"W.J. \(Bill\) Dean \(U.K.\)." wrote in message ...
W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
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"Ian Johnston" wrote in message
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On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 10:18:37 UTC, "W.J. \(Bill\) Dean \(U.K.\)."
wrote:

A pilot might aerotow on an aft hook when a forward hook is fitted if:

a/ The forward hook is unserviceable,


That would be ruled out by my " ... is available"


NO!

If the forward hook is unserviceable, then the glider is unserviceable for
aerotow.

I'm not quite sure why you're contracdicting me when I'm agreeing with
you. The question I asked was: "Under what circumstances would one tow
with a CG hook when a nose hook was available?" An unserviceable hook
ain't available!

Mind you, if it was a type which was often aerotowed on a belly hook,
and if the pilot knew what s/he was in for, and had suitable
experience, then it wouldn't worry me greatly.

Would you aerotow your Pirat on the aft hook if the forward hook is
unserviceable?

No. For reasons I have outlined. And that's because of particular
properties of the Pirat belly hook.

Would you winch launch a K21 on the forward hook (with no back release!) if
the aft hook is unserviceable? Would you do it if you could make the
forward hook back release? Would you wire launch any glider on the forward
hook (unless the C. of A. papers specifically allowed it) ?.

I sense a little hostility here! I would not winch launch a K21 on the
nose hook, mainly because I am too busy beating my wife. And I haven't
winched the Pirat on the nose hook either, partly because I can't see
the point and partly because it doesn't have a back release.

The glider has two hooks for a reason. If an apparently otherwise
identical glider has only one hook, that is a bad reason for assuming that
you can treat your glider hooks as interchangeable.

All assumptions are unreasonable. Deductions are fine!

And that would be sheer stupidity - the cause, I reckon, of 90% of all
gliding accidents.

What seems stupidity to you may be a habit formed at a site where this has
become normal behaviour over the years.

Indeed. Group stupidity appears in the blood-and-gore section of S&G
just as much as individual stupidity!

Have you never visited a site, or noticed a particular pilot or syndicate,
and said to yourself "there is an accident waiting to happen" ? Accident
investigators look for this, as well as the particular factors directly
leading to an accident.

True. There is one major gliding club in the UK midlands (it's not the
Midlands Gliding Club!) at which I will not fly because their attitude
to safety, on the one occasion I visited, was so sloppy as to be
almost unbelievable. And that was a couple of weeks after they'd
killed someone on the winch...

Ian

PS On rereading, let me make it clear: I am in favour of gliders
having nose hooks and I am in favour of using them for aerotows!