towplane collides with glider, prop hits wingtip

On Aug 30, 10:06*am, bildan wrote:
On Aug 29, 6:05*pm, tstock wrote:

On Aug 29, 4:34*pm, wrote:

Educational video...
Murphy's law at work... one thing leads to another...
towplane: Wilga
glider: LAK
place and time: competition at Pila in Poland, late August 2009
towplane's engine misses than cuts off during takeoff
prop collides with the wingtiphttp://picasaweb.google.pl/Wojtekpara/Wypadek#5238527461393125826

Andre V, CFIG

Any clues as to what caused the tow pilot to lose control at the end
of the runway and/or make the hard right turn into the glider's path?

After watching this a couple of times, it appears to me the tug pilot
intended to turn around and didn't lose control until he saw the
glider about to collide with him - a failure to maintain situational
awareness.

I've had a tug abruptly stop on the runway centerline just after I was
airborne forcing me to fly around him - it's an experience I won't
forget. *Just as in flight, the tug pilot should bear left if aborting
takeoff on the runway so the glider has somewhere to go.

The PZL 104 Wilga's Russian Ivchenko/Vedeneyev radial can be a cranky
beast - 'ready to go' and 'ready to quit' sound about the same. *The
tug pilot may have been confused by that.

Could well be that tug pilot just lost it. When taking off with
glider, it doesn't take a huge amount of effort to stay straight- the
rope does that for you. Now get surprised by engine puke, start to
swing off runway, wake up and try to catch it quick, overcorrect on
non skid pavement, and you are around before you can believe it.
Stuff happens pretty fast sometimes.
UH

On Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:25:38 -0700, unclhank wrote:


Could well be that tug pilot just lost it. When taking off with glider,
it doesn't take a huge amount of effort to stay straight- the rope does
that for you. Now get surprised by engine puke, start to swing off
runway, wake up and try to catch it quick, overcorrect on non skid
pavement, and you are around before you can believe it. Stuff happens
pretty fast sometimes.

It looks the tuggie lost it and ground looped - even a semi-controlled
turn wouldn't put the Wilga's left tip on the floor like that.

The unasked and unanswered question, though, is why didn't the tuggie
abort the launch when his engine almost died just after they started to
roll?


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