Today, after everyone else left the flying field, I decided to do just one last flight, and it was...literally. So here is my "stooge" story to serve as a reminder and caution to all. This is just another way it can happen.
I have read some of the horror stories on these forums about stooge mishaps. That always happens to someone else, not me. I am too careful. My set up is a stooge mounted on a 1 foot by 1 foot 1/4 inch thick piece of steel plate. If the plane pulls too much I lay the stooge on a similar sized piece of rubberized shelf liner. That works well. For added safety, I have a very heavy weight I attach to the control line handle safety thong that will "give hard down elevator" should the plane slip from the stooge before I am ready.
Whenever I use a stooge, I ALWAYS run my lines, put the handle thong weight between the airplane handle and the stooge release line handle...ALWAYS! After starting the engine and walking (behind the lines) to the handle, I pick up the airplane handle with my left hand (I fly right handed). That way I now have control of the airplane. I then remove the weight attached to the safety thong and place the thong (safety that is) on my right wrist. I then move the handle from my left hand to my right hand. Only then do I "touch" the stooge release line handle. I pick up the stooge release handle with my left hand, and when I am ready to launch, pull the release handle and "discard" that release handle when the plane starts to move. Today was no different EXCEPT... I released the airplane and immediately saw the stooge line wrapped around my control lines. It made it about a quarter lap before the stooge line handle got to the airplane control lines. The rest is history...literally. I am not sure how the stooge line wrapped my control lines but I have two possible scenarios.
1. I think I have a tendency to "toss" the stooge line handle or there is a "spring" reaction when I release the stooge handle because at the end of each flight the stooge handle comes to rest about a third (or less) of the way back towards the launch site. In that scenario, the plane could have flown under the stooge line as I toss, or is springs back, and because I am bending over for takeoff, thus the line wrap.
2. When getting ready to fly from the stooge, I always pick up the handle in my left hand first, put the safety thong on my right wrist, change the handle to my right hand then pick up the stooge release handle with my left. In that scenario, I pick up the stooge handle and it remains under (lower than) my control lines and plane handle. The only way this could cause a line wrap would be if I reached over my right hand with my left in order to pick up the stooge handle. That is more unlikely since that would be more awkward.
So be careful with the use of stooges. They are often necessary for those of us who can, or must, fly alone at times and work well but...
In any event, the Pathfinder is likely history, the engine is history as well as the control lines and stooge release line. Other than that, all is well. And by the way, that was my contest airplane and the Northwest Regionals begin in a few weeks. Boo!!!