It's my turn to contribute to the noise of this thread. I'm pretty
sure I saw an airport wiIth a paved runway right under the airplane
where this accident happened, and that glimpse is supported the
observation that the glider was just released.

Does it strike anyone as odd that the pilot chose to deploy the
parachute rather than glide to a landing? It was not clear to be that
the airplane was out of control after striking the tow line, but maybe
I'm missing something.

A second point: I adopted a strategy shown to me by an older more
experienced pilot. Enroute he almost always flew (the a/c was an Aero
Commander 680, a high wing twin) at his assigned altitude + about 75
feet, figuring it decreased the odds of a midair a little. I took on
the habit of averaging about 75 feet under my chosen or assigned
altitude, given the Mooney is a low wing airplane and vis is better up
than down.

And notice I did say 'average'. My handflying enroute tolerance is
quite a lot better than +/- 100 feet, but with lots of time in the
airplane, careful trimming, and paying attention it's not hard to hold
altitude to a couple of needle widths. I think most pilots with a
reasonable amount of time do at least as well as that.


by the On Feb 9, 5:21 pm, Jim Logajan wrote:
I got the following link to this video via the Matronics Zenith e-mail
list. What's interesting and fascinating about it is that it contains video
from a cockpit camera that shows the impending mid-air collision and the
cockpit view when the aircraft hits the ground under the chute:

http://www.turbopilot.com/copa/image3/brs.wmv

I guess cockpit cameras are becoming common enough that this sort of video
would be inevitable.

(Not sure why the pilot didn't see the towing aircraft - unless it was
because the other plane was coming up from below to his right.)