Fatal accident in Scotland

On Sep 5, 2:40 pm, Ian wrote:
On 5 Sep, 10:37, Tom Gardner wrote:
On Sep 5, 8:03 am, Ian wrote:
On 5 Sep, 01:31, Dan G wrote:
You do not attach a cable to the glider until it is ready to fly. All
checks complete, nothing left to do.

Yes, precisely. I don't see any problems with that. I'll go further
and
state that I would need to be convinced that anything else was safer.

Agreed - as long as the ground crew (signaller, driver, anyone else
involved at the site in question) are also ready to go.

If anyone isn't ready to go, then the launch doesn't start.
If anyone thinks there's a problem, they can stop the launch.
I don't see any difficulty in that, and I can't conceive of
anything else being appropriate.


Which is fine in an ideal world. But it doesn't always work like that.
Sometimes there are delays, and a safe system will take account of
that possibility.
Er, what's the problem with releasing the cable if there's a delay?
In what way isn't that a "safe system"?

How long a delay? Ten seconds? Twenty? A minute?

Reasonable question. I would have thought that there was
no single correct answer and doesn't need to be;
judgement is required from everybody.

My only rule of thumb is that if people's attention might
wander away from thinking about the launch and/or
"eventualities", then drop the cable. Thus a minute is
probably usually OK, whereas 5 minutes isn't.

Other opinions welcome, of course.

What if the ground is muddy and the pilot doesn't
want to make someone grovel in the mud
again to reattach?

The pilot is a twit if they let that sway a safety decision.

What if an impatient instructor (I have seen this)
is saying "Don't drop the cable, this won't take long".

It depends on what "this" is, and I'd apply my "attention
test", as above.

Yes, in an ideal world we could hook up and go. I just think the final
word on whether to start the launch should rest with the pilot in
charge ...

Nope, it rests with everybody involved in the launch, in that all
must be happy before proceeding. In particular, the pilot can't
adequately see "all clear above and behind", nor the cow that
has just wandered onto the strip, just over that little hump
halfway down the strip

and in a world where occasional delays between hook-up and
launch are inevitable, that means the pilot should initiate the launch
after the hook-up.

See above.

My reasons for liking the "Up slack" and "All out" signals from the
pilot are because too many signallers are rotten at deciding when to
do the transition (although most are fine). I have in the past pulled
off because the signaller was giving "All out" too soon, and I'll do
it again if I have to ...

I've never seen that, but if I did then I'd follow your action
(hopefully
without hesitation


It's when people start thinking that the rules will keep them safe
that accidents happen.
True, but of course that has only tangential relevance to whether
or not the rules are good.

I don't agree. No rules which are followed mindlessly are good.

The rule can be good even if it is mindlessly followed. Most
of the time I mindlessly follow the rule to drive on the left side
of the road

But both of us think the reason for the rule should be understood
before it is mindlessly followed!