A question for those who transport a hang glider

[Marcus Wilberforce]

Hi.  Do you guys have any issues transporting your hang gliders?  Have an old Calypso near Strathaven which I want to get to Haddington before I decide what to do with it.  Has been in a friends garage over there for too long.  Have just moved house and have loads of space now, in the dry.  Went to a van hire place in Haddington to hire a Ford Connect van which is their smallest but seems fine to me if it has a roof rack.  But the guy there was very pessimistic because of changes to road traffic laws and what you are allowed to carry nowadays on a vehicle.  In the good old days I carried it on a Peugeot 205 with a vertical rack tied to the front bumper which supported the length of glider that hung over the bonnet.  'No you cannot do that as it would be seen as a distraction to the driver.  Not even allowed one of these scented pouches you hang off the mirror.'  Was not sure if he was talking balls but would not surprise me in this over protective society we live in now. 

Don't own a car at present hence the need to hire a van.  Maybe I will have to buy an old car to get the glider around again if it is still serviceable.  But just need to get it home first.  If it is too old to fly might see if the East Fortune air museum want it or sell it for spare parts.  But have visions of soaring the dunes at Tyninghame or going to Tinto or one of the other club sites or even further afield.

I believe you can shorten a Calypso but have never done it.  Not sure how.  Any advice. would be welcome.  Have always veered away from doing so because I have not needed to.

Family life and restricted finances have meant that I have not been able to fly for 15 years but still hanker after getting into the air again.  A couple of flights on a microlight or a flight in a glider do not satisfy the urge although great at the time.

Thanks in advance.

[Stewart Reid]

No problem. Use a glider rider
https://www.gov.uk › abnormal-loads

[Marcus Wilberforce]

Hi Stewart

Thanks for advice.  Will check the gov.uk pages. 

I made a glider rider out of stainless steel plumbing pipework and compression joints, with pipe insulation where the frame sat on the bumper or against the bodywork of the radiator grille, about 20 years ago and still have it.  I used to sit it on the front bumper and tie it in place and tie the Calypso to the frame at the top and to the towing eyes each side of the bumper so it could not go anywhere.  The only trouble is that the frame is a fixed length.  But the guy in the van hire shop seemed to imply that we are no longer allowed anything in our line of vision that will distract the driver.   But as the glider will extend out over the front bumper in any case and needs to be supported how do we get around this.  My inclination is to carry on as before and see if any traffic cop does pull me up for having something out in front of me fixed to the car/van.  So long as there are highlighters, tied at each end of the glider that alert people to its presence, I would have thought this is sufficient.  

Has anyone ever been pulled up by the traffic cops because of the load they were carrying and if so what did they say and what was the resolution, I wonder.

Regards

Marcus

On 10 May 2016 at 06:15, Stewart Reid <stewart...@gmail.com> wrote:

No problem.  Use a glider rider
 https://www.gov.uk › abnormal-loads

--
===========================
Lanarkshire and Lothian Soaring Club
LLSC googlegroup is an open-to-everyone email group for PG and HG in Scotland
To view on the web http://groups.google.com/group/llsc
To subscribe to this group, send email to llsc+su...@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "LLSC" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to llsc+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send an email to ll...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Steve Brown]

Hi Marcus, If you are worried, and only carrying the glider occasionally, the best thing might be to use a ladder tied to the roof bars.

For preference I would go for a rear support rather than a front support if that gave enough length.  A lot of rear overhang is tolerated if signaled.  A tow bar is a great place to fix a support, there are bike racks that clamp on to the tow-ball and can be extended to the correct height with a bit of imagination.   ( Unfortunately with a less than massive car and a Rigid  Wing I need front and back supports, so I use a glider rider as well) 

I haven't heard of anybody being pulled over by the cops, but  I once had a policeman acquaintance/friend cast his eye over the front support I had fixed to the bumper. Initially he was dubious,   but he finally said that it was OK since nothing extended in front of the bumper that could damage a pedestrian in an accident.  But that was 20 years ago and rules/laws change.

Cheers

Steve

--

===========================
Lanarkshire and Lothian Soaring Club
LLSC googlegroup is an open-to-everyone email group for PG and HG in Scotland
To view on the web http://groups.google.com/group/llsc
To subscribe to this group, send email to llsc+su...@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "LLSC" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to llsc+uns...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to ll...@googlegroups.com.

[Sándor Czettner]

Are trailers not in fashion in The UK? Never seen one on the streets but for boats :) Or just the drivers can't handle it? Checked the dictionary, what I mean:

luggage trailer

juggler (Scotland)

truck trailer

You can put one end on the back, the other end can be over the car.