On Monday, May 11, 2020 at 2:15:05 PM UTC+1, Ian Lane wrote:
Terribly sad when this sort of accident happens.

As one who has experienced an upset in a Pawnee, albeit at about 1500', I
can confirm how frighteningly quickly it happens. On that occasion I was
able to dump the glider (an ASH25) and recover safely. The glider pilot
admitted afterwards that he had been re-tuning his radio whilst on tow, and
had lost sight of me!!!

The release mechanism on our Pawnee, and on others I've flown in the UK,
is a cable and pulley system whereby the said cable runs vertically from
the the cockpit roof to just above the throttle lever and is really easy to
grab in an emergency - no fumbling for a knob or lever.

A study of towplane upsets was done quite a few years ago , following a
series of accidents in the UK. Certain factors were found to increase the
risks:

High wing glider

Towing on the belly hook

Inexperienced glider pilot, and particularly those that usually flew from a
winch-only site

Schweizer hook on towplane

Turbulent conditions

..and often a combination of most, or all, of these - a case of the holes
in the Swiss cheese lining up.


I bet you gave the ASH 25 pilot a bit of gentle ribbing over that Ian!

John G