Fatal Towplane Accident 5-9-20

Very sad to read this tragic news this morning.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/0...fatal.html?m=1

Comments (anonymous) on the webpage indicate kiting may have been a significant factor.

Sincere condolences to the family of the tow pilot and to the members of the club.

Paul Agnew
Jupiter, FL

On Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 10:57:01 AM UTC-4, Paul Agnew wrote:
Very sad to read this tragic news this morning.

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2020/0...fatal.html?m=1

Comments (anonymous) on the webpage indicate kiting may have been a significant factor.

Sincere condolences to the family of the tow pilot and to the members of the club.

Paul Agnew
Jupiter, FL

Condolences to all involved.

While it is near impossible to engineer out all the potential for such an occurrence in towing there are things that should be done to all tow planes to mitigate these conditions. I'll not get into them but those who know me know what I think. While training is important, training should never take a back seat to giving the tow pilot every chance in the world to escape with his or her life.

Walt Connelly
Former tow pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot.

While it is near impossible to engineer out all the potential for such an occurrence in towing there are things that should be done to all tow planes to mitigate these conditions.

Aside from eliminating human reaction time with an elevator at stop triggering an instant tow release, I'm not sure how to fix low level kiting at the tow. That would cause more problems.

On the other end of the rope, we have a separate sign off for aero, winch and motor launch. For me, it would have been useful if there was an additional for CG which requires a specific test to verify an understanding of kiting.

(RAS is all about fixing the problem before we know what the problem is. It will be interesting to see what the NTSB says about this in terms of mitigations.)

Definitely a sad day.

On the other end of the rope, we have a separate sign off for aero, winch and motor launch. For me, it would have been useful if there was an additional for CG which requires a specific test to verify an understanding of kiting.

(RAS is all about fixing the problem before we know what the problem is. It will be interesting to see what the NTSB says about this in terms of mitigations.)

Definitely a sad day.

I am not the most experienced tow pilot on this site but I do have 7000 tows under my belt. I have survived a couple of kiting incidents, one at about 350 feet and the student didn't release. Had the rope not broken I would have been dead, the Schweizer release and associated release handle were useless for a couple of reasons. I'll not elaborate, those who know me know what I have to say regarding this. As for RAX being all about fixing problems....SHIRLEY you jest and yes I called you Shirley.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow PIlot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot

We all know how the self-release works on the glider side at winch launching: at a certain angle the rope puts a pressure on a lever which causes the release. Isn't it technically simple to have a similar solution on the tow plane side, a lever above the rope, which pressed at kiting would release the rope immediately? Where am I wrong?

There have been some proposed engineering solutions, and even prototypes built of automatic tow releases to prevent kiting accidents. I believe the main problem has been that the difference in the angle of the rope relative to the release between normal tow and kiting is very small. Also, I think there was pushback from insurance companies regarding anything that might cause a premature release.

On Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 9:13:53 AM UTC-7, wrote:
Aside from eliminating human reaction time with an elevator at stop triggering an instant tow release, I'm not sure how to fix low level kiting at the tow. That would cause more problems.

In my opinion, it should be required for the towpilot to be able to keep his hand on the release for the first 500ft. In Pawnees, this can be done, with wrist also lying on the throttle to ensure it stays full forward.

Condolences to everybody in this tragedy. I am curious as to how many hours the glider pilot had? It says in the report that he landed safely. He should be charged with a crime.

Boggs

Hearing that this possibly involved a canopy popping open.

I'm sure the glider pilot feels horrible for this.

PA

On Sunday, May 10, 2020 at 9:37:28 PM UTC-4, Waveguru wrote:
Condolences to everybody in this tragedy. I am curious as to how many hours the glider pilot had? It says in the report that he landed safely. He should be charged with a crime.

Boggs

I made a couple of calls to family members who are legal experts or so they tell me. Only one answered and my aviation attorney seems to be sequestered deep in the forests of Massachusetts until this plague passes. Gliders/soaring seems to be considered a sport and under the legal doctrine of "assumption of the risk" I am informed it is quite difficult to bring a charge of any kind unless it can be proven that an unreasonable/purposeful act was committed. I guess they consider the tow pilot to be a participant and is assuming a degree of risk. Of course it all depends on the lawyers who get involved and the local charging authority. Some can sue the sun for going down and the tide for going out, welcome to America.

Walt Connelly
Former Tow Pilot
Now Happy Helicopter Pilot