http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=385807694789431

This video shows what seems to be the one successful flight. I watched many of
them and almost all were failures, which is what you would expect in a research
and development project. The experiment ended without all the problems solved,
but much learned. At the end the spectra rope was being heated too much and
breaking.

The reel is a payout reel that allows the paraglider pilot to fly slower than
the Dragonfly until the two of them can get high enough for the paraglider pilot
to fly inside the circle that the tug starts flying, thereby continuing to fly
slower than the tug without pulling out the line.

The tug pilot has a set of brake controls that allows him to increase the
resistance on the reel using a band around the line. Once high enough in the air
and circling the tug pilot increases the resistance as he begins circling.

The stand above the propeller obviously keeps the line out of the propeller, but
not always. I saw it wrap around the propeller hub and snap, bending the tube at
the top.

The stand can rotate to the left or right as the paraglider pilot moves
off line from directly behind the tug. There is a shock absorbing piston that
returns the stand to the vertical.

There is a hook knife set up to cut the line if the paraglider puts too much
pressure on the plane. It is activated by a handle next to the pilot. It can be
seen in the center of the picture.

The whole mechanism has been removed now and you can't tell if it was ever
there. Obviously the paraglider is going to pull the nose up if the resistance
on the reel is increased. Unlike towing hang gliders, the towing line is not
kept completely away from the motor. Also you must cut the line and there is no
weaklink that will automatically break at the tug if the forces get too large.
The "weaklink" used at the paraglider side was six strands.

Can the last problem be solved? A pulley at the top of the stand instead of the
tube? Put the reel much further back? Maybe a fishing reel with high strength
fishing line?