At 16:14 13 February 2020, jfitch wrote:
On Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 8:41:55 AM UTC-8, Dan
Marotta wrote:
Point taken, but a soft release is never a good thing from the
tow=20
pilot's perspective.=C2=A0 When flying my glider I seldom
released
softly=
but=20
I always announced, "5J's off, thanks!"
=20
On 2/11/2020 9:46 PM, 2G wrote:
On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 10:53:29 AM UTC-8, Dan
Marotta wrote:
When I was towing, I would visually confirm that the glider
was off
an=
d
then roll steeply and dive.=C2=A0 If I hadn't felt the glider
get
off,=
I
would fly straight and level for a bit to assure clearance
before
beginning a more moderate descent.=C2=A0 I also
maintained awareness
o=
f any
gliders that had not climbed away.



I would blame both of the pilots in this accident but would
assign
mos=
t
of the blame to the tow pilot.=C2=A0 Making what amounts
to a level
tu=
rn just
after release is asking for trouble.

On 2/11/2020 8:51 AM, Waveguru wrote:
This seems to happen every few years, where the tow plane
makes a
lef=
t turn and the glider make a right and they come around and
collide. I
cha=
nged the way we do it here so that the glider only makes a slight
right
tur=
n, and then keeps his eye on the tow plane, so that at least one of
the
pai=
r of planes can more easily maintain separation. When both planes
make a
3=
60=C2=B0 turn, neither of them can see the other. This kind of
accident
is=
the result.

Boggs
--=20
Dan, 5J
You can't hardly blame the glider pilot: they were flying
straight
ahea=
d and were struck from behind. The tow pilot is clearly the one at
fault.

Tom
=20
--=20
Dan, 5J

There's been mention of people trained to announce the release on
the
radio=
.. Should not this be in the SOPs of the operation? It is wherever I
fly -
g=
lider is ALWAYS to announce release, tow plane acknowledges. If
you aren't
=
going to communicate with the aircraft 200 ft away, why have a
radio at
all=
?


My club has a "no radio unless circuit calls" rule..
I ignore it and thank the tug so he knows I've released and accept
any reprimands.