Dear Mr (or Mrs or Ms or Miss) Soarski,

Whoever you are, please remind me not to stand on or near any airfield where
you are flying, as I don't want a glider falling on top of me. Feeding in
full rudder after a rope or cable break almost guarantees a spin and once
you are in one you will lose at least 150 ft per turn plus another 300ft to
recover. I do hope you were not being serious!

The correct recovery from a winch launch cable break is to lower the nose
fairly rapidly to slightly below the normal approach attitude, allow the
speed to build up to the correct approach speed for the day and then decide
what to do, depending on your height and landing options ahead. It is
usually safer to land ahead if you can. While you are waiting for the nose
to come down it is also a good idea to pull the cable release twice to get
rid of any remaining broken cable, so it can't get caught round any trees,
power lines, etc.

From aerotow you are usually in a more level attitude and usually have
plenty of speed. If the rope breaks just lower the nose slightly and monitor
your airspeed. If you are low you have to land more or less straight ahead.
With a bit more height - say 200 ft or more, a 180 degree turn is possible,
but must be flown accurately - not skidded round on the rudder.

Regards
Derek C (UK Instructor)

05:18 02 July 2005 'Soarski' wrote:
I have never been in that predicament. Never seen a cable break
or lost power at below 200 ft or the tow rope on aero tow.
I do have 1000s of hours and acro time.

If I would want to land downwind on the runway I was taking off
I could be inclined to just kick in full rudder, and make the 180 Turn
via a "Hammerhead" I think it is called a "Kehre" in German, or a
"Turn? There would be mostly rudder work required, some back preasure
on coming out of a dive following the wingover, which is really half a
spin. Has anyone ever seen that done? Actually, come to think of it, I
have, in an airshow, a long time ago in a clipped wing Cub.

I will have to try at altitude, what will need more altitude to
recover