On Wednesday, February 12, 2014 12:03:17 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
Ain't no doubt about how quickly the tug gets upset when the glider decides

to fly hither and yon.



My event involved a highly experienced retired FAA guy with type ratings in

every aircraft imagineable. It was his first flight in a borrowed HP-14

and, during the departure turn at about 700' AGL he flew high and wide to

the right, outside of the turn. Before I could reach the release lever,

he'd turned hard left and dove across the tail of the Pawnee wrapping the

tow rope around his left wing and, after it cut the top and bottom skins of

the wing clear to the spar, cutting the rope in two in the middle. The

final yank on the rope caused the tug to yaw hard right and pitch slightly

up (from about 45 degrees down).

Yikes. Over confidence and diminished capacity are a bad combination.

Annual flight reviews would head off more accidents than better tow hooks.