Yeh it makes sense. I just wonder if the line has ever not been properly attached and the tub pilot didn't realise he was tugging anything. That could be a slightly costly mistake hehe.
It's happened to me, sort of... our club's towplane has a mirror, but often the sun can make it tricky to see what exactly is going on back there at the end of a 200-foot rope. The tow pilot has to watch the wing-walker's hand signals to take the slack out of the rope, then to stop because it's taut... then he has to get the "all clear" from the wing walker, then he wags his rudder and waits for the glider pilot (me) to wag back.
Well, a while back we were staged just a bit forward of where we usually are, and the new tow man rolled at idle to straighten the rope... and rolled... and rolled... next thing you know he's probably thinking "gee, I'm way down here- I must be dragging the glider already..." so he stops, and wags... but I don't wag back, because there's about 60 feet of slack lying in the grass. He cobs it anyway, and as I sit there staring at it, Herb bangs the release just before the slack comes out- with the tow plane already doing about 30 kts!!
Supposedly, "launching" that way, assuming the nose of the glider doesn't come off, will cause the glider to get airborne immediately and pop up- which is bad. Getting "high on tow" while the tow plane is still in ground effect can be disastrous, 'cuz it will lift the tail of the tow plane in the air.
But it was averted... and the best part was that the tow pilot didn't notice for quite some time that we were not behind him!! :D
He'll never do that again, however, and he's recently "graduated" to become a very good tow pilot.
On a less amusing note, I have noticed that if you are careful what moment you pick (as the glider pilot) to release, it's possible to get off so smoothly that the tow pilot can't tell right away.
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:53 pm
