I once *almost* caused a tug upset flying an Olympia 463, also only fitted
with a belly hook. Aerotowing towards the ridge at Talgarth, the glider
was suddenly pushed up by either thermal or ridge lift. The glider
continued to go up relative to the tug even though by now I had the stick
hard forward against the stop. This was after the accidents mentioned
below, so I realised what was happening and released immediately. As it
happened, the piece of knotted twine that Talgarth used as a weak link at
the time also broke at the same moment, so we lost a pair of Tost rings.
If found, please return to the club!

Having checked that the Pawnee tug was still flying and in one piece, I
was able to get onto the ridge and soared for several hours. I apologised
to the tuggie afterwards, but he said that I had acted correctly and not
caused him any real problems. I did get a ticking off for losing the Tost
rings though!

Derek Copeland


At 23:46 08 September 2009, Colin Wray wrote:

It was a Ka6 (also with CofG hook only) that was involved in the death
of the Dunstable tow pilot, and a Ka6 which nearly killed me around
the same time.

No kiting was involved in my case, the glider pilot gradually got too
high, which I was well aware of, and then increased speed in an
attempt to find the tow plane. With the tension removed from the rope
I assumed he had sorted it out (this is a BIG mistake), and when he
gave up and slowed down, the jerk on the rope snapped the tug 90 deg
nose down in a fraction of a second.

It took 400 ft to recover, which was below hedge height.

Chris Rollings wrote:

The graphic in the BGA Instructors Manual was based on the photos
mentioned
(as was an Australian Safety Poster from around that time). The Ka18
isn't particularly prone to the accident, it's just that the small
number imported into the UK all only had C of G Hooks, no nose hooks,
but
were quite often aerotowed with low experience pilots. The problem can
arise with anything aerotowed on a C of G Hook. When we bought two
used
Ka18's from Dunstable at around that time we did not allow them on
site
until nose-hooks were fitted.

There were never as many as three or four such fatals in one year in
the
UK, but a year with two such accidents was enought to start us on the
tests described, as Booker was the busiest aerotow operation in the UK
at
that time and I wanted to try to ensure we never had one.

The standard towing position was not moved down, it remained unchanged.

To go to a lower towing position (or worse still to trasit to
"low-tow")
would put the glider close to, or in, the turbulent prop wash and wake
of
the tow-plane, and getting bounced around by that is one of the
possible
causes of the momentary, inadvertant, pitch-up that can cause the
accident.

As in almost all phases of flight the glider should be trimmed for as
close to zero forward or back pressure on the stick as can be pre-set.
Having to hold a substantial back-pressure on the stick would be
un-helpful.

In the last sentance delete the word "almost".


At 11:00 07 September 2009, Derek Copeland wrote:
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