gliding question

Witmo

Witmo

Pattern Altitude
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Feb 19, 2006
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Tim
Any of you experienced glider pilots purposely broken the tow rope? I've been towing for a couple of months and haven't found anyone who has done this. We've been debating whether to land on tow or attempt to break the rope in the event neither aircraft can release.
 
I can't remember if I've done it on purpose but I have broken ropes. It isn't hard to do. I've also landed on tow as an exercise and it was really fun. If I had a real double release failure I'd probably break the rope just to keep things simple.
 
The procedure you follow should be established between the tow and glider pilots before the launch. (Good idea to make it clear you have done this for the practical test). At my glider club, it was something like tow to position over or upwind of airport, make two attempts at a rope break and then if necessary land together.
 
i havent had a tow failure yet, but also did some landing on tow practice around the same time and place that Matt did.
 
OK, I'll bite. What's the procedure to purposefully break loose?

I've had an actual release failure where the latch in the front of the Grob 103A I was flying let go of the rope at about 140' AGL. Departed 30 at Minden and made it back on the 16 with a little help from some lift over the fields just NW of the airport.

If you purposefully break the rope, or if the tow has to let it go and you're hauling a bunch of line, I don't remember if there's any special procedure for insuring that the dragging line doesn't become a problem. Is there? Is it as simple as landing long and steep so you're not dragging the line over the airport fence?

It's been a few years - just curious.
 
tonycondon said:
i havent had a tow failure yet, but also did some landing on tow practice around the same time and place that Matt did.
Click to expand...

Yea and since I was in the front seat I guess I did it first. HA!

or was I in the back seat? Not sure I guess...
 
I was onboard a glider when the tow dropped at his end. We circled back over the field and dropped the rope from our end on one side of the landing zone, then made a normal landing. The tow plane didn't fare so well. Out of gas he clipped some trees at the fence and a decent Pawnee got totaled. Pilot was ok.
 
PittsDriver said:
OK, I'll bite. What's the procedure to purposefully break loose?

I've had an actual release failure where the latch in the front of the Grob 103A I was flying let go of the rope at about 140' AGL. Departed 30 at Minden and made it back on the 16 with a little help from some lift over the fields just NW of the airport.

If you purposefully break the rope, or if the tow has to let it go and you're hauling a bunch of line, I don't remember if there's any special procedure for insuring that the dragging line doesn't become a problem. Is there? Is it as simple as landing long and steep so you're not dragging the line over the airport fence?

It's been a few years - just curious.
Click to expand...

typical rope break procedure ive heard is to put a bunch of slack in the rope and then remove it, quickly. the rope *should* be weak enough to break well before anything on the glider or towplane does. If the rope was stuck to the glider then yes an approach to avoid dragging the rope into anything unpleasant would be in order

wby0nder said:
Yea and since I was in the front seat I guess I did it first. HA!

or was I in the back seat? Not sure I guess...
Click to expand...

I was in the back.
 
tonycondon said:
typical rope break procedure ive heard is to put a bunch of slack in the rope and then remove it, quickly. the rope *should* be weak enough to break well before anything on the glider or towplane does.
Click to expand...
I was hoping for "tight turn or loop and cut the rope with the prop!" :rofl:
 
get a lotta slack. pop the dive brakes.
 
I have had the hook back release on both my HP16T and a SGS2-32 after putting a lot of slack in the Rope. While I haven't intentionally broke a rope I have seen several 1/4 hollow Braid ropes broken. One when the previous owner of my HP16T lost a canopy and just turned back to the runway without pulling the release (he thinks He opened the vent instead) the other when the towplane thought the glider was off tow and rolled off into a steep descent and the glider (L-13) decided not to follow.

If I needed to break a rope I would just pull up and to the right to keep the tow plane in sight. Dive down to put lot of slack in the rope and then sharply turn away from the towplane.

Brian
 
When I was learning to tow, the tow IP decided I needed a little workout...one of the instructors hopped in a 1-26 and started yanking my tail around at about 1000 feet...by 1300 feet, he had accidentally broken the rope.

I don't remember the MGW of a 1-26, but if somebody knows it, Matt or Tony could probably tell you what size rope it was, since it was at the club in Ames. I'm sure it was pretty close to the high end of the rope strength envelope, though (200% of glider MGW), so it's really not that tough to break a rope if you need to.

Fly safe!

David
 
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