Well, so much for preliminary reports. Most of the information that I
posted earlier, obtained from people that were there the day of the
accident, appears to be wrong. The latest info is that the Pawnee
crashed, not landed, in a significant nose down attitude. The
Schweitzer tow hook, which was mounted upside down, with the arm on
the bottom side, was bent up at a significant angle. It does not
appear to be bent from the crash. The tow release in this Pawnee was
on the floor near the flap handle, which would make it very hard to
reach in a negative G situation. The release handle in the Pawnee did
not look like it had been activated. Even if it had been pulled, it
might not have released with a strong upward pull because the
mechanism on the tail was mounted upside down.

This was the glider pilot’s second solo flight.

This is looking more like an upset caused by the glider getting too
high, and not an on board fire before the crash like we thought
earlier.

The lawyers are preparing to sue everybody involved.