Marian Aldenhövel writes
We are taught to plan every launch as featuring a wire break and to
preplan up to what altitudes to land straight, turn back or fly the
pattern as part of the takeoff-check. During training we are to say
these altitudes and actions out loud.

Here in the UK, the last part of our pre-flight check-list is
"Eventualities", the main part of which is planning in advance what to
do in the event of a launch failure. This includes deciding on the
approach speed, and what you are going to do if you can't land ahead,
such as turning downwind, for example, in which case you confirm which
direction such a turn would be in.

It specifically doesn't mention altitude, however (disclaimer: at least
not the way I've been taught!).

The drill if the cable breaks is to put the nose down and hold it down
until you reach the pre-decided speed and assess whether or not you can
land ahead. This specifically isn't done in reference to the altimeter
but visually by how the field looks in front of you, and the preference
is always to land ahead if at all possible. I understand most accidents
from the winch happen after the actual failure, subsequent to the
decision not to land ahead and instead turn.

Though I'm quite compulsive in monitoring my height as I climb during
the launch so always know how high the aircraft //thinks// it is if
there is a failure, the only role the altimeter plays for me after a
cable break will be after I've already established the attitude of the
aircraft to gain flying speed and decided what I'm going to do, at which
point I might back up the decision with a glance at the dial.

I'm fortunate in that the field I fly from is of a size where,
generally, if you can't land ahead you have ample height to turn
downwind and fly an abbreviated circuit. Of course, it doesn't change
the fact that I may not always have this luxury if I fly from elsewhere.

Like you, I approach every winch launch with the expectation it will
fail, and on the occasion that it has have recovered quite
instinctively. That said, on each occasion (whether practised or real),
there has always been the comfort of the drill playing over the rush of
adrenaline in my head, " hold the nose down", "check the speed", "clear
the cable", "land ahead?", "check the speed" even as "instinct" flew the
recovery. I'm of the opinion that instinct alone leads very easily to
complacency, and I suspect that this is the real killer in these
situations.

Before soloing we do a minimum of three excercises where the instructor
pulls the knob at some point during the launch. So it's the real thing,
nothing "emergency-like" there. We do not train wire-breaks at
altitude.

I remember when first being taught the recovery, the initial
demonstration was at altitude, which was useful, but it was then
followed up with the instructor pulling the release and demonstrating
for real, from about 100' as I recall.

After that, you could guarantee that if you missed the "Eventualities"
out of your pre-flight checks, the instructor would use that as an
object lesson and pull the release on you, and it was then practised
intermittently at various heights and in various versions in the same
way throughout the rest of your training whenever a mischievous
instructor felt like a change

It was also one of the last things emphasised and re-practiced (always
with the instructor pulling the release on the launch, typically without
warning) before you were sent solo - actually, it was the emphasis on
this and noticing my instructor making discrete requests of the ground
crew to go find ballast that led me to guessing what it was he had up
his sleeve when that time came!

Cable-break practice also features heavily in our various check-flights,
especially, I've noticed if we happen to be operating that day from the
shorter cross-runway, where the "land ahead" options are some what
brutally curtailed in comparison to our normal luxury of space!

Still I feel very safe. And I also found pushing over, gaining normal speed
and then attitude the natural thing to do.

The BGA's apparent emphasis on safe winch launch operation is such that
it featured so heavily in my training that even though I still get a
twinge of apprehensive adrenaline when sat attached to the cable
contemplating the launch ahead, I do feel very safe and prepared to deal
with any thing that might go wrong on the launch, backed up by the fact
that on a couple of occasions I've since had cause to prove I myself
able to do just that since going solo.

On the other hand, the idea of a badly timed cable break on aerotow
terrifies me! Then again, I have about 170 wire launches to my name now
compared to just two aerotows



--
Bill Gribble
http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk
- Learn from the mistakes of others.
- You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.