I've been working on making flying a bit safer. I recently made the transition to a topless glider. With my old glider seen here at the left, I had a bike brake lever at my right hand (click to zoom in on any picture). With a quick squeeze of the lever, the release up at the top would open releasing me from the tow plane. Because it takes 2 hands to fly a hang glider, it is important to be able to release from the tow plane while keeping your hands on the control bar. I have experienced, and seen plenty of videos of pilots getting out of control on tow, and unwilling to take their hands off the controls. When you get in a bad situation, pilots tend to try to control the glider instead of letting go of the tow rope. In the second it takes to grab for a release, a glider near a lockout position can really get in bad shape. The pilot in this video failed to release from the tow plane when he started to lose control (PIO) which shot him at the ground after locking out. After switching from my Ultrasport to my Talon, it was time to start towing from the shoulders only (no rope going up attached to the glider). The talon really does tow a lot better from the shoulders (less yaw issues). The down side of this was that I could no longer use my bicycle brake release. After some pointers from Steve Kinsley and Tad Eareckson, I created the release shown here. The idea is quite simple, and can be made with $3 worth of material from the hardware store and an hour of spare time (more if you're like me and can't find your drill so you turn the bits by hand). Above in the picture (going to the pilots left shoulder) is the traditional barrel release which becomes the secondary release with this setup. The rope from that secondary release goes through the tow rope and then back to my new release. This release has a loop that goes through the tow bridle (red rope), and then back to the release, where it is held by another rope that goes through the diameter of the release tube and then up to the pilot's mouth. When the pilot wants to release, all he has to do is release the rope or scream a profanity, and the mouth string goes though the tube, and releases the loop which then releases the bridle which then releases the tow rope. "But isn't it uncomfortable?" No, the tow force get gets down many times over going through all those loops and through the tube. The force on the mouth rope is very low. What is really nice though is once you are a few hundred feet up and away from anything hard (the earth, for example), you slide the gray tube forward and it locks the mouth rope in place. Then you are left with a barrel release on both sides. Just pull back on the barrel on either shoulder, and you are released from the plane.

I plan to test the release over the next couple flights to be sure it releases when I want it to, doesn't release when I don't want it to. I will update again here as soon as I see how things work out.

-Craig Next week, first flights of the season and a new wingtip camera (hopefully). Hang Glide in Wisconsin! Get Towed up in Whitewater