Fatal Towplane Accident 5-9-20

"How about banning all sideways/aft opening canopies from gliders? An unlocked canopy is a non-event in my LS6 with it's forward hinged canopy. Grobs? Deathtraps!"

The problem with a side opening canopy is the overwhelming temptation to save the club $6,000 by holding the canopy down. Unfortunately lack of a third hand can result in a glider write-off or worse. Left rudder can get you back a hand for operating the spoilers, but where is this taught?

With a rear opening canopy, it's gone and your only concern is making a survivable landing, with or without glasses.

Grobs are much less vulnerable to mislatching the canopy than L-33s as the housing to receive the pin is substantially thicker making the gap more obvious. L-33s need a feeler gauge to check if the canopy is actually closed.

On Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 8:25:22 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Has anyone investigated placing the tow hook directly over(or under) the tow planes center of gravity? This would keep the out of position glider from yanking the tow planes tail out of acceptable limits? The RC tow ships, I have seen, place the tow hook over the towing ships CG.
My 2 cents,
JJ

This is exactly how they do it with Radio control models! I tried towing radio controlled models with a tail hook on a 10' span cub....some success, many crashes....with Hook on top of wing...no problem...and they fly the model gliders really high on the tow plane. Needs some frame around the fin and horizontal stab to prevent rope entanglement....don't think it is safe for "real" towing...



Cookie

Over 40 years ago a good friend of mine was killed while Flying a
Citarbria on areotow at Aboyne, Scotland.

The findings of the enquiry were that the release as on the floor of the
cockpit and could be reached while the inertia seatbelts allowed
movement. In turbulence if the belts locked it was not possible for
some pilots to reach the release. The glider pilot admitted losing sight
of the tug and failed to release.
As the result of that accident it was an airworthiness requirement that
the glider release was mounted near to the throttle. The requirement
that if a glider pilot lost sight of the tug FOR ANY REASON he should
immediately release.
We will not know the exact causes of the current accident for sometime,
speculation can be counter productive, however the two lessons above
are still valid.
I find it crazy that there are still tugs allowed to fly without the
release
in close proximity to the throttle and there are still glider pilots who do

not release when they should. Surely 40 years is enough time to learn a
lesson.

Well, everything's been said but not everyone has said it yet. There is no one answer to this problem, it doesn't matter what "fly the airplane means.." If it's "keep your eyes on the tug and maintain proper position" or "release," what it really means is "do not kill the tow pilot.''

It doesn't matter if you have a reachable release handle, an inverted Schweizer hook, a TOST system or a guillotine, if the glider kites low enough you will be dead or badly injured. A sobering though for tow pilots everywhere.

It doesn't matter if the glider pilot is a 15 year old student or an instructor pilot, if they screw up the tow pilot most likely pays the fine.

In this most recent accident the glider pilot I am told was an instructor. How can we expect a low time student to react properly if an instructor is distracted? Look at the Front Royal accident, an instructor was flying in this situation and clearly above the tow plane. Why did he not release? There was a fatal tow plane accident at the USAF Academy soaring club, the instructor, an Academy student (the best of the best I was constantly told while I was in the USAF) was significantly above the tow plane and did not release.

It doesn't matter if the instructor is a "world aerobatic champion" if he failed to impart information to the student about what to do when one loses sight of the tow plane. Telling someone something and TEACHING someone are two different things.

Is it failure to use a check list or a failure of cockpit discipline? It doesn't matter and it won't matter until all involved in the sport including the SSA, the FAA, the NTSB, commercial operation managers, club presidents, ALL the tow pilots and glider pilots decide that it matters and more importantly take action to reduce the chances of it happening again. Unfortunately NOTHING can be done to completely eliminate these occurrences but we fly anyway.

Accidents in the aviation world will continue because gravity is a constant and human error is impossible to eliminate completely. Good luck my friends.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow Pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot

It could be effective for one of the glider pilots involved in a kiting fatality to tour the flying sites and share his/her experience and grief personally to glider pilots.

This will probably never happen but it would certainly help others realize the reality of the potential dangers and long lasting effects of a simple mistake.