Does anyone use a tug tow hook that releases automatically whenglider kites?

On Tuesday, 18 February 2014 12:07:20 UTC+2, Chris Rollings wrote:
That might work but I suspect it would be impossible, in the real World, to
get a sufficiently high degree of reliability that we did not get more
accidents from innocent gliders be jettisoned at low altitudes than we
currently get from kiting accidents.

Hi Chris

This is not a personal attack - I appreciate your valuable input but ...

With modern technology we can reliably detect pitch, roll, acceleration of a tug plane IMO.
e.g. My Note 2 has a magnetometer, electronic gyros, accelerometers, barometer, and GPS. I downloaded an artificial horizon app for my Android phone and when it blends all the sensor data you get a very reliable pitch and roll output.
It doesn't even experience gyro drift because it is able to compensate using the magnetometer to sense gravity.

Another example are all the Ardupilot projects.
If they are capable of flying DIY autonomous drones around for under $300 then I think the technology is available and good enough for us to use.

Even so, I'd rather have a 1 in 1000 chance of accidentally being dumped than kill a tug pilot and myself through a momentary lapse of judgement/attention.

I happen to fly at the club in South Africa which had the low altitude, tug upset on Sunday 16th Feb 2014, resulting in the death of the tug pilot in a Cessna 182A.
I simply refuse to believe that we can fly to the moon and back but can't devise a reliable automatic tow release mechanism.
How many more tug pilots around the world do we have to kill before we devise a mechanism which works?

To detect a tug upset reliably I think one would only need:
1. To sense the tug elevator at the back stop +
2. The pitch of the tug (say 20 degrees down and increasing) +
3. The load on the rope (glider still attached).
I can't imagine the above being present in any normal operational situation.

Paul