Glider Towplane Mid-air – TP PowerFLARM Inop

On Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 9:41:55 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Point taken, but a soft release is never a good thing from the tow
pilot's perspective.Â* When flying my glider I seldom released softly but
I always announced, "5J's off, thanks!"

On 2/11/2020 9:46 PM, 2G wrote:
On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 10:53:29 AM UTC-8, Dan Marotta wrote:
When I was towing, I would visually confirm that the glider was off and
then roll steeply and dive.Â* If I hadn't felt the glider get off, I
would fly straight and level for a bit to assure clearance before
beginning a more moderate descent.Â* I also maintained awareness of any
gliders that had not climbed away.

I would blame both of the pilots in this accident but would assign most
of the blame to the tow pilot.Â* Making what amounts to a level turn just
after release is asking for trouble.

On 2/11/2020 8:51 AM, Waveguru wrote:
This seems to happen every few years, where the tow plane makes a left turn and the glider make a right and they come around and collide. I changed the way we do it here so that the glider only makes a slight right turn, and then keeps his eye on the tow plane, so that at least one of the pair of planes can more easily maintain separation. When both planes make a 360° turn, neither of them can see the other. This kind of accident is the result.

Boggs
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Dan, 5J
You can't hardly blame the glider pilot: they were flying straight ahead and were struck from behind. The tow pilot is clearly the one at fault.

Tom

--
Dan, 5J

I agree with Dan. Part of my training was to make a radio call every time to let the tug know I was off tow. A simple radio call like this could have allowed the tug to start his descent and get out of the way.