On Monday, July 29, 2019 at 10:32:02 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Monday, July 29, 2019 at 1:22:47 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
Glider releases, does a right 360° Tow plane does a left 360° I've seen this so many times. They end up back to the same spot. It is often taught this way. Neither plane can see the other until it's too late. Each plane should only do a 20° turn and the glider should be able to keep sight of the tow plane until it is well below the glider. When neither of the pilots can see the other plane, and they are both doing a 360° it is bound to end badly... We need to teach the glider pilots to keep an eye on the tow until it is below us. I don't know if this is what happened in this tragic accident, but it sounds like it might be the case?

Boggs

I agree we should teach the glider pilots to keep an eye on the towplane after release. The glider may do a 360 after release if in lift. But why would the towplane do a 360? At our club the towplane, after turning to the left, typically flies in a straight line until well away from the release point and thus hopefully from the glider. (Not implying anything about this specific tragic accident.)

Could not agree more - also have been on both sides of the "rope" High wing, low wing - IMHO a tow plane pilot should (never)seldom if ever do a 360 after glider releases -unless an extreme emergency why would they? I (always) eased back on power and"dove slightly out of range and entered pattern ASAP for another tow or to GTFOOTW. My opinion