. But again, that's the absolute best possible scenario, on paper. it's probably not near that good in reality. As far as odds go, I wish I could get those odds on Lotto tickets......I'd feel a win was actually possible. So you can get a TON of near perfect carabiners......but at 500ft or less, just one bad one could be fatal. And the fact is....like it or not, they're out there. You "could" go your entire life and never encounter a bad one. That said, don't worry about anything inside your own comfort zone. Can you understand my point that of ALL the equipment on a PPG, the attachment point between the load and the lift is among the most critical? especially since a failure of either one guarantees an instant jarring swing to one side and then a very rapid, very instant uncontrolled descent? No one's "worried" about it......it's just a discussion. Maybe some design in the future will incorporate 2 on each side. Just for redundancy. Here's some good info in another discussion http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10346

You're probably referring to Northwest Airlines Flight 85. That was a lower rudder hardover. The actual "redundancy" in that case was the use of power adjustments from the engines and ailerons. No injuries. System failures that would likely result in catastrophic loss of flight control generally have redundancies. I sometimes use full rudder in combination with ailerons to do heavy cross wind landings. Rudder controls yaw, ailerons control roll. I had to practice those a LOT to get better at it. If you figure out a way to avoid memory loss as you get older, please contact me

https://www.quora.com/What-design-safeguards-in-airplanes-prevent-loss-of-hydraulics Most systems on large aircraft do indeed have redundancies. But as far as the rudder itself, Planes can be easily steered by other means. Unless the rudder locks in an acute angle, it's not critical. So unlike a carabiner failure at low altitude, a rudder failure itself is not generally a big problem.

It was a quad so I'm not sure it had these swingarms at all or if they would be a factor. Usually, if I'm not mistaken (always possible), the carabiners attach to a frame point on trikes and quads. Unknown since the investigation results are not out yet. Not trying to make a big deal of carabiners and mailions, just reflecting over the recent crash near me and someone who knew more about the crash than me mentioned that it looked like a carabiner failure. . I do realize carabiner failures are rare. But I also realize life literally hangs on their integrity especially in low altitude PPG ops.

Someone possibly died not far from me 2 weeks ago due to a failure of a riser or carabiner. Investigation ongoing. This thread was simply offered as a discussion on that in the interest of gathering information. it was not offered as a do all end all demand you add more carbiners. Seems rude when someone suggests you should "not participate" because you ask questions or try to gather information. Stating someone else is "Overly Concerned" and should therefor stay away from the hobby is highly subjective and of little value to the discussion.