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Old May 11th 20, 02:53 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Ian Lane
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Posts: 5
Default Fatal Towplane Accident 5-9-20

You bet!



At 13:38 11 May 2020, wrote:
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