At 15:37 16 February 2014, wrote:
On Sunday, February 16, 2014 5:01:24 AM UTC-6, Chris Rollings wrote:
At 10:06 16 February 2014, Jonathon May wrote:
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At 08:50 16 February 2014, Chris Rollings wrote:
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At 01:21 16 February 2014, Don Johnstone wrote:
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At 22:39 11 February 2014, kirk.stant wrote:
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Or, just teach the glider pilot to NEVER lose sight of the
towplane,
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and
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to=3D
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immediately release if he does. =3D20
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Is it a matter of the FAA and insurance underwriters making
any=20
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change
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to=3D
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the status quo cost-prohibitive? What sort of gauntlet does one
nee
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to
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r=3D
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un?
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One of the never to be breached rules of aerotowing for a glider
pilot
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i
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the UK is "if at any time you loose sight of the tug for ANY reason
yo
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ar
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to pull the release"
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If you read Chris's article carefully you may deduce that in the
wors
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cas
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scenario, the rapid vertical departure of the glider, by the time th
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glider pilot realises he has lost sight of the tug, and attempts to
pu=
l
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the release it is already far to late to make any significant
differen=
c
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t
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what is going to happen.
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"Our first conclusion was that, in the event of this sequence
occurrin=
g
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accidentally as a result of an inadvertent pitch up by the glider
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pilot,
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there was effectively no chance that either the glider pilot or
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tow-pilot
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would recognise the problem and pull the release in the available
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time."
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It was this very scenario that killed a very good friend of mine who
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was
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very experienced tug pilot. There are some events that,
paradoxically
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require corrective action to commence before onset if they are to b
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effective in time to change the outcome.=20
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As for cheap solutions, I am firmly of the view that most wooden
glide=
r
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with only CoG hooks should not be aerotowed, those with
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hook
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should be aerotowed with extreme care.
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I would add that, although I haven't done the same tests with any
glas
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gliders, I'm pretty sure that many of the light-weight Standard/15m
typ=
e
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would behave in the same way on a C of G hook. Std Cirrus would be
a=
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prim
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candidate, would somebody with access to one care to try it at saf
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altitude and report the result?
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What I find rather sad about the gliding movement is the lack o
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willingness to go and get the facts. We have been aware of this
proble
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for over 35 years, I described flights tests that I carried out, to
try
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t
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improve understanding and seek a solution. Has anyone else done
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same?
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In my opinion more relevant has any one tried these departures from
trac=
k
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with the next generation tugs eurofox to name but one.
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We are all used to boxing the wake of a Pawnee and I know the teams=20
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introducing them into clubs are taking a steady measured introduction