Cadillac commercial accident?

I once caused a tow car (Jeep Grand Cherokee) with pulley on the bumper and
rope staked down at mid field to lose traction during taping of an episode
of "Secrets of Speed" for ESPN. We were launching my LS-6a for the opening
shot. Of course the upset is not shown in the aired program, but I have the
raw footage... Emerson Fitipaldi was riding shotgun in the Jeep and he
reached across and took control from the driver.


"Bill D" wrote in message
...
On Oct 18, 6:28 pm, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:28:45 -0700, Andy wrote:

As I said in my first answer "if the climb profile was flown correctly".
Auto tow does not require an aggressive climb profile to reach maximum
altitude as long as the runway length is not limiting. Unlike winch
launching the rope length remains constant.

To me, auto-launching on a 200 ft rope sounds uncomfortably like aero-
towing on a CG hook except that now you're *trying* to get above the
'tug'. This sounds to me like a recipe for getting into the
uncontrollable sling-shot region that upsets tugs. Further, it seems to
me that if you do that to a rear-wheel drive vehicle your problems will
be compounded by a loss of acceleration due to loss of traction as the
rope tension reduces the weight on the driving wheels.

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Yep, but so far as I know, no one has yet upset a tow car. If the
rear end is light, the rear wheels can spin on low traction surfaces
but the solution is to fill the back end of the tow vehicle with
rocks.

In Europe we now have EASA to protect us from ourselves. I am sure there is
already, or will be very soon, an EASA edict to say that we cannot launch
anything behind a car without 12 hours of training of both driver and
pilot, a written exam on the maths involved, a practical test (with annual
renewal), and a fee to pay too.

This is a shame. Many years ago a venerable pilot at my club was told by
the CFI that it was much too windy for him to fly his K6 on the local ridge
and was refused a launch.

So he hitched his trailer up to his Ford Cortina and drove to a field at
the top of the ridge. He rigged and his mate then towed him with said
Cortina towards the ridge using a standard aerotow rope. This was so
successful he did it again the next day. This sort of derring-do was what
gliding was made of then.

Unfortunately in EASA land gliding is becoming a paperwork exercise and is
getting boring. You do not know how lucky you are in the land of the free
that you are still allowed to put yourself in danger.

Jim


At 00:28 19 October 2011, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:28:45 -0700, Andy wrote:


As I said in my first answer "if the climb profile was flown
correctly".
Auto tow does not require an aggressive climb profile to reach maximum
altitude as long as the runway length is not limiting. Unlike winch
launching the rope length remains constant.

To me, auto-launching on a 200 ft rope sounds uncomfortably like aero-
towing on a CG hook except that now you're *trying* to get above the
'tug'. This sounds to me like a recipe for getting into the
uncontrollable sling-shot region that upsets tugs. Further, it seems to
me that if you do that to a rear-wheel drive vehicle your problems will
be compounded by a loss of acceleration due to loss of traction as the
rope tension reduces the weight on the driving wheels.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

How true that is! :-) I still appreciate the freedom to make a mistake now and then here in the USA ;-). But I simply do not have the guts to try a 200 ft. auto-tow. After learning of this accident...I am pretty sure that never will.

We have a great amount of safety material & resources available here in the USA...I don't think regulation is the answer either.

Every time I read one of these stories on RAS about a fatal accident I am very, very saddened. And a little frightened. I did not know this gentleman. I often wonder what is it that I could be missing, or risking in my flying. What might I do to end up here as the subject of the discussion. Mid Air, Tow, Rigging error? I constantly think about these things (accidents I have read about), virtually every day before I fly. It is part of my checklist.

I think at the end of the day it simply comes down to personal responsibility. Its that simple. We want a deeper answer. We want something to blame.. But 99% of the time it is pilot error. We are all taking higher risks that the normal person. We choose to do this every time we fly.

It sounds as if this poor guy had a mechanical issue or he just made a terrible mistake. We are all incredibly vulnerable in the early phase of tow, including the tow pilot if on an aerotow. As sad as this is...many of us have probably been closer to an accident once or twice than we would like to admit. In this case he got caught on the wrong side of the same odds.

We are all our own pilot in command. Its that simple. We can all learn from it...but almost undoubtedly something like this will happen again some day (unfortunately) when the dust settles and time passes. That is what really scares me about these stories.