We probably have more winch launching accidents in
the UK just because we do far more winch launching.
Aerotowing is relatively much more expensive for us,
because we have to pay extortionate amounts of Fuel
Duty and Value Added Tax on aviation and vehicle fuel,
thanks to our wonderful anti-motorist New Labour Government,
who just regard motorists and private flyers as tax
cows. Aviation fuel is currently about £1.10 per litre
- say $5 dollars a gallon.

We don't get that many days when we can get above about
4000 ft above ground in clear air thermals, so we tend
to work down to lower altitudes than you might consider
sensible in the States. Speaking personally, I will
normally give up at 500ft provided there are landable
fields in the area.

Derek Copeland


At 18:30 27 November 2005, Mike The Strike wrote:
Looking at the BGA accident database, I note that many
landing
accidents in the UK occur because of attempts to continue
flight below
what I would regard judicious altitudes - setting up
patterns for
landing at 200 to 500 feet AGL away from the home field.
I wonder if
this is partly due to the normally lower altitudes
that glider pilots
attain in cold, wet climates and the good availability
of landing
fields.

I also note a very large number of UK accidents associated
with winch
launches, including actual and simulated winch failure.

Interestingly, I can only find one BGA report of an
incident involving
gear warning when a glider failed to lower its gear
after a contest
finish and made a hard landing due to the pilot losing
some control on
lowering the gear a few feet above the ground.

The FAA database also shows many accidents from poor
off-field landing
decisions, but a quick review suggests they are a bit
rarer than in the
UK. I also can't find any associated with gear-warning.

So, I see no evidence to suggest that gear warning
systems lead to
accidents, but failure to plan landings from low altitude
(including
contest finishes) certainly does. But even these seem
to pale into
insignificance compared to the high rate of failed
winch launches.

Any comments from our snow-bound UK colleagues?

Mike