Cravat on tow.

Last Sunday, when taking off, a wind not on the left lines meant I launched with a cravat that would not release. I did check my lines before launching and everything was good, so, no, it was not for lack of checking it.
The important thing in tow is tocontrol your wing. Even though it is not noticeable, I felt something wrong because I had to lean too much to the right to keep flying straight.
When I felt clear enough of the immediate task of flying to watch my wing, I saw the knot and the cravat. I tried to clear it by pumping the brake, but it didn't have any effect. And to keep flying towards the car, I had to compensate too much on the other side, so I felt uneasy trying to pull deeper.
I tried reaching for the stabilo. but again, no effect as I needed to pull deeper than I felt comfortable doing at that altitude because of the risk of getting into a spiral to the ground.
I consider going as high as possible in tow and then try to clear it more aggressively. But I decided to land. More aggressive maneuvers would not guarantee release and could end up in a worse situation or at the minimum with severe damage to the wing.
My challenge was that with the cravat my wing was behaving like a speed wing. My tumbling on landing was due to the unexpected speed even after flaring. But I've learned to just roll with the inertia and nothing was hurt, except for a light scratch on my face. Got to lower my visor on landing.
I'm sure there are more lessons here. I want to hear them and debate them. Thanks!

[@crancont]

"Up, Centered, Stable, Tips, GO!" This is the mantra we use when towing. Tow tech should never proceed with the tow unless they look back and see the wing "Up, Centered, Stable, and Tips open", otherwise the tow is a No Go before the pilot leaves the ground!! Especially important for the tow tech to monitor this when forward launching in no wind like in the video, because the pilot will not see until the tow has started and the wing is coming up. Tow tech needs to monitor the wing, and not proceed towing the pilot off the ground unless those four are good. I have that mantra laminated and attached to the remote in the tow tech's hand when towing. "Up, Centered, Stable, Tips, GO!"

[@johnalexbaker]

Yes exactly this. Give enough pressure to keep the line off the ground when the pilot is running, but only add pressure when everything is perfect. In this case the cravat is super obvious and the tow tech should therefore not launch the pilot. Line tension is up to the tech, not the pilot, and giving enough to fly with a cravat is a mistake, IMO.

[@cartoonraccoon2078]

"Up, Centered, Stable, Tips? NO!!"

[@markmcgoveran6811]

My toe crew that I worked with said good wing. And the pilot had to nod

[@ChrisNoye]

Many things could have been done better: 1. Pilot did not check wing sufficiently on the ground (check lines and then quick ground handle recheck lines and lay it down neatly). 2. Pilot did not lay wing out symmetrically. Also hard to tell but was that the best tow strip for the wind direction? 3. Driver was clearly not paying attention at the most critical time of the tow (The first 100m of height). 4. Radio comms didn't appear to be present or pilot was unable to make a "Stop Stop Stop" call. 5. Driver put too much energy (gas) given wing position and direction. 6. Pilot decided to bail at a dangerous height which a reserve throw or induced spiral recovery would have been very unlikely. I either would have bailed right at the start "Stop Stop Stop" or once airborne kept going to a height where I would have had time to see how the wing reacts and either recovery or throw the hanky. Easy to say from an armchair, but in short; height = time = options. Many things done well: 1. Pilot realized wing was not straight, adjusted brake input to correct 2. Pilot didn't panic, tried to pump out the cravat / stablio line input 3. Pilot made a committed decision and stuck with that decision. 4. Landed relatively safely into wind with little more than half a wing flying. Towing is dangerous, the driver must be trained appropriately. I've had close calls from trying to train up non pilots to tow and expecting miracles. Driving in a straight line whilst keep appropriate speed for wind / conditions, whilst also watching the pilot and processing information quick enough to make split second decisions is not easy, then add to that someone who doesn't fly and doesn't recognize poor wing configurations... recipe for disaster. If you find a good tow driver, pay them well, look after them and they will look after you. If you are training a new driver, make sure they get plenty of time in the passenger seat, learning the art of safe towing gradually. Great work landing it safely, thanks for sharing. Safe towing.

[@larryholdercoolsolutionsllc]

Awesome job flying it and keeping it under control. That’s was a nasty one. Glad your safe

[@krisztianbudai6009]

It's a wonder there wasn't an accident. This is a serious winch operator error! He didn't look at the pilot, he just drove!

[@markmcgoveran6811]

If you were on top and you are climbing keep going don't worry about anything if you are not towing yet check your wing closely. I think this guy was perfect.

I wouldn’t be so sure about the tow operator responsibility. Here in Czechia, it is the pilot who decides to proceed by explicitly saying “start start start” after they perform wing check.

[@jamesbrindley4507]

Very nice save to a dangerous situation

[@patrickmichel782]

Le treuilleur est aveugle ?

[@YankeeinSC1]

I could feel your anxiety @0:20 !

[@paraglidingflorida]

I was stressed because I had another similar incident and at that time the operator released tension due to the problem he saw I had. But releasing tension when I'm putting a lot of break to the flying side to keep flying straight and jerking and pulling lines on the collapsed side to try to clear the knot had the effect of sending the wing into a stall. Fortunately I sensed it and reacted on time, but in the time I gave the glider to recover it turned 180º and put me downwind at low altitude and with a glider I could not turn quickly and still connected to the tow line. I aimed to a tree and that caught me on time and delivered me to the ground without any injury. So, I was remembering all the lessons learned then and hoping I would not make mistakes.

[@ldigestani]

tow operator error for sure

[@jbusigin]

Well handled! How was the climb? What are your thoughts about try for more altitude, then trying to pull the cravat when no longer under tow? That looked like a tough cravat though

[@MrEvpatoria]

0:58

[@jbusigin]

@@MrEvpatoria ah, line-over not cravat

[@paraglidingflorida]

I thought of finishing the tow and then try to clear it, but from the looks of the knot, I thought the chances of clearing it would be low and I would put too much stress on the lines doing it. So, that's why I decided to release and manage coming down.

[@huepix]

Looked like a tension knot to me. Hard to say tho. Pilot did well in an incredibly stressful situation

[@paraglidingflorida]

@@huepix From my perspective, it seemed a tension not around a twig. The twig cannot be seen in the video due to the resolution, but I remember seeing it why trying to clear the knot.

[@TheChrisBreyShow]

Lucky day!!

[@7up-weee]

Seemed like a good choice to release when you did. I've never done towing - hopefully you never get a cravat again on tow - seems more complicated than a cravat whilst normally flying. With a cravat when not on tow, what is your order (set of steps to carry out) to deal with it? I've got a list I run through in my head before I launch on strong or turbulent days. Doesn't need to be the same list for everyone, but it's good to have one up front because cravats can be a bit disturbing on rough days.

[@paraglidingflorida]

On tow, the first thing is controlling the wing and its direction. When launching forward like I did, you must be able to sense if the wing is coming right or slanted. And you should be able to correct any slant without having to see it. That's what I did. Then you check the tips and make your decision to stop or continue. I misjudged the cravat and thought I could clear it with a tap, so I continued running. Once you are airborne, you need to make sure you have enough control on the wing. I checked and between the weight shift and right brake, I could make the wing fly straight and even turn to the right. So, I positioned the wing more to the right of the car before attempting to clear it tapping on the break. If you see too much turning towards the collapsed side, you need to gain enough altitude to do a 360 close to the ground and release then, and prepare for that 360 that will take you to the ground. Some would say that if you have enough control, ride the tow until you have sufficient altitude to release, try to clear once, and if unsuccessful, throw reserve. I didn't even think about throwing reserve. After I was unsuccessful clearing with taps, I tried to search for the Stabilo, but it was limp, and pulling too much on the Stabilo would send me hard to the left wich is not good on tow and much less close to the ground. So, at that point, the options were to communicate with the operator so he would soften the pressure, and I will release doing minimal control until reaching the ground.

[@7up-weee]

@@paraglidingflorida Yeah - I'm not sure I want to try towing. But I imagine in Florida you don't have many hill launches. I would have released when you did too. The thing that wouldn't be on my list on tow launch cravats would be any attempt to use the brake on the cravatted side to clear the cravat. Shallow or fast pumping never works and on tow a deep pump and hold would risk a spin. In clear air - which is a completely different situation - my list is this: 1) stop any rotation 2) get a good heading 3) check what kind of cravat (usually they are cloth in front of the lines but occasionally they are cloth through lines or a knot 4) for cloth in front of lines, if it's less than half the wing gone, spin to cravatted side, if it's a monster cravat, stall if I have enough height 5) for cloth through lines, stabilo 6) with knots I've tried big big ears but usually I just have to land and sort it out on the ground. In your case, too low when releasing for most of those cleaning techniques so I'd land carefully with the cravat

[@DavidRitchie-tr2rn]

@@7up-weee I had a friend in Deerfield Beach that used to use 100 foot rope. Catch people on the beach and ask them to pull him up. Would use the high-rise buildings once he got up there release and he could fly around all day with onshore winds….

[@7up-weee]

@@DavidRitchie-tr2rnsounds fun 😂

[@johnalexbaker]

Tow operator definitely screwed that up. I hope they learned the lesson!

[@paraglidingflorida]

Not really. I'm also a certified tow operator. This was a forward launch without wind. That means that the pilot has to run to raise the wing. The abort decision in this case must be entirely on the pilot. The pilot can stop and the winch will keep exerting pressure, but not so much that it will drag the pilot. I saw the cravat and decided to continue launching because I misjudged how bad it was. I thought it would clear with a simple tap. After being airborne, I appreciate that the operator keeps the pressure constant. In a similar incident, that happened to me some time ago, the operator released the pressure, and that almost stalled my wing because between the drag of the collapsed side and the break on the good side necessary to keep the wing flying straight, the only thing keeping the wing flying was the pressure of the winch.

[@johnalexbaker]

@@paraglidingflorida thanks for the reply. I feel that the tow operator should have noticed that there was a cravat and then not added enough pressure to launch. I think it’s important to not add enough pressure to launch until the pilot is running, with a totally open wing overhead. It makes it so that something like this is a total non issue instead of a KZbin video. AB

[@patrickmichel782]

​@@paraglidingflorida Si le treuilleur ouvre les yeux il ne tire pas une voile mal gonflée et tu ne décolles pas. Point final

[@paraglidingflorida]

@@johnalexbaker He noticed the cravat, and he didn't add pressure. This was a pay-out towing (The winch is on a moving car). Even without added pressure, I was going up unless I stopped my run. Again, in this case, the operator did exactly what works best for these cases. The idea that he should make the decision to abort the launch is flawed. He doesn't have enough information to make that decision correctly. It might seem that aborting at the right time saves the pilot, but aborting without coordinating with the pilot the sudden cessation of pressure is actually worse given the conditions of the wing. Only timing it to be done while still on the ground can be good, and it is almost impossible to time it right just from the car alone. What it is important in these cases is for the pilot to have a radio with a PTT button easily accessible. Mine is on the tip of my finger under my glove. I can talk to the operator without releasing the breaks. The operator knew that I could tell him "abort, abort, abort" if I really needed him to abort. Lacking that, he would do exactly what I expected him to do and what is best in this condition: Keep applying constant pressure. When I tell him that I was going to release, he slowed down releasing the tension slowly and that prevented a surge. You can see that in my way of handling the breaks and the fact that I almost forgot to grab the right brake and correct it when I felt the release of pressure.

[@johnalexbaker]

@@paraglidingflorida thanks for responding. Personally I like to pay out tow so that we give enough tension to keep the line off the ground when running, but we don’t add enough tension to launch until after the pilot is running with a clear open wing. I feel it’s way safer, and makes it so that if the wing comes up with a cravat and the pilot does everything they can to launch, they still can’t. In fact they could continue running down the road trying to fix it for as long as they want. If it gets fixed, and they are still running and ready to launch, the operator could dial it up and get the pilot airborne. For anyone else watching that is getting into towing: you don’t have it do it the way shown in the video. Launching with a giant cravat is easily avoidable with the right techniques. I’m also fine moving to a personal conversation if you have any interest. AB

[@paraglidingSafety]

I would not have breaked because of the risk of spinning the wing, Instead I would have waited to reach 30 m height and realeased

[@Summitspeedfly]

That's not even a cravat. Look at your lines wrapped around each other, that's a line-over and/or complete line fuckup. Pulling stabilo isn't gonna fix that.

[@AzerbaijanParagliding]

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