Thong Alternative

For those light fingered flyers - probably thought of before, but I thought I'd offer it anyway. Experience with other devices leads me to believe you can make it tight enough to counter line pull without too much discomfort. Defnitely more invasive than a thong, but with good material selection, it should impart a glove-like feeling.

Boy, I have three questions on this one. First off, what makes this better than a string/rope type thong?

If the strap is hard attached to the handle in the direction shown, I would think it would work against you. It needs to loop or easily drape towards the wrist.

And then the velcro? If this is the loop around the wrist, I don't think it will hold up to the pull test. The thong needs to take the pull test every bit as much as the handle and lines.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-04 AT 09:54 PM (CST)
 
I guess the drawing doesn't help. Ever had a camcorder? The strap goes over the back of the hand in the position shown. As Brett pointed out, a thong doesn't intend to keep your grip on the handle and this isn't intended to go around a wrist.

Another analogy is a high quality baseball glove - with an adjustable hand strap. They can be made to stay on your hand in very hard plays.

I have a safety thong that I got several years ago that indeed used a Velcro fastener. It was designed by a combat flyer for ease of getting loose from handle when need be. It had a heavy stiched loop around the handle. Then the other strap went around the wrist with the Velcro fastener around the wrist. I swore by this until someone protested its use in stunt. They proceded to pull it loose from my wrist when the Velcro let go. I use slip knot thong now. -DOC

And in this example, when your fingers are popped forward from the jerk of the model, your hand will slip through your Velcro strap with no problem.

It's good to always be thinking though. Perhaps another try. Your solution doesn't have to be as cheap as the rope solution we have now if its more convenient.

As you say, if you open up your fingers, it won't withstand a pull test or a sharp jerk. A safey thong won't maintain control of the plane, either. It's certainly saved some camcorders for me, and in some cases the weight was not trivial. I know when I run, no Walkman's belt clip is equal to one of these.

For some of you with a memory in these things, it was also used on "knobbies" - single stick, multi-channel RC transmitters.

Like you said, though, it's a try. I don't want to be critical on some subjects without offering an alternative and my own target for someone to shoot.

>I guess the drawing doesn't help. Ever had a camcorder?
>The strap goes over the back of the hand in the position
>shown. As Brett pointed out, a thong doesn't intend to keep
>your grip on the handle and this isn't intended to go around
>a wrist.
>
>Another analogy is a high quality baseball glove - with an
>adjustable hand strap. They can be made to stay on your
>hand in very hard plays.

OK, understand now. Its purpose is to hold the handle to the hand. I am not sure that thiw would be legal for AMA purposes, however, as I believe this has to go around the wrist and also must sustain a pull test.

Friends: I was using leather boot laces for my safety thongs, until Brett pointed out that leather will develop weak spots and could actually break at a bad moment. I now use Nylon cord of rather thick dimensions. Nylon will not deteoriate.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-12-04 AT 11:13 PM (CST)
 
There are Combat fliers who fly with velcro straps, but not like that one. The most elaborate ones closed over the hand, but they also went around the wrist. Larry Skelly made one for his son Skyler for Fast Combat - Skyler was maybe 10 years old at the time. Helped him hold on to the model. You put it around the wrist first, grab the handle, then a strap goes around your hand and the handle at attaches again to the wrist. Very strong. Bob Bearden made and sold one that was more like a traditional thong - it was attached to the handle, and the 1" wide strap went around the wrist and fastened with velcro.

Yeah, the idea was that if you had to remove it in a hurry, you could.