Thank you for the report Dan.

Sharing the information in a positive way is a great exercise, and adding your personal experience is a perfect reminder for us all to remain vigilant.  It CAN happen to you.

I’d be happy to once we are done cleaning up the mess created by the previous board.

When I taught HG at the 20′ sand dune at Pepper Ave (1980-1999) I saw a positive benefit when a student failed to hook in. Yes they were explained the values of a hang check, and picking up the glider high enough to feel leg straps. But soon the flights were seeming easier with fast reflights and a student might start getting complacent as their confidence grew.

I might  even provide distractions to see if I could lead the student into a fail to hook in just to make a point about distractions. It wasn’t dangerous as it usually only resulted in jogging down the hill with basetube rising to chest height. I could tell a student 100 times that failure to hookin is a real and dangerous possibility but them actually doing it was a better learning experience than being told the 100 times.

One day a student failed to hookin after having done at least 20 very nice flights on this sand dune. He walked back up and asked “what happened, why didn’t it fly?”. He didn’t realize he wasn’t connected. I responded “you need to have a very loose grip on the glider like perhaps just a thumb and index finger”, hoping the glider might rise up and leave his hold on it. He ran unconnected again and even a third time still not realizing he isn’t connected. I recall it was his 4th flight when he picked up the glider he suddenly realized he hasn’t been connected the 3 prior runs.

I remember that I had a growing curiosity as to how long it might take for the student to realize that he wasn’t connecting. I was concerned that there was a disconnect in the thought process and not just the hang loop. I recall the personal dilemma. I prefer a student to develop thinking skills and not just be spoon fed everything. But sheesh,  when he would jog down the dune with thumb and index finger holding the base tube 18″ above his head and he still isn’t figuring out that he’s not hooked in? I think I said after his third flight that he needs an even looser grip even if it means the glider flies away on its own. 30 seconds later (4th flight) was when he suddenly realized what was happening.