On Mon, 24 Feb 2014 18:43:42 -0800 (PST), son_of_flubber
wrote:


Now, I'll anticipate the next goofy scenario which is glider release failure.
Let's not carry all of this too far.

Totally goofy, but implausible. We need to draw a line somewhere. I take your point.

The guy that would fail to promptly pull the release when his glider stalled on tow would be the guy who was surprised to suddenly learn that it was possible to stall a glider on tow at 60 knots, and that guy was the tug pilot in Bill T's anecdote. Best to learn these lessons on the ground.


Never say never.

Two years ago we had a freak accident in Germany where the glider
pilot was unable to release during a winch tow.

Unfortunately, the winch driver was also unable to cut the winch
cable.

With incredible skill (and some luck) the glider pilot was able to
fly most of a circle tethered to the winch, until finally the winch
cable got caught in some bushes and he crashed from only about 30 ft
of altitude.
ASW-19 badly damaged, pilot fortunately not hurt.


Andreas