Licensed in 1978, a total of one tow plane engine failure.

I was flying a single seat glass ship with a CG hook. At about 700 ft agl, I inexplicably became high on the tow plane. I slipped and pushed the stick forward, but continued to get even higher!! The first thought through my mind was that the elevator was disconnected, but quickly realized that I was not high on the tow plane, the tow plane was low on me, and quickly getting lower. I released, announced "Glider away, taking the grass". The tow pilot responded "Thanks". We both landed with no problems.

It took about 2-3 seconds after I realized I was high to recognize there was a serious problem and respond to it by releasing. I had always assumed that in case of engine failure, that I would find myself over running the tow plane, or at least, there would be a lot of slack rope. Not so in this case. The only hint I had was the height difference - no slack rope, no black smoke, no engine parts flying back at me, no emergency call from the tow pilot, nothing.

P9