Anyone Ground-Launched a Russia Glider?

On 08/29/2017 09:09 AM, WB wrote:
On Thursday, August 24, 2017 at 10:05:04 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Hello,

I fly out of Hobbs, NM where we don't have a tow plane. We launch strictly by auto-tow. I am interested in a Russia AC-4B but am not comfortable ground launching from a nose hook. We currently fly Schweizer 1-26's and a 2-33, which has the hook located between the nose and the CG. When you climb high enough you can get a porpoising effect due to the tail stalling & unstalling. I would imagine this only gets worse with a hook in the nose, but I can't find anyone who has done it. The manual indicates that it can be done, but I wonder how much height you have to give up due to the hook location. I am also a little concerned about the angle being too sharp on the nose hook and possibly keeping it from releasing.

Has anyone flown (or seen) a Russia glider ground launched by the nose hook?

Thanks in advance,


Stephen

Please don't ground launch anything by the nose hook. I have a lot of ground launch experience, auto tow and winch, and the very idea of ground launching with the nose hook scares the crap out of me. There have been some horrifying accidents where gliders went into the ground at high speed because the nose hook failed to release.

I do know of one instance of ground launching a Russia. It was an autolaunch situation and there was some slack and subsequent hard jerk on the rope during the initial launch. The Russia over rotated and stalled at low altitude. Busted the glider up. Luckily the pilot did not get severely injured. The glider was repaired and flew again.


So the Russia over-rotated with a nose hook. Wonder what would have
happened with a cg hook? I'll bet an even worse result. This accident
wasn't caused by the nose hook, it was caused by not having the slack
out of the rope prior to launch. And probably lack of a weak link.