Given no one actually saw the final moments of the ship's flight, all any of
us can do is draw our own conclusions. Cutting and inserting from others'
comments...

Not too many good options if PTT is really low taking off to the South;
you pretty much have to either get back to the runway or accept a desert
landing.

From descriptions of the launch field, "...or accept a desert landing" is a
key point below safe-turn-around altitude (whatever that might be for the
location/conditions of the day). It's critical ANYwhere. History - and slight
use of one's imagination - both suggest it's far, far better to hit the ground
horizontally than vertically. Screw the airframe, it can be rebuilt and it's
likely going to get broken regardless of the mode of ground contact at a lot
of western-U.S. strips.

One of the pilots made the comment Saturday evening that the release on a
Zuni could "self release / back release" without pilot input.... it was
not a Tost, and required the big ring.

I've had two uncommanded-by-me back releases on aerotows, both due to LARGE
bows in the rope induced by strongly shearing western thermals, which on both
days resulted in significant airspeed variations of tug & glider (hence the
bows). So far as I was concerned, both back releases showed the releases had
operated as the designer intended, though neither bow put the glider at risk
of rope entanglement because both times I was above the rope, "admiring the
bow." The ships were an HP-14 and a Zuni (which has a functional copy of
Schreder's dirt-simple release mechanism; between both ships I've 760+ tows;
you can do the arithmetic). Under similar circumstances, I expect a Tost
belly-hook should've similarly self-released.

The HP incident was at Taos, and I've never been so terrified of a rope break
in my life, as the first big bow appeared below turn-around height, above the
tallest sagebrush I've ever seen (taller than I). The actual release occurred
at 1500' agl (whew!). I mentally wrote the ship off until WELL above return to
the airstrip height on that one...

I never again towed from Taos, given the lack of options below turn-around
height; for me the potential return wasn't worth the risk.

The Zuni incident was at Buena Vista (CO), again sufficiently high agl to
climb away and go soaring.

If [uncommanded back release] is correct, the bumpy air
down low could have caused yo-yo effect and an inadvertent release.

See above...for the record, the mechanical engineer in me happens to like the
Schreder release design for a number of reasons, though as with everything
aeronautical, it does contain compromises...

That
would have probably put Bob in the sinking air around the big lift at the
end of the runway about the time of release To me, the only options would
have been straight ahead, either hopefully on what was left of the runway
or into the bushes past the end...

I'm a Big Fan of "accepting the bushes..."


Whenever I take off I constantly calculate where I would have to go if the
rope were to break...

....as should every glider pilot on every launch...

... and, as I was lower than usual that day, I was looking
at that. A damaged or totaled glider is still better than taking a chance
on a stall-spin.

The concept in the preceding sentence can't POSSIBLY be overemphasized!!!

My count to 200 ft. AGL) lasted until we had been in the
boomer past the runway end for a few seconds. If Bob had been in exactly
the same air, any release before the runway end, he would have been under
100'AGL.

I enjoyed my conversations with Bob before we gridded, and thinking of him
now gives me an eerie feeling. Such a nice guy, happy with gliding, and
willing and eager to learn more about desert flying. But, in the end,
what can be said other than it was just his time to go. Yes, gliding is
dangerous. I've been into soaring since 1996 and he was the 7th I've known
to be called to the other side.

We try to learn from others' mistakes, but in this case, as there were no
glider pilots who observed the event, little can be learned.

Not intending to quibble, but unless he was so unlucky as to center punch or
slide into something very hard with the fuselage after non-vertical impact
with the earth, the "little [to] be learned" is some variation of "Fly it into
the crash!" It's critical whenever flying anything with wings into ground contact.

My heart goes out to his family and friends.

As does mine...

Bob W.