On Saturday, 2 March 2019 09:21:57 UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
It doesn't matter whose eyesight and reflexes you might trust, Flub.Â* It
is the Pilot in Command's responsibility to conduct the flight in a safe
manner.Â* If there's a CFI in the aircraft and the other manipulator of
the controls is not a licensed pilot, then the CFI is the PIC and he's
responsible.Â* Plain and simple.

All that other stuff about complacency is right and I fully agree. I
remember during my Air Force days when I was told that a pilot is most
dangerous when he's got about 500 hours.

On 3/1/2019 9:42 PM, son_of_flubber wrote:
On Thursday, February 28, 2019 at 8:50:17 AM UTC-5, wrote:

If we can't expect an instructor to keep his eyes on the tow plane AND when he realizes the towplane is no longer in his line of sight to release immediately, how can we expect a 15 year old on her 3rd solo to react properly?
Of the several 15 year old glider pilots that I have known, I would trust their eyesight, reflexes and training to, first of all avoid kiting, and if some freakish kite happened, I would wholly expect them to release immediately. Likewise, I would trust any of the newly minted 18 year old CPLs that I've known to give my brother a glider ride. Pilots with more experience have had time to become complacent and develop bad habits. Tabla rasa(s) not so much.




--
Dan, 5J

I've done some professional work on measuring pilot responses in air accidents - including looking at cockpit and control systems data for fatal accidents where the instructor took control shortly before the crash. I am certain that the average CFI's delay in switching from close observation to action (taking control) is going to put them way behind the response of a trainee who is at solo level and actively flying the glider. It takes much longer than you might expect to make that cognitive switch (this is the same reason why semi-autonomous cars are going to keep crashing). This also gels with my one and only experience of kiting a towplane, when I was a trainee.. I had pulled the release before the instructor recognized there was a problem. This was compounded by the fact that from the back seat, with the glider and towplane bouncing up and down in strong thermals, he was used to the towplane being out of sight and could not judge its attitude. But yeah, the CFI has to carry the can no matter what. I have massive respect for the calm demeanor they bring to the job :-).