At 17:31 30 August 2009, Andy wrote:
On Aug 30, 7:06=A0am, bildan wrote:
On Aug 29, 6:05=A0pm, tstock wrote:

On Aug 29, 4:34=A0pm, 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

I had an L-19 run out of gas on me on a downhiill asphalt runway. I
had just broken ground and my LS-3 was full of water. Full spoilers
and flying it onto the runway to engage the LS's powerful Tost drum
brake (not!) was the only thing that kept me out of the swampy
overrun. The tow pilot was smart enough to coast to a stop off the
left edge of the runway, leaving me room to scoot past on the right
edge of the pavement. I ended up with the tow rope wrapped around my
axle but no harm done.

I doubt very much if the brake fitted to any glider is going to stop it
anytime soon if it is full of water and even if it did I suppose the water
would be handy to put out the brake fire. In the case of the LAK it is a
heavy beast even without the water, as anyone who has been conned into
rigging one will testify. If the tug does not get out of the way it's
going to collect the glider.