On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:38:10 -0700, rocketsientist001 wrote:

On July 7, 2011 at Nowy Targ in southern Poland, glider Puchacz crashed
during training flight 2/3 mile from the airport. The instructor
(~64-67) and the student pilot (~18-19) are dead. It was a tow rope
brake practice flight with down wind turn for down wind landing from
about 130-150 m of altitude (400 feet). What can we learn from this?
Are these training flights mendatory under FAA rules? Can pilot request
opt-out from "rope brake" during Biennial Flight Review to avoid getting
killed?

Been there, done that - and in a Puchacz too. I was doing the usual
commentary for the instructor about fields ahead, etc as we climbed out.
As soon as we hit 400 ft and I was half-way through saying "400 ft -
should be high enough to get back to the field" there was a BANG as the
instructor pulled the release. I flew a steep, well-banked turn with the
nose low enough that if anything we gained a little speed (I knew/know
the Puchacz fairly well), flew the approach and landed without incident
downwind. There was never any question that we would get back or, with
the Puchacz' brakes, that we would get stopped on the ground.

I remember once during BFR the instructor pulled the release on me in
the Blanik at about 200 feet, I had to do 180 turn and land down wind
from very low altitude. I think it was dangerous and unnecessary even
for an experienced pilot as me. Andre

Sounds somewhat low to me, considering that was for practise, not for
real.


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