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

On Jul 22, 5:40*pm, "Dan Marotta" wrote:
"Ramy" wrote in message

...
On Jul 22, 6:44 am, "Dan Marotta" wrote:





One hour or a thousand in type - it doesn't make a bit of difference to
the
pilot's required knowledge of signals!. That's just making excuses for
poorly trained pilots (and CFIGs)...

"Walt Connelly" wrote in
message

.. .

Looking at all 2011 accidents reported thus far, a good portion
involved pilots with little apparent time in model or particular
glider. *I'm just sayin'.

Frank Whiteley

Frank Whiteley

The rest of the story
http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index....story_ID/23254

Well, after having read the "rest of the story" it is obvious that this
was a major misinterpretation of the tow pilots rudder waggle by BOTH
pilots. The "copilot" shouts "release, release, release," and the
"pilot"
fails to properly interpret the rudder wag and releases.

We all make mistakes, unfortunately some of our mistakes can be fatal..
We
must all continually update our knowledge of emergency signals and
procedures to help reduce these kinds of accidents. JMHO.

Walt

--
Walt Connelly- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Folks, the problem is not just lack of knowledge or practice, it is
the human nature of confusion and tunnel vision under stress! Imagine
you are on tow *and barely climbing (since your spoilers are out),
your first thought is that something is wrong with the tow plane, and
once you see the tow pilot waggle the rudder (which may also cause the
wings to rock a little), I bet over 90% of pilots will release, even
if they just practiced this manuver a week ago. There are many
examples confirming this, luckily not all of them resulted in
accidents.
Bottom line: Use radios! If this doesn't work, do not waggle rudders
until at safe altitude, unless the tow plane can not climb at all.

Ramy

Wow! *Don't you know that your spoilers are out? *I must have only flown the
best gliders (or the worst) because it's always apparent to me that the
spoilers are open - noise, turbulence, handle out of detent, pitch
attitude...[/i][/color]

Of course it is apparent when you open your spoilers. But apparently
it is not always apparent in emergency when the spoilers were either
left open or were sucked open. I know of experience pilots and
instructors who did not realize that the spoilers are open. Otherwise
we wouldn't have this discussion.

Ramy


Ramy