On 6/19/2012 11:06 AM, soartech wrote:
On Jun 19, 11:35 am, Nigel wrote:
If the tail dolly was left on the angle of attack on the ground run would
be less so it wouldnt lift off till a higher speed had been reached. Could
this have had any control effects on tow?
If the toddler was sitting on his mothers lap his feet would be straight
out in an ideal place to interfere with the stick. Bad bad idea.

Are the wing runners trained to check for extra big orange things
hanging off the glider
before takeoff? I know it is not their fault, but at the critical
launch the pilot is helpless to
see this mistake.

Making zero speculation as to root cause(s) of this tragedy, and considering
only the presence of the tail dolly at the start of aerotow, it's clear to any
informed soaring participant that this item was missed by at least one person
(PIC), and presumably two (wing runner).

I was "lucky enough" to witness a dolly-on takeoff prior to my solo (Phoebus
A; PIC's initial flight in it; it ended well), and the more experienced people
around at the time gave me a thorough exposure to all the myriad errors made
along the way to such a launch. The lessons were obvious...once they'd been
pointed out to me.

I've also begun one takeoff roll with my tail dolly attached (haste;
inexperienced wing-runner), realized ~when tuggie applied power I couldn't
remember having checked for tail dolly removal, listened (no joy one way or
the other), tried a tentative rudder input (inconclusive), pulled the plug
(listening to that little voice in my skull). There it was, on the fuselage,
in all its international orange glory. (What an idiot!)

Point being - others having already touched upon likely
CG/directional-stability issues associated with its presence - that every
reader who's hearing little voices in his/her head about the presence of the
tail dolly in this terribly sad instance ought to be actively listening to
that voice against the future day it may (will?) need to be acted upon.
Clearly, beginning a takeoff roll with the taildolly attached is an avoidable
mistake...even if in a very few designs it may be self-correcting (e.g. G-102).

Bob W.