Bill, My comment was in reaction to the last statement in his post.

"That seems different from our sailplane experience, where I'd say most
glider crashes involve an airworthy glider."

My point was simply that a glider with an improper hookup is not
airworthy. I know there are a lot of accidents because of this
phenomenon, but I don't know how significant this is statistically.

This does not take away from your argument.

Best,

Nyal



At 15:49 22 March 2011, bildan wrote:
On Mar 22, 9:20=A0am, Nyal Williams wrote:
Have you factored out the unairworthy gliders made so by faulty
assembly?


Why would anyone do that? Proper assembly is a pilot responsibility
whether he rigged the glider or not. Pilots have the final
responsibility to perform a pre-flight inspection which includes
checking for proper assembly. If a pilot crashes due to improper
assembly, he alone bears the blame. Again, training and experience is
critically important.