I haven't flown in a while, but a pilot friend of mine and I were recently discussing accidents, and he sent me this thread. I'd like to share a story which may help clubs out there.

Our club had pricing for 1k, 1.5k and 2k tows (extra height when needed). Of course, the 1K was cheapest. There was a typical scenario where a glass ship was filled with water, and the pilot popped off at 1K to save a few bucks, and then tried to scratch away. One day, a student was on the porch with me and an instructor had just launched in his 15m. He had told the student before launch that the most important thing of his flight that day was to be at IP at 800ft when landing. Yet there he was, being blown straight down the middle of the field circling at 600ft. The student actually approached me and told me the story... that it was a really bad example that the instructor was setting.

I was VP for a while, and suggested that the 1K tow be a restricted access tow, only for students that are practicing circuits. This was adopted, and there were no more cases of gliders starting their day with an unscheduled low altitude recovery. It wasn't only the instructor. It was many experienced, private ship owners doing this. Almost to the point of taking a 2K tow meant you didn't have the skills to squeak away from low altitude. This was never said, of course, but actions were certainly speaking louder in that situation. You know who NEVER ended up circling down the middle of a runway at low altitude... students... inexperienced students. They new better.

Sometimes the structure of the system has to be altered to help guide pilots into an environment that is helpful and not detrimental. I think that the 1.5K minimum release altitude for non training flights was a huge step improvement in safety at the club.

Related... I flew a few region 10 contests over the years and in the morning meetings there was a safety moment put on by a selected pilot. These were so helpful. One that was great was to kick a rudder when approaching a thermal where a glider was circling, to see who was below the pilot you were seeing, as that glider is below the nose. Yes, it cost a few feet of altitude, but in one contest a glider ended up sitting 10 feet above another in a glider. I still remember the voice of the pilot of the lower plane, letting the pilot clearly in the wrong know that they would have a discussion on the ground. This was after he pulled full spoilers to clear his tail section to dive out of the way. Scary stuff.

Lots of good ideas out there...