On Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 4:48:22 PM UTC-6, Tom BravoMike wrote:
I know there is a thread going on about and around the latest tragic accident from 5-9-2020 and I preferred to start a new thread as I felt uncomfortable going into a dry technical discussion in the context. So the issue is:

I would like to know more about the aerodynamics of the towplane in all those accident situations (and I mean above certain altitude minimum): Statistically, do they crash being stalled or in a deep dive? What is the usual reaction to the tail being pulled up - does the towpilot try to overrule the pulling glider and he gets into a stall? He cannot dive until the rope breaks. Recovering from a stall he has to get out of a dive anyway. So it seems that pushing down into a dive instead of trying to pull up would result in a smaller loss of altitude (and cause the rope to break earlier), rather than in the sequence: struggle to overrule the pulling glider - stalling (loss of height) - pulling out of a dive (loss of height).

Just thinking loud, curious if any research has been done and if so, to what conclusions? Does anybody know?

Dont forget people Towing is not that dangerous and there are plenty of Happy towpilots out there and not just happy helicopter pilots