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Jim,
My experience is with winch launching. Have done it for many years in Europe. By looking at the video, the climb angle is way too shallow, at least of it were a winch launch. The chute opens while following the rope after initial lift off. Following the rope is never a good idea unless you're going to release. At least with winches. Right after lift off, one should start climbing gradually and increase the angle once more than 100ft. That way the rope tension stays firm. If the air speed should become uncomfortably slow or remain too slow, you can release safely at 100ft or more. Height = safety - even when slow. So you always want to get some air under the wings and keep the rope tension up. By pushing the nose over even at low airspeeds and then releasing, you won't stall and land straight ahead and see why the speed was too low. But following the rope on initial launch for more than 2-3 seconds because the speed isn't high enough, is not proper technique, at least not on the winch and I would say probably on a car tow as well. Either release immediately and abort or gently climb out for the first 100ft and then release if speed remain too low for comfort. Ground launch requires very quick reaction without any hesitation. There for it requires a plan of action firmly in place ahead of time that needs to be followed during launch. If the pilot is prepared properly and knows how to react given the situation, I think it is much safer than aero tow. Once you're over 100ft, nothing much can go wrong. Tom |
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