Keep your hand off the release handle during aero tows!

At 16:54 11 October 2013, wrote:
Hi George,
Thanks for your comments. You are correct that we do need to
remember the
a=
mazing guys and gals up in the tow planes and remember the
risks they take
=
to tow us up for our own fun. That said, I would like to assert
that there
=
have been many more accidents and bent ships from gliders
accidentally
rele=
asing at low altitudes because their hand was on the release
than tow
plane=
s being pulled into the ground because a hand was NOT on the
release.=20

Bruno - B4


However.... it's not the number of accidents that really count, it's
both the number of occurrences and the severity of the outcome
you need to consider. The pilot of a "bent ship" released
accidentally at low altitude will probably walk away with only his
pride and wallet dented. The tug pilot in an upset incident will
almost certainly not walk away. So you can't simply choose
between the two assuming they are equally serious. To stop the
serious/fatal accident you may have to put up with a slight
increase in non-serious accidents. So if someone does
accidentally release because they hit turbulence, scrapes a
glider in the field they rapidly choose the lesson learned is not
"should have had my hand away from the release" it is "...these
things happen, at least you didn't kill the tug pilot too"

In my own experience the time between the last "if the rope
breaks now I will land ahead" and the first ""if the rope breaks
now I will return to the airfield" is actually quit small, even in the
most hostile terrain, and doing this in your head every launch
certainly focus the mind to not accidentally release where it
really matters