tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8627322010786735293.post2885167323809718277..comments2023-10-01T09:35:35.894+02:00Comments on Antipodes: New IcarusWilliam Skyvingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10052367756561555096noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8627322010786735293.post-53363980622842758162008-11-05T22:22:00.000+01:002008-11-05T22:22:00.000+01:00Happily you refrained from perpetuating the pervas...Happily you refrained from perpetuating the pervasive myth that the "Standard" was a death trap. That claim is an utterly unsupportable and false one that denigrates the device that was flown by many tens of thousands in complete safety. When constructed and assembled correctly and used in a manner consistent with the prevailing cautionary guidelines that existed at that time it is hard to find more than a tiny handful of accidents fatal or otherwise that can be attributed to the design misnamed the "Standard Rogallo" but properly called the Dickenson Wing.<BR/><BR/>I posted this recently on the Hang Gliding Yahoo Group on 31 Oct 08 to defend the design; <BR/><BR/>--In May of 1974 I had the pleasure and great good fortune to take part<BR/>in the 4th Annual Otto Lilienthal Meet at Sylmar California. Over 300<BR/>pilots registered and flew that weekend. At times there were 15 to 20<BR/>gliders airborne. It was stinkin' strong thermal conditions with<BR/>several pilots climbing 500' to 1000' over take off. Taras Kiceniuk<BR/>flew his Icarus V for an hour and a quarter in strong thermals and<BR/>climbed 2700 over launch. On one approach to land he hooked a boomer<BR/>200' above the LZ and climbed back up to 1000'. Of course anyone who<BR/>has flown Sylmar/Kagel knows strong thermal conditions are common<BR/>there that time of the year. This was undoubtedly the first time any<BR/>large number of hang glider pilots soared thermals together. It was an<BR/>epic event. I had my longest flight ever to that point. Quite likely,<BR/>like me, many pilots, if not most, had close to zero experience prior to<BR/>this event.<BR/><BR/>I have added a photo album at<BR/>the HangGlide Yahoo Group<BR/>"4th Lilienthal Meet May 1974 Sylmar CA"<BR/><BR/>1000 to 2000 flights happened that weekend and not one glider tucked,<BR/>tumbled or diverged into the ground. I was 5 months shy of the<BR/>average age 26 and probably not atypical in being utterly ignorant of<BR/>nearly every important aviation principle and safety technique. In<BR/>fact it was at that meet that I finally realized that I had done a<BR/>crap job of following the assembly instructions pertaining to how to<BR/>insure proper keel reflex (mine had negative reflex) when fabricating<BR/>the cables. My wing was divergent but incredibly it still didn't kill<BR/>me! The only injury in the whole event was a kid who fell off his bike.<BR/><BR/>165 of the participants were flying carbon copies of the Dickenson Wing.--<BR/><BR/>"Carbon copies " is a very slight exaggeration. Most wings by that point had top rigging which had no consequential on the safety of the design.<BR/><BR/>This is only one of many events that occurred in those days that enjoyed such an excellent safety record.<BR/><BR/>It is worth pointing out that Dickenson was an active pilot that racked up many scores of hours, was both a record setter and contest winner, hand crafted his own designs which he sold to others, and developed improved methods and versions of his own designs throughout the 1960s. Dickenson also served Moyes as a designer and consultant from 1967 into the 1980s.<BR/><BR/>With the exception of Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes he was more experienced than any hang glider pilot in history at the time he chose to leave hang gliding to support his family.<BR/><BR/>Ken de Russy<BR/>USHGA Life/Charter Member #5114<BR/>Hang Gliding Museum Collector Guy<BR/>Anacortes, WA<BR/>360 293 8621<BR/>Skype "ken.de.russy"<BR/><BR/>HangGlidingMuseum Yahoo Group OwnerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8627322010786735293.post-77429758273549051782008-10-15T04:35:00.000+02:002008-10-15T04:35:00.000+02:00"Somebody said in a comment to one of my recent po...<I>"Somebody said in a comment to one of my recent posts about John Dickenson: "People have been successfully hang gliding since the 1800s." I don't know whether the devices illustrated in the above engravings were what you might call successful inventions. In this line of thinking, the thing that impressed me most in my recent face-to-face encounter with John Dickenson is the fact that, not only did he invent and test a free-flying wing, but he also survived his invention!"</I><BR/><BR/>The drawings are just that - not practical machines that flew. Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, the Wright Brothers and a later host of others flew or designed working hang gliders prior to the "standard". Some survived, some didn't.<BR/><BR/>Dickenson gave up flying his kite fairly soon though. Sadly, many who flew the "standard" hang glider based on the Dickenson design did not survive the invention, which proved to have a fairly narrow safe envelope. That is not to imply that Dickenson was to blame for their demise - there will always be those who push the limits and pay the price; particularly when the limits are not well known.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com