I went solo in a glider in 1962 and for about 5 years after that my main
duties were that of winch driver undertaking about 50 launches per
weekend.In 50 years of gliding I have held or hold a CFS credited A2 Star
instructor category, a BGA Full Cat and Assistant Cat.I have been appointed
as the OC of awinch launched Air Cadet Gliding School, and CFI. I am
Currently DCFI at my club. I have over 10,000 launches the majority of
which are by winch. I have had no accident. I have released a glider at the
start of a winch launch on about 5 occasions after we started to move and
before we were airborne. I all cases my hand was on the release and was
because a wing was dropping. I all cases I was the instructor in the back
seat and I have no idea whether or not the wing drop would have been
recovered, I did not think it was prudent to wait to find out. I only
mention all this so that no one will be in any doubt that my next statement
is made with some knowledge gained by experience.

I have flown at many clubs and AC Gliding Schools and have observed
operations at many more. I can say that the winch operation at Portmoak,
The Scottish Gliding Centre is as efficient and safe as any I have seen,
and has always been so since I started visiting many years ago. Even the
launch round the pole was done in such a way as to be completely safe.

If anyone should know the primary cause of the cartwheel accidents I, and
many others would be glad to hear it. The wing drop is a symptom and the
actions of the wing runner do not appear to have any contribution to the
cause. In my opinion the most likely factors are aft fitted CoG hooks,
rapid acceleration, crosswind, too strong weak links, cable misalignment
and the pilot holding the aileron/rudder controls in any position other
than neutral or mishandling. I suspect that if only one factor is present
the result is not too serious but the presence of 2 or more factors is
likely to result in disaster but it does appear that no one really knows.
In those circumstances a very early release is the only action that will
mitigate the result and it is therefore sensible to be in a position to
release as quickly as possible. The events happen very quickly and even the
milliseconds or longer taken searching for the release can be too long. The
time saved by having your hand on the release can literally mean the
difference between life or death. As an aside on of the reasons for
removing the safe blind handle from ejector seats was to do away with the
time it took for a pilot to decide which handle to use. There is a time
penalty in deciding all actions, if you are holding the release at least
one decision/action is removed from the chain.

What concerns me is that some uninformed people have failed to grasp the
importance of holding the release (pun intended) and even worse have argued
against it. The danger is that people with less experience may not adopt
the procedure because of these irresponsible arguments and statements.

I flew an ASW 17 for several years and I did hold the flap lever on
aerotowing but I always had a paracord loop around my wrist and the release
knob. The use of air-brake to increase aileron effectiveness is unnecessary
on a flapped sailplane where negative flap, which has the same effect, is
available so the paracord loop would work for airbrakes as well.

Bottom line, holding the release from the moment the cable is attached,
whatever your method of tow is a sensible and safe practice. An inadvertent
release on the ground run is only likely to cause embarrassment and some
pushing and shoving, but at least you will be alive to do it.