Two or three years ago, when I was flying, I heard it happen on the
radio at a neighbour airfield. An Astir CS had been correctly hooked
up on the CofG hook, but it wouldn't release by pulling the yellow
ball or by auto-release. Whe winchman cut the cable, which dragged
around some hundreds of meters. The Astir made a 180 deg. turn and
landed safely in an acer next to the airfield. When tested after
landing, the ring would come out without any problems. I later
understood a faulty cable ring had been used, one with a welding line
in it. If such a ring would have been rotated slightly during the
launch, it could have caused the non-relase.

Regards, Olfert.



Gary Emerson schrieb in Nachricht ...
With all this talk about plasma rope, etc. and the need for guillotines,
etc. I got to wondering how many times had winch guillotines been
operated in a real emergency. Certainly people have tested them, but if
you know of a case where the winch driver had to cut a glider loose, let
us know here on RAS. We don't need too many specifics, just trying to
see how many times it's happened.

Gary