Keep your hand off the release handle during aero tows!

On Friday, October 4, 2013 10:36:19 AM UTC-6, wrote:
I have seen several videos on youtube lately where the glider pilot holds the tow release handle during all parts tow. I've been told it is taught this way by some in the UK. Sorry to pick on you folks on the other side of the pond as I love your country and can't wait to come over and glide with you in the next few years.



It seems to me that holding the handle during aero tow is a recipe for disaster eventually.



We have all hit big bumps and turbulence down low on tow. Why risk accidentally pulling the release at 50ft or 100ft in the air? If you are saying it is so that you can immediately pull the handle if something goes bad on tow, it might not be a good enough reason due to the risks of a accidental release. Keep your hand on your knee or the flaps handle right next to the release and I bet you can pull it just as quickly and you don't have to worry about messing up a perfectly good tow down low. Am I missing something here?



Your thoughts? This just seems like a big safety mistake and I would hate for people who see these videos and then think it is the right and correct thing to do.



Have fun and fly safe,

Bruno - B4

www.youtube.com/bviv

A few years ago I flew with a visiting UK pilot who was looking for a field checkout. I noticed he held onto the release as we climbs away. As was typical, part of the tow was over uninviting terrain. A small flying insect took the opportunity to land on his left ear. In an attempt to slap the bug he inadvertently pulled the release and missed the bug chasing it into his ear canal - double fail. Now he was off tow and low over unlandable terrain with a live bug in his ear. Does that count as 3 incidents in an accident chain?

I thought, Hmmm, GREAT distraction - lets see how he handles it.

To his credit, he thermalled us out of trouble all the while making weird vocalizations and trying to dislodge the bug. After he gave up attacking his ear, the bug "bugged out". The pilot got his checkout and, in the debrief, announced he had decided holding the release during aero tow wasn't such a great idea.

*I* have the time.

Of course, if I had to:

1) Look at the airspeed.
2) Look at the runway.
3) Look at the tow plane.
4) Keep it all straight.

ad nauseum, I'd probably be reading the checklist as I careened merrily down
through the weeds.

Do you also feel that the nose hook is better than the CG hook because it
helps keep you straight on tow?

What ever happened to situational awareness and simply flying the freakin'
aircraft?

I'm wearing my flame suit, but I believe in what I said. There seem to be
simply too many "pilots" who want it all done for them electronically or by
rote. C'mon guys and gals. Learn to do it right and you'll enjoy it so
much more.

"Soartech" wrote in message
...


In an ASW19, 20 or 27 it is common practice (even mentioned in the POH)
to start an aero tow with partially deployed spoilers to help keep
ailerons effective at low speeds. At around 30 knots put in spoilers and
move flaps from 2 to 4. Works great.

Sounds OK in theory. An engineer probably came up with the POH entry,
but...
Who has time to look at the airspeed, look at the runway, tow plane and
keep it all straight plus close spoilers and change flaps at a certain
speed? With our clubs 260 HP towplane it all happens fast! Ailerons seem
to work fine in about 3 seconds.

Sounds like a decent idea, John, but I think you should actually try it at
least once in flight. The act of raising your hand ala "stick 'em up" is
different than a straight back pull so I think you should see how it feels
and if it really works.

Intuitively, it looks like the gesture you mentioned would result in about a
45 degree upward pull on the release. Would the cable jam in its fairlead?

The release knob in my LAK is a fairly small disk, about a half inch (maybe
a bit more) in diameter and might be easy to miss in an emergency. I think
I'll give your rope idea a try for myself.

"JohnDeRosa" wrote in message
...
Couple of things;

1) THIS THREAD IS ABOUT YOUR HAND ON THE RELEASE! NOT ON THE SPOILERS!
Can we all say "oops"?

2) I had a PTT when I had my hand on the release. Never again.

3) That being said (#2 above) I saw a friend get in trouble on tow and
couldn't find the release handle due to G forces (scratch one glider). So I
came up with a fairly long lanyard that goes from the release knob to my
wrist. In this way small movements of my hand won't impact the release but,
in an emergency, a half way hands up gesture of "you're under arrest" will
release the tow. Luckily I have never used this. Needless to say I use the
knob for a non-emergency releases. Here is a link to my Mark 1 version
(Bumper type model numbering), I don't have a shot of Mark II with its
adjustable palm knob and black nylon webbing.
http://aviation.derosaweb.net/images...selandyard.JPG

My $0.02.

- John

On Friday, October 4, 2013 3:57:04 PM UTC-4, JohnDeRosa wrote:
Couple of things; 1) THIS THREAD IS ABOUT YOUR HAND ON THE RELEASE! NOT ON THE SPOILERS! Can we all say "oops"? 2) I had a PTT when I had my hand on the release. Never again. 3) That being said (#2 above) I saw a friend get in trouble on tow and couldn't find the release handle due to G forces (scratch one glider). So I came up with a fairly long lanyard that goes from the release knob to my wrist. In this way small movements of my hand won't impact the release but, in an emergency, a half way hands up gesture of "you're under arrest" will release the tow. Luckily I have never used this. Needless to say I use the knob for a non-emergency releases. Here is a link to my Mark 1 version (Bumper type model numbering), I don't have a shot of Mark II with its adjustable palm knob and black nylon webbing. http://aviation.derosaweb.net/images...selandyard.JPG My $0.02. - John

The lanyard loop is a fairly old solution that, I understand resulted from Gerhard Waibel not being able to get to the release on a '20 at Eagle Field resulting in a crunch of sorts. Interestingly, the releases on all his following gliders are up on the left and easily seen and gripped.
For 19's and 20's and such, we make a loop out of about 24 inches of parachute cord that loops around the release handle. The pilot lays this across his left thigh, and the release is easily found and pulled if needed quickly.. Holding the loop with slack would present minimal risk of accidently releasing and yet provides the benefit of quick access.
People adding to other ships should consider what such a loop may interfere with when implementing.
I guard the release during the early part of ground launches, but stay away from it on aero tow.
Another voice heard from
UH

On Friday, October 4, 2013 11:30:46 AM UTC-6, John Galloway wrote:
We in the UK are not taught to hold the release throughout an
aerotow. Have there been reports of inadvertent releases on
aerotow from this? Cable releases are not hair-trigger.

Especially for winch launches we are taught to "start the launch
with the hand on the release" . The following AAIB report is
relevant to that:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...NN%2006-13.pdf

John Galloway

Hi John and everyone else, thanks for the responses so far. As I stated in the title I am only talking about aero tows. What I don't want people to think is if it is the right way for a winch launch then it is the right way for aero tows. I completely agree on keeping the hand on during the first part of the winch launch. If you accidentally pull at 50 or even 100 feet you still have a lot more runway ahead than with most aero tows since on winches you get off the ground and up in a much shorter distance.

Getting back to the original topic, we are already seeing examples of stories in this thread of people who DID hold on to the release and had a low inadvertent release. The problem does exist and has caused accidents. Please keep your hand off the handle on an aero tow unless you have one of the extending lanyards that have been spoken of. I could not reach the release for the life of me in my Phoebus and so had the lanyard attached. It sat on my knee with my open hand on top of it during tow.

Take care and be safe,
Bruno - B4

Winch tow, hand on release? Not a good idea?
Jerk acceleration, from some slack or something in the line and you inadvertently pull the release.
Probably not too bad if still on the ground.

The accident report is not final from the recent Jacuma CA winch accident. Preliminary information is a Premature release at to low an altitude and to high an attitude.

Aero tow, I was giving a flight review and the pilot tried to hold his fist right in front of the 2-33 release, it was a bumpy tow and his hand was everywhere except near the release. We discussed the usefulness of that concept.

BT

On Friday, October 4, 2013 8:06:12 PM UTC-6, Bill T wrote:
Winch tow, hand on release? Not a good idea?

Jerk acceleration, from some slack or something in the line and you inadvertently pull the release.

Probably not too bad if still on the ground.



The accident report is not final from the recent Jacuma CA winch accident.. Preliminary information is a Premature release at to low an altitude and to high an attitude.



Aero tow, I was giving a flight review and the pilot tried to hold his fist right in front of the 2-33 release, it was a bumpy tow and his hand was everywhere except near the release. We discussed the usefulness of that concept.



BT

OK, I gotta jump in here. Keeping a hand on the release is SOP on winch launch. If the ground roll isn't perfectly straight and level, you have to release instantly.

A launch failure can happen anytime at any height on a winch launch and in itself doesn't cause accidents - provided the PIC is doing his job of flying the glider. Student pilots can expect an instructor to pull the release at any height and then be expected to land the glider safely.

On Fri, 04 Oct 2013 19:06:12 -0700, Bill T wrote:

Winch tow, hand on release? Not a good idea?
Jerk acceleration, from some slack or something in the line and you
inadvertently pull the release.
Probably not too bad if still on the ground.

If that happens, would you really want to stay on?

If/when that happens to me the release gets pulled because:
(1) I don't want a large bight in the shock rope to wrap round my wheel
(2) I'd rather not subject my hook to the sort of snatch load a powerful
winch can apply.

The accident report is not final from the recent Jacuma CA winch
accident. Preliminary information is a Premature release at to low an
altitude and to high an attitude.

This a good reason for the UK emphasis on a slow rotation into full climb
and not starting rotation until you have 150% of stall speed (50kts in
most gliders) and positive acceleration. It helps to ensure that while
you're low and slow you're not steep.


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

At 02:06 05 October 2013, Bill T wrote:
Winch tow, hand on release? Not a good idea?
Jerk acceleration, from some slack or something in the line and you
inadvertently pull the release.
Probably not too bad if still on the ground.

The accident report is not final from the recent Jacuma CA winch
accident.
Preliminary information is a Premature release at to low an altitude and
to
high an attitude.

Aero tow, I was giving a flight review and the pilot tried to hold his
fist
right in front of the 2-33 release, it was a bumpy tow and his hand was
everywhere except near the release. We discussed the usefulness of that
concept.

BT

It is absolutely essential that hand contact with the release is maintained
from the time a cable is attached to the time until flight is achieved on a
winch launch. The wing drop/yaw/crash sequence is well documented and while
being able to operate the release quickly does nothing to prevent, only
mitigates the severity of the accident, it is nevertheless literally the
difference between life and death.
Inadvertently operating the release on a winch launch may prove
embarrassing, not operating the release if a wing drops may spare your
embarrassment by killing you.

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...NN%2006-13.pdf

Hey, I thought they were locked!

On Friday, October 4, 2013 12:46:52 PM UTC-4, Jp Stewart wrote:
On Friday, October 4, 2013 12:36:19 PM UTC-4, wrote:

I have seen several videos on youtube lately where the glider pilot holds the tow release handle during all parts tow. I've been told it is taught this way by some in the UK. Sorry to pick on you folks on the other side of the pond as I love your country and can't wait to come over and glide with you in the next few years.







It seems to me that holding the handle during aero tow is a recipe for disaster eventually.







We have all hit big bumps and turbulence down low on tow. Why risk accidentally pulling the release at 50ft or 100ft in the air? If you are saying it is so that you can immediately pull the handle if something goes bad on tow, it might not be a good enough reason due to the risks of a accidental release. Keep your hand on your knee or the flaps handle right next to the release and I bet you can pull it just as quickly and you don't have to worry about messing up a perfectly good tow down low. Am I missing something here?







Your thoughts? This just seems like a big safety mistake and I would hate for people who see these videos and then think it is the right and correct thing to do.







Have fun and fly safe,



Bruno - B4



www.youtube.com/bviv



Or you can keep you hands on those pesky spoilers?



JP