2 recent incidents

At 15:11 17 July 2008, jb92563 wrote:
I have heard some really good points about the rudder waggle issue.

- Rudder Waggle at low speed, high AoA is more dangerous for the tow
plane(Stall/Spin sound familiar?)
- New signals will be just as easy to forget or get confused.
- Radio use is a good idea although both pilots will be busy enough
unless they have a stick mounted transmit button with a boom mic.
- Training the glider pilot to use a pre take-off check list is smart.
- Training the pilot to recognise signals is also a good idea.
- Having aircraft designed that don't extend spoilers by air pressure/
suction when left unlocked.
- Having Tow hooks that prevent full spoiler deployment while on tow.
(You need a little spoiler somtimes to prevent line slack)
- Use Flaps instead of spoilers on gliders.

No solutions that solve all the issues have been suggested EXCEPT
train, Train, TRAIN and RE-TRAIN the glider pilots on this issue.

I dont like the idea of changing a system for something equally as
faulted because a few incidents have occured.

Its a people problem not a technical problem that we need to solve.

Any technical solution will still rely on the pilot and is prone to
fail at that point, be it the tow pilot flicking the right switch for
the appropriate light signals, or using a radio when the glider may
have forgotten to bring it or not charged the batteries sufficiently,
or changing the signal to something else and the confusion of the
change itself.

If there was a practical alternative that was trully less inherently
faulty then I would be all for it, but the only practicle solution
suggested so far is
Training.....

Ray

I agree it's a training problem and a technical solution is not the
answer. Technical things fail. The current system is extremely simple with
only 4 main "emergency" procedures

Loose sight of the tug - Release immediately (No exceptions)
Tug waggles its wings - Release immediately (No exceptions)
Tug waggles the rudder - Check airbrakes
Gliders flies out to left and waggles wings - Glider unable to release
The above can all be made by radio but the simple procedures above work if
radio is not fitted or has failed.

If a glider ot tug pilot does not understand these four things, and even
at my advanced age I can remember them, then further training is
indicated. If you don't understand the rules then you should not be doing
it.

I recommend the following as an essential read
http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/clu...rotownotes.pdf
You made need to reconstruct the link.