On 11/6/04 8:13 AM, in article , "Shawn"
wrote:

F.L. Whiteley wrote:
"Fred Blair" wrote in message
nk.net...

It was interesting to read the "student's " response that 'the tow plane
did not rise up to take the slack out of the rope', apparently not
briefed on doing the tow, and what to expect.

Fred

There is some evidence that the tow was not going as planned and that the
pilot may have been stricken. Sad and unfortunate series of events.

Frank


This is a quote lifted from the coroner's contribution to the NTSB report.

"the likelihood is high that he did suffer some sort of cardiac event
which, while not immediately fatal, did so incapacitate him that he was
unable to control the plane or to even use his radio to alert anyone."

Shawn


The coroner initially called heart disease, and later she retracted that
diagnosis. While true that he had a Special Issuance for his heart disease,
he did not have a cardiac event, and his heart was in no way related to the
accident.

The young, inexperienced cadet IP made a mistake at a critical point in the
flight, from which the older, experienced tow pilot was unable to recover,
due to the laws of physics. Yes, the student got out of position, but the IP
made the problem even worse. The towpilot simply didn't have enough altitude
to pull out of the dive that the IP put his plane into. Impact killed him,
not heart disease.

The take-home point is that we hold the towpilots life in our hands on each
and every aerotow. Think about that, not just about calling out "200 feet."

From someone with a little inside knowledge.
Bullwinkle