Thank you for your interest in the GetOff aerotow release. After years of witnessing and experiencing first hand problems and failures of other release designs in the hang gliding scene I designed this release to do a better job. I believe this is the best hang gliding release money can buy. One of the design goals was to avoid all of the known problem areas with other release types. I also wanted to make this release available to those on a budget without compromising anything in the way of safety and reliability. The relatively low cost of this release is not an indication of poor quality but rather a reflection of my desire as a pilot to build the safest release I could conceive, make it affordable, and therefore put a safer release in the hands of my fellow pilots. My goal is not to make a large profit but to give something back to the sport which has given me so much joy since I began in 1985.
The release is made from high quality stainless steel including even the return spring so that corrosion is not a concern. It is built so that all critical wear areas are easily inspected without any dis-assembly. Keeping the design as simple as possible reduces potential problem areas. Due to the chosen materials the release is designed to last a lifetime. In the case of extreme high use, the only parts which could wear out can be replaced with ease and at low cost. Careful attention to details in the design and construction result in a very consistent and predictable action as the release is subjected to increasing load. Every release is tested using 105kg weight before being shipped although destructive tests show that the release can take closer to 200kg before there is any permanent deformation of the release pin. At this point the release still worked successfully and with ease. This much force at the release would translate into an extremely high force at the tow rope due to force reduction at the tow bridle, and proper weak link selection should never allow anywhere near this much force to be applied to the release, but it illustrates that the release is built and tested to high standards and affords a significant safety margin for material strength.
In operation, this release has a different feel than other releases. The release cable must move approximately 35mm to actuate the release. The release only requires about 1kg pull at no load. As load on the release builds actuation force increases as well but at only about 1/13th of the applied load however this relationship is reliable and consistent unlike other designs which behave in a non-linear way and can jam at high load. Under normal tow forces the release feels about the same as it does with no load. The design works flawlessly with a slack tow force as well as can be seen in the test video.
