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Fatal Towplane Accident 5-9-20
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May 11th 20, 02:53 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Ian Lane
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Fatal Towplane Accident 5-9-20
You bet!
At 13:38 11 May 2020,
wrote:
On Monday, May 11, 2020 at 2:15:05 PM UTC+1, Ian Lane wrote:
Terribly sad when this sort of accident happens.
As one who has experienced an upset in a Pawnee, albeit at about 1500',
I
can confirm how frighteningly quickly it happens. On that occasion I
was
able to dump the glider (an ASH25) and recover safely. The glider pilot
admitted afterwards that he had been re-tuning his radio whilst on tow,
and
had lost sight of me!!!
The release mechanism on our Pawnee, and on others I've flown in the
UK,
is a cable and pulley system whereby the said cable runs vertically
from
the the cockpit roof to just above the throttle lever and is really
easy
to
grab in an emergency - no fumbling for a knob or lever.
A study of towplane upsets was done quite a few years ago , following a
series of accidents in the UK. Certain factors were found to increase
the
risks:
High wing glider
Towing on the belly hook
Inexperienced glider pilot, and particularly those that usually flew
from
a
winch-only site
Schweizer hook on towplane
Turbulent conditions
..and often a combination of most, or all, of these - a case of the
holes
in the Swiss cheese lining up.
I bet you gave the ASH 25 pilot a bit of gentle ribbing over that Ian!
John G
Ian Lane
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