tow rope brake practice crash, what can we learn...

On Jul 13, 7:21*am, "kirk.stant" wrote:
On Jul 12, 12:03*pm, Papa3 wrote:









On Jul 12, 11:10*am, Berry wrote:

Andy

The pilot that was fatally injured was reportedly a CFIG. The pilot
that was seriously injured was a glider DPE. It's been reported that
it was gusty. The commercial operation was in its first year of
operation from this airfield, which I'm told is tight and tree-lined.
No other info.

Sorry, replied to the wrong post. *My comments are in response to the
Montana accident of last Friday.

Frank Whiteley

Low altitude maneuvers in gusty conditions in a 2-32. Gives me chills to
think of it. *2-32's are fun to fly but they are unforgiving b-stards if
you get low and slow.

Both the accidents being discussed involved gliders with reputations for
spinning in.

Was about to post the same thing. * *Was pondering this very issue
whilst giving 2-32 rides for the local FBO this weekend. * *I don't
think I'd even contemplate a return to the runway from less than 300
feet in that bird at max gross unless we had TONS of extra
airspeed. * *As mentioned elswhere, there are so many variables to
this that each flight requires its own plan.

P3

Several years ago I had PTT at around 200ft while giving a ride in a
2-32. *No problem making a smooth steep turn back and rolling back to
the start point. *The old beast keeps energy well (it should!) so as
long as you don't waste time, and don't stall in the turn (you'll only
do that once down low in a 2-32...) it's not bad.

It helps to have smart tow pilots who tow nice and fast - there was
absolutely no need to lower the nose!

Do the math about turn rate vs sink rate - 200' is more a
psychological barrier. *Practice in a sim helps here, since you can
play "what ifs" and see the results.

Best glider Schweizer ever made, IMO.

Kirk
66

BTDT. IIRC the 2-32's front seat occupant was a Delta captain. At
~200 AGL it went like this... What's this gizmo do? Bang! Ooops!