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Old July 12th 11, 03:03 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
n7ly
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Posts: 15
Default tow rope brake practice crash, what can we learn...

On Jul 12, 6:55*am, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:49:36 -0700 (PDT), Frank Paynter

wrote:
BTW, at the risk of starting a religious war, rope breaks, spins, and
other dangerous maneuvers can be simulated realistically, at any
altitude and weather configuration in Condor.


Bullsh**.

Andreas


Have to agree - if you aren't there, you aren't there.

HOWEVER, I do have some difficulty with trying to come up with a bunch
of canned answers on how to handle each emergency.
In fact, I would suggest that the cure is worse than the disease. Too
many variations of problems.

I have had personal involvement in, or first hand knowledge of, at
least 6 events that could have been very serious. The solution to each
emergency was "fly the airplane-save yourself". After that is
established, say inside the first 2 seconds, the next common
denominator is "get rid of the rope". To heck with signals. In many
cases there is no way for the rope to back release. I have personally
witnessed a case where this was the difference between life and death.
Life won. I have personally been involved in a case where if the rope
had not released we would have been in big, big trouble. Signals in
NONE of these events would have had any effect on a safe outcome, in
fact they would have likely been detrimental due to the short time
limit involved.

I might emphasize - the same "save yourself first" applies to BOTH
ends of the rope.