On Friday, May 1, 2015 at 5:32:14 PM UTC+3, Dan Marotta wrote:
BGA trumps the manufacturer on max dry weight of the glider, yet US
pilots are crazy, stupid, and unsafe for steering the tug with the
glider?*

Light aircraft routinely have different max all up weights listed in the manual depending on how you intend to operate them on any particular flight.

It would of course be better if glider manufacturers assisted in the same way but, in the absence of that, 3% seems like a rather conservative increase for non-aerobatic flight!

In New Zealand, it is routine to grant agricultural operators waivers to operate at a whopping 30% over the manufacturer's specified max all up weight, with the proviso that the excess weight can be dumped in five seconds or so.