[Avnav8r]

Hey Tandem pilots,

Do any of you have some good stories about passengers that you wish you had a quick release on his or her harness? I remember an interview by Erik Fair with Rob McKenzie about a big WitchDoctor/Rainmaker guy that caused a few problems. Rob, are you out there and are you willing to share this story with us? What about you other Tandem pilot? Thanks!

John Stokes
www.soarsouth.blogspot.com

[NMERider]

Joe - Great topic!

At least one person asked me why Joe Greblo let me do the launch and landing on my first tandem flight ever after having not even flown for 26 years. In the video I shot you can watch him yank me around right after take-off and later he grabs my head and point it at the landing line while we were circling in the staging area. He's a great instructor and I trusted his judgement in allowing me to do these tasks even though he'd never seen my fly, etc.

Jonathan Dietch - Gradually returning pilot who has yet to fly again since April.....

[Rob McKenzie]

[Rob McKenzie]

Oh you want edge of hell passengers. This wasn't my passenger thankfully but its' a true story.

Crestline September 1979. I had not started tandem flying yet in California. I was a good intermediate with about 150 hours airtime. A guy takes his friend tandem. In those days most harnesses had originally been made without parachutes and had containers sewn externally onto the harnesses to upgrade them. And tandem wasn't popular so most harnesses were not chute-less as in being dedicated as a passenger harness.

So this guy takes a big glider and borrows a friend's harness which has a chute so that he can take this other non-pilot for a tandem. It's a stirrup harness and the squarish protruding chute container on the chest makes a convenient place to hang the stirrup for the launch run. Common practice.

Off they go. The passenger knows he's supposed to grab the stirrup and push it down to his feet to kick the harness to full length. For those who don't know about stirrup harnesses it's much like a cocoon but just a loop of rope and foot bar below the thighs.

You probably guessed it by now. He grabbed the stirrup AND THE CHUTE HANDLE at the same time and subsequently deployed the chute. They careened into the poison oak about 800' below Crestline launch, which is located BTW, at the edge of hell.

[knumbknuts]

Great stories, Rob.

My wife went on a tandem with Rob and she chucked. I'm not sure I want to hear any of those stories. On a related note, Rob didn't chuck after listening to me nervously yap away on an hour long tandem at Crestline.

[NMERider]

[designbydave]

[AP]

Amber* was starting her 18th birthday with a tandem flight, a present from her parents who were also there to watch, as were a number of her friends. The cameras were out, much to the Ambers' embarassment, as was the laughter and commentary from her group that seemed to undermine her already fragile composure. "Hey Amber, did you remember to write your will, HA HA" etc etc. Eventually I dropped enough hints and the crowd stopped the hassling. A little concern for me was Ambers size, particularly her girth. The whole family were XXXL and despite just turning 18 she stood several inches taller as we stood shoulder to shoulder. Worst of all was her apprehension. By the time we got hooked-in Amber was very, very anxious. Each time we prepared to launch she would get too concerned and we would have to wait until things settled. I decided one more aborted launch and she would be getting a refund but eventually she put on a brave face and said "I want to do it".

We got three steps into the launch when Amber froze and stopped running. Despite carrying the significant dead weight I still managed to carry us off the cliff with the nose and wings in the correct attitude. 'Whew!' I thought and immediately set-up a pass to the north in front of the hill and stated climbing, slowly. I assumed the worst was behind us, Amber was getting into the harness stirrup, I had airspeed and had control. But within the first few minutes Amber still had not settled, worse, she was now emotional enough to be crying. I realised it was a lost cause and told her we were landing. On the way in I was trying to reassure her we were going to on the ground soon.

I talked her through the landing routine but the only confirmation I received was sobbing. The approach was spot on but just prior to to initiating the flare she grabbed the A-frame, left side, and the glider obliged by turning in that direction. I was on to it straight away but at best only managed to arrest the turn and had to delay the flare in order to level the wings while continuing to wrestle back full control of the glider. Amber contributed most of our weight shift and remained glued to the left downtube. Her legs were up and she had no intention using them to take any of the load. We touched down and despite all my efforts I could not carry the weight and run out the landing. As the basebar touched down with some forward speed Amber swung through with her generous mass and folded the downtube.

Could have been ugly if she had strength on her side.

* Alias

[Avnav8r]

Hey Rob,

Thanks for the other tandem stories, but will you please tell the story about the Witch Doctor/Rainmaker guy? This story is a classic and there are many on this site that have never read about this incredible save from a passenger you described as "equal parts spooked, spaced and spun!" I know the story, but I am a little selfish and want to "hear" it again!

John Stokes

[jjcote]

I've never even been on a tandem flight, so I don't have any first-hand stories, but about a month ago, Stevie P. told me about a passenger that he had at Wallaby over the winter. If I remember it correctly, when they put the guy in the harness and hung him from the glider, he latched onto the control bar with white knuckles. Steve said, "Don't do that when we're flying!", and the guy said no, of course not. But then on launch, as the tug accelerated, the guy grabbed the bar as soon as they came off the cart, and he had Steve on height, weight, and reach. They went into lockout, but the weak link didn't break, but Steve was able to hit one of the releases. With not much altitude to work with (and maybe being in a bad position relative to trees or something), it was a struggle to get onto the ground without anybody getting hurt -- I can't remember whether anything on the glider got bent.

[hgnv]

Thanks for the stories Rob always entertaining... And thanks for the tandems I've enjoyed with you...

You are an extraordinary pilot and instructor.

My first flight in CA. was a tandem with Rob, I was a new H-2 having only flown Lookout Mountain and up to this point never experienced flying in air with significant texture. Wanting to learn the approach to Andy Jackson I opted for the safety and security of a tandem first (a wise decission considering my lack of experience). Rob gave a thourough pre-fight brief and launch instruction. We launched from Crestline into a warm gentle breeze, Rob was quick to ease my apprehension by demonstrating a few basic manuvers all the while explaining every step and pointing out significant landmarks, bail out LZ, and headings to the LZ. A short while into the flight Rob sensed I was starting to relax and offer me control of the wing. Things were going well as we crossed the valley and were approaching Regionals.... I was truely in awe of the beauty of the terrain from from this altitude and the joy that is hang gliding... Then without and warning the right wing and nose not only dropped but seem to be forced by tremendous pressure toward the ground WE ARE FALLING is racing through my mind, I now am pressed by mine and Rob's weight aginst the right down tube and have a white knuckled death grip on the base tube... all the while desperately looking up into the wing to see what must surely be a broken glider... I am now in sensory overload and fastly approaching panic as we continue to plummit toward the back side of Regionals... It is after having lost about 500' in what seemed like a nano-second... Suddenly I hear a calming voice simply but firmly state "My Glider" (a prearranged term indicating Rob would resume control of the wing) at this point I was more than glad to relinquish control to Rob He focused his attention on the immediate task of flying the wing and a few pulls and bumps later we were flying level and trim. I look over at Rob as if to say WTF and in the usual Rob-esque calm voice says Welcome to your first trip "over the Falls"...

We continued on to an un-eventful approach and two step landing... I have since flown other tandems and many solo flights... I hope some day to attain the cool-ness under pressure of Rob....

[Rob McKenzie]

[MikeB]

Hey Rob, what about that one I think I heard Dusty tell about, where you were tandem with some big guy and came in for a landing with the passenger holding your side straps, and as you neared the ground, he began to 'flare' you, leaving you to deal with the issues as he pushed your body forward???

[NMERider]

[Rob McKenzie]

[Rob McKenzie]

Talking about "whack". Did you ever notice that late in the evening if someone does a good whack and enough folks are in the LZ yelling whack at the same time, it will echo beautifully off the mountain and canyons. All you have to do is first have everyone time their yell to the exact moment the noseplate hits the ground, then everyone needs to be very quiet and listen.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[pecofly]

Well, the worst scenario I remember whilst doing a tandem was on launch.
I had instructed my passenger to walk jog run several times and became comfortable that my passenger was up to the task.
My mistake was, Just before launching I reminded her again,
Remember, I need to feel that you are keeping up with me , so make sure I can feel you back there.
Ready ? Set, and walk , jog,,,,,,,,,,,,,, holy shite!!!
This gal somehow geared up and pushed for all she was worth.
By the time we had the second step of the launch in, she was running and pushing with such a force that she literally forced me into a stall.
Now , I had been flying hanggliders for 20 years and only once in the beginning of my flying career had I blown a launch due to a stall.
I immediately pulled in and tried hard to correct the glider that was now turning hard back into the mountain, but, it wasn,t happening.
Nothing left to do but haul myself even further out on to the left wing to regain\ control,
At this point I was fully pulled in and as far over on the left downtube as I could go.
Still not coming back so, I commit myself to the wire and hauled my whole body out using the left flying wire to get me there, and yeahhhhhh, success.
The glider turned away and leveled out.
We continued for a couple of hours of nice soarable air and then finished with a one stepper, where upon I changed my pants. Sheeesh!
Never give up was what I got out of that flight.
One more quickie and not a tandem was back in the standard days.
About 90'off the deck, I stalled a rogallo badly and it went into a luff dive

I pushed out for all I was worth, the glider was not responding and the ground was coming up fast.
Back then I was in a swing seat, so just a few seconds before impact and no other options, I put both feet on the basetube and pushed out and at the same time threw myself backwards in a final do or die attempt, and amazingly, the glider flared and I was just laying flat on the ground as gently as could be.
If only I had a video of that.
Anyways, thats a couple of my stories.
PeteR

[knumbknuts]

[Pete B]

Rob Mckenzie,
I was just on the phone with a friend (Shaun McGuirk) who flew a couple of times with you about 20 years ago. He was laughing saying how he'd be thermalling his Calypso and you'd climb up past him with your passenger then spiral down and climb up past him again!!
Pete

[Rob McKenzie]