Fatal accident in Scotland

This is mostly an attempt to rename a thread which
now has NO connection whatsoever with 925's crash on
Sunday.

As I understand it, the British system was changed
after accidents where pilots accepted a cable without
being ready to go and were winched off as a result
of, for example, scratching their noses. We can now
drill into pupils that you don't accept a cable until
you are ready to launch and your hand stays near the
release until the end of the launch, which will proceed
without any further pilot to launch marshal communication
being required.

It's a system which works well. If the pilot, for any
reason, wants to abort the launch they can pull the
release and shout 'stop'. The worst that can happen
in that case is the launch marshal fails to notice
and the cable has to be pulled back out.

At 14:42 04 September 2007, Markus Gayda wrote:
Hi Ian,

Ian schrieb:
We used to have a system in the UK which ensured this:
the pilot waved
one finger for 'take up slack' and two for 'all out'.
Thus the launch
didn't start until the signaller was assured that
the pilot had a hand
free. Now the launch starts when the signaller feels
like it, and s/he
just has to hope that the pilot has a hand near the
release, and not
scratching himself, adjusting the altimeter, twiddling
with the GPS -
or actually on the release, ready for an unwanted
pull off when the
wheel hits a bump.

I am sure that i would NOT want to signal a final 'go'
in a Discus or Mini-Nimbus.
The release handle is down at the bottom of the stick.
With long trousers you
can have trouble grabbing it fast.
I made it a habit to put two fingers over it before
launching (both winch and
aero-tow). That way i wont pull it inadvertendly (fingers
are stretched out,
not really gripping the handle) but i am still able
to release fast without
searching for the damn knob.

CU and happy landings,
Markus

On 4 Sep, 15:59, Andrew Warbrick
wrote:
This is mostly an attempt to rename a thread which
now has NO connection whatsoever with 925's crash on
Sunday.

As I understand it, the British system was changed
after accidents where pilots accepted a cable without
being ready to go and were winched off as a result
of, for example, scratching their noses.


That was the claim. In reality, I think it was changed because Lasham
had a new CFI who wanted to make an impact on the gliding scene.

I'm all in favour of changing systems from time to time. When people
have to think about what they are doing they are less likely to make
accidents from unwarranted assumptions. I still don't like losing that
degree of control of the launch, though.

Ian