Winch Launch Fatality

At 18:34 23 June 2009, bildan wrote:
On Jun 23, 11:14=A0am, John Smith wrote:
bildan wrote:
Answer the question: =A0WHY A PRIORITY?

Because it's automatic and then it's done and you can fully
concentrate
on more important things like speed, coordinated flight and where to
land. And, surprise, your glider flies better without that chute
dangling in the wind, which may make the difference between a
non-event
and an event.

But I understand that you're fully absorbed by staring at your AOA
indicator and therefore don't have any capacity left to pull the
release
knob.



Do it because it's automatic! That's no reason at all.

Do it so you can get it out of the way and get on with the important
stuff like saving your life! Are you really thinking about what
you're writing?

If the drag of a parachute/rope is great enough a glider 'flies
significantly better without it', it will back release because of that
very drag. In fact, a parachute pulled by its apex has little drag.
Either way, it's a non-issue.

What we've done, without really thinking about it, is put a relatively
unimportant action - pulling the release - ahead of a series of very
urgent steps the pilot must take to avoid a serious accident. This
has almost certainly made an unfortunate contribution to the overall
accident record.

The first step in writing ANY EMERGENCY CHECKLIST is to eliminate all
actions that do not contribute to a safe outcome and then to
prioritize the remaining steps with the most urgent at the top.
Pulling the release does not contribute materially to a safe outcome
and, in any event, is not urgent enough to be anywhere near the top of
the list.

As for an AOA indicator, you're damn right I'd be looking at it - and
flying a much safer recovery as a result.


When the parachute covers the canopy, the AOA will be all that you have to
look at. This happened to me once on a winch launch. I'll take the extra
5 sec to get rid of the cable.