Glider Towplane Mid-air – TP PowerFLARM Inop

When releasing in a turn and seeing tow plane to continue the turn, it is totally plausible to NOT consider him collision threat anymore. In this case I can see why and how this happened. I'm pretty sure the awful visibility during turn from high wing Cessna was a factor. Accidents are 100% avoidable only for 100% perfect human beings.

Post-release "clearance by rote" is - as this terrible accident strongly
suggests - a seriously flawed methodology.

I agree. I aways turn right after release, to satisfy the rule, but only maybe 30 degrees before halting the turn, and turning back left as necessary to keep the towplane in sight. The towpilot necessarily loses sight of the glider after release, and should fly directly away from the release point until well below the release altitude.

On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 8:51:26 AM UTC-7, 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

Agree with your logic. As a tow pilot and glider pilot I have circled around on several different flights over the last 7 years only to be too close to other aircraft. I began to do and teach what I saw at a contest a few years back: Tow plane descends and continues straight before maneuvering back toward airport (efficient.) Glider circles and (re)gains visual contact before continuing flight. Make the student verbally call tow plane out before moving onto soaring or lesson. Creates maximum separation.
Warning: This must be part of (US) preflight briefing or one pilot or other is going to say "What in the heck is that guy doing?"
Cheers
Gene

On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 11:46:52 PM UTC-5, 2G wrote:

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

There's one thing we know for sure about accident reports: they aren't 100% accurate. I think we ought to hesitate to convict someone we've never met based on evidence that can't be verified.

That said...

The day I tow some doofus that

-chooses to release in a right hand turn
-does a soft release
-clears to my left

and doesn't immediately get on the radio to let me know what's going on and make certain he keeps me in sight until we achieve normal vertical separation... we're going to have some words.

In the glider, I teach (following release & right turn): 1) track the towplane, 2) find the airport, 3) get on with normal flight procedures. Our turns at separation are typically 90 deg left for the towplane and 45 or more right for the glider. OK to thermal once you are certain the towplane is out of the area.

Yes, the tow pilot had better options. 2020 hindsight he Given loss of situational awareness, or the vague awareness that the glider is somewhere out of sight, close and below, then a better thing to do is clear the area.. If you realize you've been victim of a soft release, then I think the thing to do is simply proceed straight ahead for at least 30s while beginning your descent.

That tow pilot has my deep sympathy. No one wants a do-over more than he does.

best,
Evan Ludeman / T8

Did you release the canopy or go through it?

On 2/11/2020 5:15 PM, waremark wrote:
My glider blunted and I was hanging from my straps and fell out as soon as I released the harness. My mohair was at 3000 ft agl but I would have had no problems from 2000.

Anyway, reading this will make me pay more attention to where the tug goes after release. At our club to avoid shock cooling the tug generally accelerates away level before reducing power, and the glider does a climbing turn to slow down.

--
Dan, 5J

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
--
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 think the reverse question is more intersting. How many people would have a PowerFLARM in a towplane and tolerating it repeatedly having problems before getting it fixed.

I expect it would be good to see more PowerFLARM adoption in towplanes in the USA.

The ABQ soaring club Pawnee has either a Flarm or a transponder.Â* In any
case, I see it electronically all the time.

On 2/12/2020 11:03 AM, Darryl Ramm wrote:
I think the reverse question is more intersting. How many people would have a PowerFLARM in a towplane and tolerating it repeatedly having problems before getting it fixed.

I expect it would be good to see more PowerFLARM adoption in towplanes in the USA.

--
Dan, 5J

On Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 8:24:05 AM UTC-8, Tango Eight wrote:
On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 11:46:52 PM UTC-5, 2G wrote:

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

There's one thing we know for sure about accident reports: they aren't 100% accurate. I think we ought to hesitate to convict someone we've never met based on evidence that can't be verified.

The report had the tracks of the two aircraft.

Tom

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
--
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.