On Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 7:52:39 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Releasing is always an option.Â* I would rather land straight ahead,
maneuvering just enough to avoid any hard things on the ground than
stalling on tow.Â* That will kill you.Â* Taking off the wings between two
cars or tractors or whatever will dissipate most of the energy of the
crash and the insurance company can buy you a new glider. Not to mention
you might also kill the tuggie by hanging on in a losing situation.

On 8/7/2018 8:45 AM, Steve Koerner wrote:
This subject comes up every few years on RAS and that's a very good thing. Long ago there was a death on tow with a heavily watered ship that I'm pretty sure was caused by this.

I have already posted a couple times in the past about my own near death experiences I have had dangling from a slow towplane at a remarkably low stalled tow position while slamming the stick back and forth against the stops in Ventus 1 and in ASW27. When this is happening at a very low altitude (as it was), then releasing is not an option.

Several have pointed up the necessity of communicating with the tow pilot. I think it preferable to communicate in writing. Except at contests, I always make sure that the tow pilot has been handed my written towing instruction when I have water ballast. Here's a link to my little towing instruction sheet: https://goo.gl/PwVu71



--
Dan, 5J

Dan: You're not fully understanding the situation. If your nose is pointed at the sky and you are at a very low altitude, then you will die or be seriously injured if you pull the release. So this discussion is about trying to make sure this doesn't happen to others. I had to figure this out for myself back before there was RAS. If you have altitude to recover, then of course, pull the release and land. Better yet, make sure your tow pilot knows to keep the speed up.