Two of three were terrific. I assume you're referring to the crash on
the second safari but it had absolutely nothing to do with the auto
tow. It was simply a botched landing pattern wherein the pilot elected
not to land from a textbook base to final position. He flew almost the
entire length of the runway after flying downwind, base, and final, and
only at the last moment, tried to turn back and land. He spun in within
100 feet of where I was sitting winding up the rope. Given his low
altitude and Monday morning quarterbacking, he should have landed
straight ahead on the remaining runway and probably run off the end.
But that would have saved the glider from being destroyed and him
spending a long time in rehab for a broken back.

Hardly an unsafe ground launch. He got off at the normal 700' AGL.

On 8/17/2017 4:36 PM, kinsell wrote:
On 08/12/2017 08:56 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:


On 8/11/2017 6:10 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 7:07:34 PM UTC-4,
wrote:
I'm a new glider pilot looking at purchasing a 1-26.

I'm looking at gaining the flights and experience to get the
Commercial Glider and adding the CFI-G to my existing CFI-A.

I envision doing auto tows at my local 3200ft airport. I'll
hopefully be getting to 600AGL to just do laps around the pattern.
I'd plan to use a 1000ft rope and my 8.1L Chevy Suburban.

What's everyone's take on auto towing a 1-26 mostly just for the
fun of very quick flights? Do I need a logbook endorcement for
ground launching?
Sign over your life insurance policy to me first...

Why do you say that? My former partner and I used to take our LS-6a
on safaris all over the southwest using a 1,000' rope and my 5L Ford
pickup or his Jeep Grand Cherokee (don't know the engine size). We
routinely got 700' AGL, though we did have a CG release.

Just for completeness, in your posting about how safe auto towing is,
maybe you should mention how your safaris came to their conclusion.

--
Dan, 5J