At 22:23 21 February 2014, wrote:
Per Steve's comment that the only energy for the glider comes from the
towp=
lane engine I have a comment which is in many ways a request for
enlightenm=
ent.
I had a kiting incident at Moriarty in my 27. All worked out OK, other
tha=
n fright, mostly because I got off quickly, just as the kite began. How
it
=
began is not very clear at all, and much of this is later rationalization
I=
fear, best I can come up with. Skilled glider pilots who watched failed
t=
o come up with much, if anything, that helps.
Tow began normally. Within first few seconds, both still on the ground,
the=
tow plane bobbled a bit -- nothing that much given that this was
Moriarty
=
on a nice strong thermal day. When I hit the place where the bobble
happen=
ed the 27 popped into the air a few feet. =20
My explanation is that I made moves that exaggerated what followed.
Anybody=
with better ideas please join in.
I pushed forward on the stick, the glider began to react, as I flew out
of
=
whatever it was caused the bobble, the glider sank fast towards the
concret=
e, so I (rationalizing) assume I moved the stick back to ease the
bump.=20
The glider bounced off the concrete, not that hard but bounced. The one
th=
ing I believe I truly remember is that there was a bit of a snake in the
ro=
pe -- ie some slack.
The tow plane was of course accelerating. So (rationalizing) as the
glider
=
bounces up I have at best neutral stick, maybe a bit aft still, and the
sla=
ck comes out of the rope and the glider at this point began the early
stage=
of a winch launch. =20
I know that I did two things quickly -- one was hit the release, the
other
=
was to get the nose down. Once at flying speed, at maybe 30 feet (I
don't
=
have any real guesses from the observers), I moved to the right to use
the
=
taxiway. Then, when the tow plane came in sight going like stink out of
my
=
way down the runway, I moved back and landed on the runway.
Not a scratch, including to the tow plane's prop. Good towing Mike
Stogner=
..
My point is that there can be a hell of a lot of energy in the rope if
for
=
some reason it gains a bit of slack and is then turned into an elastic
band=
.. For some strange reason weak links sometimes do not bust when they
might
=
be expected to ...

A while ago there was a discussion as to whether it was a good idea to have
one's hand on the release during the early stages of an aerotow as we do
for winching. I believe that we may have found a good reason for doing so.
It is clear from what everyone has said that it is vital that the glider
releases BEFORE it takes over the control of pitch on the tug, or at the
very least before the tug is pitched nose down. Searching for the release
may take more time than the tug pilot has. In most, if not all these
incidents the glider pilot survives.

On that note I do not think it is of any importance whether the tailplane
on the tug stalls or the glider overcomes the available power of the
elevator, the mechanism is not important, the important thing is that the
tug is pitched nose down so far that considerable height is needed for
recovery.