On Thursday, October 23, 2014 8:41:57 AM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to side of the tow plane path (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

A simple answer. Save yourself first. I have been on both ends, but not at once. If YOU have a problem don't expect the other guy to fix it. Don't kill the other guy. If he has a problem, you have no way to fix it. So, take the best way out for you. Typically this put into go left or go right, but I would suggest that this makes little sense. It depends entirely on where you are and what's in the way. Rope failure - not the towplane's problem. Keep flying the towplane. Towplane failure - not glider's problem - let towplane fix it by staying out of his way.