On Friday, June 5, 2020 at 11:56:39 AM UTC-7, psb wrote:
First of all, I wasn't actually serious about banning side opening canopies. I now sincerely regret that I wrote it down and am down and will never, ever discuss it again. It's just a possibility that came up so I mentioned it. I tend to think out loud. Please forgive me.

I will stand by my belief that having multiple people involved in the critical glider checklist items, particularly if it is of little or no inconvenience to the pilots involved. People forget stuff, get rusty, distracted, whatever, and make mistakes. It happens and it kills people.

The problem is that the life of the tow pilot depends upon another person (the glider pilot) performing pre-flight procedures properly and executing the takeoff properly. And to make the situation worse, the tow pilot may have never met the glider pilot who has his/her life in their hands.

From a safety engineering standpoint, there is basically no backup to the glider pilot improperly following procedures or incompetently flying the glider. This is a classic single point of failure situation. This is why I am advocating KGARS, which DOES provide a parallel backup to an incompetent glider pilot.

Tom