Keep your hand off the release handle during aero tows!

On Monday, October 7, 2013 2:24:08 AM UTC-6, Don Johnstone wrote:
OK, try sitting in a Schemp Hirth or even and ASW 17/19/20 with the stick
full to the left and try finding the release knob if you do not actually
have your hand on it. The time you have to realise you have a problem and
react is very short, trying to find the release will take longer than the
time you have.

If reaching the release is difficult, it gets an extension installed ASAP. (That a minor modification not requiring paperwork.) The really bonehead action is to continue flying a glider where the pilot can't reach the release. does that idea actually occur to anyone in the UK?



Actually the glider should point down the direction if the initial cable
run, of course that should be the same as the direct line to the winch.

Only the UK still seems to be using steel cable. Almost everyone else is using "plastic rope" (Dyneema) Plastic rope straightens out like a bowstring as soon as tension is applied so it's always in a "direct line to the winch" which means POINT THE GLIDER AT THE WINCH - NO EXCEPTIONS.


Not so, anyone with any experience of winch launching would know that the
time taken for a stop signal to be sent, received by the winch driver and
reacted on is way more than the time taken for the event you are trying to
prevent being over.

No one suggests the pilot shouldn't pull the release. But, clearly, in the case of the UK, that isn't working. You need a backup plan to stop the launch if the pilot doesn't act.

Wing drop is not the cause of the problem, it is a symptom. The primary
problem is yaw and increased acceleration will exacerbate this.

WHAT!! Acceleration causes wing drop? Causes yaw? That's as absurd as it gets.

To a certain extent this type of accident is an operating hazard.

In aviation safety, this is one of the hazardous thought processes called "resignation".

Again, no one says a pilot shouldn't have a hand on the release and should pull it if the launch goes wrong but a fair question is, "How's that working out?"

Giving a skilled observer at the start point an option to instantly stop the launch if the pilot doesn't act would have saved this pilots life. FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT! Or, just ask the Germans.

The totally absurd aspect of this is the UK is has a longstanding problem with "cartwheel" accidents like this one. A problem not seen to anywhere near the same degree in the rest of the world. Yet, your response it to lecture everybody else on doing it your way.