On Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 1:45:51 PM UTC-6, WB wrote:
On Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at 10:44:13 PM UTC-5, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Tuesday, August 29, 2017 at 9:09:52 AM UTC-6, WB wrote:
On Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 10:05:04 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Hello,

I fly out of Hobbs, NM where we don't have a tow plane. We launch strictly by auto-tow. I am interested in a Russia AC-4B but am not comfortable ground launching from a nose hook. We currently fly Schweizer 1-26's and a 2-33, which has the hook located between the nose and the CG. When you climb high enough you can get a porpoising effect due to the tail stalling & unstalling. I would imagine this only gets worse with a hook in the nose, but I can't find anyone who has done it. The manual indicates that it can be done, but I wonder how much height you have to give up due to the hook location. I am also a little concerned about the angle being too sharp on the nose hook and possibly keeping it from releasing.

Has anyone flown (or seen) a Russia glider ground launched by the nose hook?

Thanks in advance,


Stephen

Please don't ground launch anything by the nose hook. I have a lot of ground launch experience, auto tow and winch, and the very idea of ground launching with the nose hook scares the crap out of me. There have been some horrifying accidents where gliders went into the ground at high speed because the nose hook failed to release.

I do know of one instance of ground launching a Russia. It was an autolaunch situation and there was some slack and subsequent hard jerk on the rope during the initial launch. The Russia over rotated and stalled at low altitude. Busted the glider up. Luckily the pilot did not get severely injured. The glider was repaired and flew again.

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/Re...Final&IType=LA


Hi Frank,

Thanks for posting the link to the NTSB report. Confirmed what I remembered. My club trained that Russia pilot on ground launch with a typical 2:1 pulley system. During the accident flight, he was testing a 3:1 advantage pulley setup. Pretty much a hard landing and ground loop after the pitch up and stall.

Wally,

I had looked for a report years ago and never found one, so was surprised to find it now. At the time I was vendor relations contact for the EAA Regional at Longmont. Tried to get Bill Ard to show up. We had a member with a Russia and we put in on display with pictures of Brad Hill's kit build effort. Only got second hand information that someone in Wyoming had tried to ground launch and cart-wheeled. We later heard the glider would be repaired, which Applebay Aviation did. I spoke with the current owner who gave me some follow-up about the repairs, but he was dealing with his daughter's situation in Houston, so we'll catch up later. I agree with all that if a hook can't back release, no ground launching. I have winched some gliders with nose and chin hooks, but all could back release, 2-33, 2-32, 1-26, 1-34, HP-14, and Jantar Std 2 (where the hook was rotated to prevent back release at 700ft instead of 1500ft). Same models that could be fitted with CG hooks did much better.

Frank