The "We just need to train better" mantra doesn't always work.
Indeed...by definition, nothing involving humans *can* be.
Every single
one of us knows of a couple of people at our own airfield with dodgy
skills, and it's always hard to just boot someone from a club, or ground
them. Plus, the gliders most likely to kite are exactly the ones flown by
the least experienced pilots - old crappy club ships.
No general disagreement with any of the above from me.
My personal takeaway after reading these threads is simple - I personally
will NEVER fly a Schweizer towhook[ed tow]plane with a C of G glider on tow
unless I know that glider pilot very, very well and trust them deeply. Just
not worth it. Maybe having tow-pilots vote with their feet is a good way to
get clubs and private operations to do the right thing here.
Aha! What a concept...applying/depending-upon individual judgment, I mean.
Occasionally even our government (not generally known for addressing
gummint-identified problems with anything other than the subtlety of swatting
flies with sledgehammers) is sufficiently sensible to turn a blind eye to some
of those imperfections...which (IMO) the kiting issue is.
And that might be a better cure than getting the FAA involved. Not that
they're likely to listen anyway.
I'll second that. Where's the polling place?
Bob W.
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