Anyone ever had to use a winch guillotine for real?

I know of one fatal accident where the drogue parachute took the cable over
the wing after release, the winch driver operated the guillotine which
failed to cut the cable; there was nothing more the winch driver could do.
It is not certain that cutting the cable would have saved the pilot, but it
would have given him a much better chance.

As a result of this accident new guillotines were developed, and new
maintenance and testing procedures introduced; we hope and believe that
such a failure is not now possible.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
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"Chris Nicholas" wrote in message
...

Over 33 year period I can recall 3 instances at my club when the
guillotine was used, and one when it should have been but wasn't. (The
latter was during reverse pulley launching - the drogue while still
being towed dropped to the side of the runway among a group of children,
and one of them was scooped up in it and suffered a broken leg. Chopping
the cable would have done little or no damage to them. There is a
separate issue as to why launching took place with the kids near enough
to be at risk, but that's how it was on the day.) I believe there have
been a few more incidents when I was not present or did not hear
details afterwards.

Most involved ring not freeing from hook on glider, cable fouled round
glider axle, or drogue deployed over wing. One was when a pilot
suffered some emergency during the launch - heart? - but it resulted in
a fatal crash anyway, though the cable was chopped to give it the best
chance.

Chris N.