At 20:10 06 September 2009, OregonGliderPilot wrote:

GARY BOGGS;705095 Wrote:
Are any of the pictures still around? I would love to see them. I'm
sure others would too.

Gary Boggs

I think they were posted on the BGA website once?

OGP

I have looked in the BGA website, but can't find these photos. If you
have access to the BGA Instructors Manual there is a graphic in Section 17
which shows the sequence of events. It shows that if the glider gets too
high and kites on a belly hook, the tug can be pulled into a stalled and
near vertically downwards attitude within 3 seconds! There is a note
saying that it takes at least 800 feet to recover from this!

At about the time I started gliding in the early 1980s, I remember there
were three or four such accidents to tugs in one year in the UK, all
unfortunately fatal. Also from memory I think most of them involved K18s
fitted only with belly hooks. This type is particularly prone to kite.

As a result of these and the Booker experiments, the standard towing
position was moved down a bit and glider pilots were briefed to release if
they started to get significantly too high or lost sight of the tug
altogether. Also tug rope releases where improved to make them more
accessible to the pilot, and there was a recommendation that all new
gliders should be fitted with nose hooks for aerotowing.

The main danger of getting too high is shortly after take off, when the
combination is still accelerating and the glider's wings are making more
and more lift due the increasing airspeed. The glider pilot needs to keep
easing the stick forward so that the glider does not get much higher than
the top of the tug's tail fin. It is probably a good idea to trim well
forward for this stage of the launch. If a tug upset does occur at this
stage of the launch there is almost no chance of the tug pilot being able
to recover before hitting the deck.

Derek Copeland