tow rope brake practice crash, what can we learn...

On Jul 11, 11:01*pm, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Jul 11, 4:01*pm, Andy wrote:









On Jul 11, 2:38*pm, wrote:

On July 7, 2011 at Nowy Targ in southern Poland, glider Puchacz
crashed during training flight 2/3 mile from the airport. The
instructor (~64-67) and the student pilot (~18-19) are dead. *It was a
tow rope brake practice flight with down wind turn for down wind
landing from about 130-150 m of altitude (400 feet).
What can we learn from this?
Are these training flights mendatory under FAA rules?
Can pilot request opt-out from "rope brake" during Biennial Flight
Review to avoid getting killed?
I remember once during BFR the instructor pulled the release on me in
the Blanik at about 200 feet, I had to do 180 turn and land down wind
from very low altitude. I think it was dangerous and unnecessary even
for an experienced pilot as me. Andre

http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/regionalne...bowca-w-nowym-.......

I doubt we can learn anythng from it without knowing the circustances
of the crash. *Did they spin in? *Did they land under control in an
unlandable area? *Something else?

The instructor should be sure the turn back can be accomplished safely
considering wind, altitude, and distance from the airport. *In your
case it seems his judgement was ok.

Andy

The pilot that was fatally injured was reportedly a CFIG. *The pilot
that was seriously injured was a glider DPE. *It's been reported that
it was gusty. *The commercial operation was in its first year of
operation from this airfield, which I'm told is tight and tree-lined.
No other info.

Sorry, replied to the wrong post. My comments are in response to the
Montana accident of last Friday.

Frank Whiteley