Letter to the FAA

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:43:07 PM UTC-6, Walt Connelly wrote:
;949735 Wrote:
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 2:30:04 PM UTC-4, Don Johnstone wrote:-
At 03:44 25 June 2017, wrote:-
The death toll doesn't match your hyperbole
-
How many pilots have to die before you act, give me a number.-

Couple of posts back I suggested several acts that are more productive
than squealing to the teacher. You want a number, I'll give you an
equation: When the yearly towpilot death toll = the yearly glider pilot
death toll. Glider pilot lives matter too. Simple solution is to write
letters demanding the FAA ban gliding. All those glider pilot's lives
and by default towpilot's lives saved. Brilliant.

You are missing a point here Mr Ballou but I can't help but feel that
missing the point is what you do best.

What a glider pilots does once off tow does not affect the tow pilot,
what they do on tow does. Yes, gliders crash not infrequently resulting
in the death of the pilot and occasionally a passenger but that is not
the fault of the tow pilot, that is exclusively the fault of the glider
pilot. When a tow pilot crashes as a result of a glider pilot's
failure to stay in position I become concerned. When a device meant to
give the tow pilot a fighting chance to survive does not work, is known
to be prone to failure I take great exception. Does this not make sense
to you?

If you wish to kill yourself that is your decision, fly on my friend, I
shall not interfere. If you wish to kill me we will have conflict.

Walt




--
Walt Connelly

Hi Walt,
What I may have missed is how many tow's had you done and how long ago was it before finding out about this possible "release" problem? It seems like most have responded trying to offer their view in a way which has been thought about before.
As I know you, along with the many other's, they have appeared to me, to give reasonable guidance and thought when asked about this possible problem.
It also appears from the FAA they have given this review and guidance.
No one wishes "bad" on anyone, as many "bad's" can happen. If you knew of this problem long ago, why did you keep on towing until "almost bad" happened? As this current "action" is your choice, do they not have that same choice? Just asking....that's all.
Still, will miss you at Seminole, as I had towed behind you many times over the years and still remember when you first started towing. Best wherever your travels take you!

Best. Tom #711

From Walt's first post under the Tow Upsets thread that started this discussion:

"I have been towing for about two and a half years and have logged over
6,500 tows."

Paul A.

Originally Posted by Tom Kelley #711

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 12:43:07 PM UTC-6, Walt Connelly wrote:
;949735 Wrote:
On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 2:30:04 PM UTC-4, Don Johnstone wrote:-
At 03:44 25 June 2017, wrote:-
The death toll doesn't match your hyperbole
-
How many pilots have to die before you act, give me a number.-

Couple of posts back I suggested several acts that are more productive
than squealing to the teacher. You want a number, I'll give you an
equation: When the yearly towpilot death toll = the yearly glider pilot
death toll. Glider pilot lives matter too. Simple solution is to write
letters demanding the FAA ban gliding. All those glider pilot's lives
and by default towpilot's lives saved. Brilliant.

You are missing a point here Mr Ballou but I can't help but feel that
missing the point is what you do best.

What a glider pilots does once off tow does not affect the tow pilot,
what they do on tow does. Yes, gliders crash not infrequently resulting
in the death of the pilot and occasionally a passenger but that is not
the fault of the tow pilot, that is exclusively the fault of the glider
pilot. When a tow pilot crashes as a result of a glider pilot's
failure to stay in position I become concerned. When a device meant to
give the tow pilot a fighting chance to survive does not work, is known
to be prone to failure I take great exception. Does this not make sense
to you?

If you wish to kill yourself that is your decision, fly on my friend, I
shall not interfere. If you wish to kill me we will have conflict.

Walt




--
Walt Connelly

Hi Walt,
What I may have missed is how many tow's had you done and how long ago was it before finding out about this possible "release" problem? It seems like most have responded trying to offer their view in a way which has been thought about before.
As I know you, along with the many other's, they have appeared to me, to give reasonable guidance and thought when asked about this possible problem.
It also appears from the FAA they have given this review and guidance.
No one wishes "bad" on anyone, as many "bad's" can happen. If you knew of this problem long ago, why did you keep on towing until "almost bad" happened? As this current "action" is your choice, do they not have that same choice? Just asking....that's all.
Still, will miss you at Seminole, as I had towed behind you many times over the years and still remember when you first started towing. Best wherever your travels take you!

Best. Tom #711

Good Morning Tom,

Hope all is well with 711. Two of the great facts of life is that we don't know what we don't know and what you don't know can kill you.

When I was asked to tow at SLGP (because the manager and other tow pilot were having coflict with the owner and were leaving) I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into but life is an adventure. I accepted and as you might guess one learns to tow by towing and experiencing all that towing has to offer along the way. I took it easy, kept my head on my shoulders and was fortunate enough to have a couple of hundred tows before I began to realize how badly an out of position glider could affect the tow plane.

I had over 6500 tows when I experience two severe kiting events in one week, they happen in the wink of an eye and anything that might interfere with the ability of the tow pilot to release the glider is a major problem. (read my intial post under "Tow Plane Upsets" for a more comprehensive explantion of these two events.) I had read the available information about the Schweizer hook failings and had spoken with other tow pilots about releasing. The best answer I could get was "release early." Well, not all kiting events happen in a slowly evolving manner with the tow pilot watching in the mirror, sometimes they happen in the wink of an eye and you have to be looking forward, left and right much of the time to avoid running into those pesky, white, high performance gliders.

The FAA's "review and guidance" appears to be a bit nebulous with a statement in the Advisory Circular # 43.13-2B (or not 2b) that says, "When the glider on tow operates above a certain angle to the tow plane, the ring may slide upwards on the hook causing excessive load on the hook and difficulty in releasing the tow rope ring." I don't know about you but I come from a family of lawyers and can hear the lawyer speak all over that comment. Perhaps what it should say is "when the glider kites on you in the wink of an eye, the SCHWEIZER hook will jam and you are along for the ride until the rope breaks or your ass hits the ground." In my case had the rope not broken or had it broken a second later you would be reading about my death and not hearing from my happy ass on Aviation Banter.

The "reasonable guidance" from others thus far seems to include, 1. Not writing the letter to the FAA. 2. Go away and leave the rest of us alone. 3. Compile a list of 337's and STC's and distribute them to those glider operations and clubs who still fly with Schweizer hooks. 4. Other rather simplistic approaches to a complex problem none of which really enhance safety. 5. Did I miss something that made sense, if so let me know.

Yes, every tow pilot has the same choice to fly or not to fly and I would be surprised that any tow pilot had not heard about the potential problems with the Schweizer hook. It does not hit home until you find yourself at 300 feet with a student screwing up to the Nth degree while pulling your tail up and to the right, your nose down and to the left and you are trying desparately to release. Interestingly enough, this 15 year old student was described by the most experienced CFIG I know as one who should not be flying. She was soloed by the most inexperienced CFIG I know, go figure.

I am trying to compose a letter to the FAA that will not hamper or inhibit the world of soaring. My suggestions will be to at a minimum require the Schweizer hook to be inverted for which there is an STC. My understanding is that the Schweizer hook is limited to towing gliders under 1500 lbs max gross weight and that the rope strength is limited to 1200 lbs. This, if correct would eliminate the Schweizer hook from operations towing the heavier gliders, I am still researching this information. Again, we don't know what we don't know. In addition I feel that it is important to reposition release handles from the floor (on Pawnees) to a position up near the throttle which will give the pilot an extra second or two to react. This has been mandated by the BGA after the deaths of several tow pilots.

The basic position I am running into from others on this forum is that there have not been enough deaths to warrant any mandates to switch to Tost. That being said I do have my supporters.

Our system does not make it easy to do this research but I have found deaths directly attributable to this condition. I have spoken with someone who knew the pilot who died and whose death fostered the inverted Schweizer hook. Did you read the post from Dave Springford? Thirty years ago their club experienced an accident attributable to a Schweizer hook and changed to Tost with a release up near the throttle. My guess is that the pilot survived and was able to elucidate what happened. The BGA as I believe I have noted before had mandated these changes. Of course I am told that the Canadians and Brits are under different systems and we are under the FAA. I understand this but this does not negate the fact that they recognized a problem and found a solution, we can do the same.

As someone who was a second or two from being a statistic I feel compelled to insure that this is well known and that some action be taken. I may not succeed but I will try. If you have any suggestions I would be happy to entertain them.

Hoping all your landings are happy ones and I always enjoy reading "711 Reporting."

Walt