Now George,stebbins wrote:So, you knew in advance that you had a limp. You knew in advance that the wind is from the East in the upper LZ most days. You knew in advance that you were going to break the rule. Yet you seem to think that's ok. It is not.
You had many other options:
1) Don't fly
2) Land in the wash
3) Land in Big T wash (You were there, right?)
4) Recognize that if you land correctly, a cross puts no extra strain on your leg.
5) Land according to the rules and "suck it up"
You felt you could go XC with the leg, but that you couldn't land with a cross wind in your designated LZ? That makes absolutely no sense. If your leg is too injured to land in the upper LZ with a cross without breaking the rules, it is too injured to risk on an XC flight. How you choose to risk your leg is your business. How you deliberately and with forethought land in the SHGA flight park is the club's business. This clearly wasn't an accidental rule-breaking.
I apologize if this seems aggressively written. I couldn't think of a softer way to say it. It isn't my intent here to say anything other than "Hey, my friend, you know better than this. Please don't do that!" But I did feel it needed to be clearly stated, if nothing else, for some of the newbies.
Nice flight. Just remember that if someone can't land in the upper LZ and still follow the rules, they should be landing in the wash or not flying at Kagel. (There are, of course, exceptions. This clearly isn't one of them.)
This act of knee-jerk reactionism is every bit as uncalled for as the completely unwarranted and baseless attack I received on this forum for my video of landing on the perimeter of Everyday Mike's LZ by Lake Elsinore by noneother than "Cold Turkey".
Let's see? So you knew your nosecone was lose during your flight? And you knew that flying a double surface glider with a detached nosecone could possibly cause the wing to over-inflate at speed and result in loss of pitch control, yet you continued your flight even though you had the option to land immediately? But instead you went over the back while your flapping nosecone was cutting holes into the top of your sail thus making it less safe? Right?
Let the first stone be cast...................
Oh, give me a break! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! This is the only time I have ever crossed the cones and it was not by very much and I admitted it myself. I am not among those who make it a habit of this practice. At least one of my recent videos shows me clearly landing down the middle in a 90-degree crosswind from the East so it isn't like I don't know how to do that.
But I did not recall that the wind blows from the East most days. And you apparently knew my memory better than I did?
And my leg began acting up after I sat upright in my harness to prepare for a safe landing. And you knew all the salient facts of this flight based upon a few hastily typed remarks?
Shall I continue? O.k. I will. Based upon the quantity and quality of unsolicited messages that people send me from around the world at YouTube and other forums, my videos have done more to promote this sport and our fine flying site over the past six months than you can possibly imagine or ever lay claim to from your entire hang 5 existence. Now, get the Hell off of your high horse before it topples over and lands on you and we'll see who has a limp next.
Cheers,
Jonathan