Aero-towing onboard footage with a close call!

Some windy (20+kts) aero-towing from Monday 4/5/09 at the WBESS field. Things didn't go totally to plan though.....on Dale's third tow, he overtook the tow plane and ended up with the tow line wrapped around the tail of his glider. The result? A *very* violent release which almost completely broke the tail off the glider.....but it still flew!!! Nothing but the control rods and about 3cm of fibreglass holding the tail on :-) The subsequent landing was a bit dodgy owing to the lack of elevator control though.....

And yes.....it really *was* that windy!

Tow plane - Brian's twin cylinder petrol Ugly Stik.
Dale's glider - Cheapo Discus clone (called a Magnum or something I think) 2.x metre span.
Mark's glider (the last part of the footage) - Another Discus clone in 4 metre span. Nice wing flex eh?

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• aero
• towing
• glider
• onboard
• damage
• flycam
• flycamone2
• discus
• broken
• tail
• rc
• radio
• control
• flying
• gliding
• wbess

[mrbonk]

@aviatorsbh The tug pilot didn't release anything. The glider overtook the tow line, which then wrapped around the tail/fin and virtually ripped it off the model.

[aviatorsbh]

Why did the tug plane release the line? He could have called the gliders pilot to release...