I had to use the guillotine on the winch at the Vultures Club in MI at Big
Beaver Airport in the mid 1960's. Johann (John) Kuhn was flying a Ka-6 as I
remember though it might have been a Libelle. I honestly don't remember
what it was but I was running the winch as usual. Willy (Biber something)
hooked him up and I gave the Johann the tow. I slacked off the power near
the top of the tow and there was no release. When he was approximately
vertical overhead I pulled the guillotine release. The cable did not get
cut. I got out of the winch, raised the guillotine by hand and threw it
back down again. It cut this time. John landed trailing about 800 ft of
cable.

mg

Gary Emerson wrote:

With all this talk about plasma rope, etc. and the need for guillotines,
etc. I got to wondering how many times had winch guillotines been
operated in a real emergency. Certainly people have tested them, but if
you know of a case where the winch driver had to cut a glider loose, let
us know here on RAS. We don't need too many specifics, just trying to
see how many times it's happened.

Gary

Michael I Green

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