Glider Incident - Cable failed and tangled around the fuselage

Here is a video about an incident which occurred with one of our gliders (ASK-13) during a stay at Hosin in Czech Republic. The cable broke at 300ft and tangled around the fuselage.
Fortunately, no one was hurt and the glider is in one piece.

[philharris]

I flew with the Giebelstadt flying club in 1990. One flight with our ASK13 I suffered a cable break at low alt. My instructor had th9is conversion with me several times and when it happened, I remembered FLY THE PLANE FIRST then do a safe landing. I was fortunate that the cable released from the plane and fell back to the airfield at one end and I landed at the other.. I must say.. it wasn't a hard thing to do in my case... Good Instructor! Thank you Hans Bartosh. Duck!

[DownhillAllTheWay]

There's another lesson to learn here: Under only slightly different circumstances (not to put too fine a point on it), this footage might have been exhibit-1 in an official investigation. If you're going to take video, the camera would be far better attached to some part of the glider than held in the hand of somebody who has his mind on other things.

[teamOOSD]

Thank you for sharing your experience. I don't want to give any advice, but want to share they way I tried to prevent any slack. When hitting or expecting turbulence (radio contact towing plane) or noticing a decline in power/ dropping towplane I used to apply (slowly) a tiny bit of airbrakes. It increases drag and stabilises the glider, but reduces climb rate so application must be as short as possible. Retract slowly as well. Crabbing saves the rope once the rope is already slack but requires a certain degree of proficiency. Dropping the nose when slack is taken up seems easier but timing must be spot on.
 By the way, the Czech Republic is a great place for a glider holiday. I went to Vrclabi.

[gernotneubauer]

Thank you for sharing your experiences and especially for the analysis, debriefing and thoughts about what could be better done in the future.
In flying awareness of what could possibly happen and what kind of action plan results from this is essential for becoming an old pilot.
Soaring is a wonderful sport and everybody can contribute to continueing improvements to make it safe and enjoyable.

[tomseim]

This is a pretty rare occurrence (I can't recall hearing of another actual incident in 35 years). I have had a rope break in turbulent towing conditions, but it broke at the glider. The best protection is a weak link at the glider. The pilots handled the situation well (fortunately the controls weren't jammed).

[markplain]

YES!!! I agree with Specter's remark below, I was just about to say something similar.
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I prefer to describe what to do as follows:
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1. When the tow plane suddenly dips down DON'T CHASE IT! The glider is way faster than the tow plane when you drop the nose and you will create slack.
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2. If the tow plane drops ever so slightly hold your position, maybe 'sort of' drop a tiny amount, but anticipate the tow plane coming up again. (and get ready to go up with the plane)
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3. If the tow plane drops a lot (as happened in this video), then DO A SIDE SLIP. This way you also drop height but create enough drag to keep the rope tight AND!! If there is any slack you have crabbed sideways so that once slack is removed the acceleration is dampened as the rope pulls you straight.
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4. MOST IMPORTANTLY if you mess up and there is a serious amount of slack DISCONNECT !! Anticipate a serious jerk and DISCONNECT AS THE SLACK IS ABOUT TO JERK STRAIGHT. Try not to disconnect too early as the slack may wrap around you wing, try not allow any more slack (disconnect) and try disconnect just before the jerk
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Gliding is safe we just have to learn to tow safely. Downdrafts are not freak occurrences, learn to deal with them.
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ps: kudos to the instructor for keeping it together and thinking carefully about flying with a dangling hook (not wanting to get near power lines).

[fowler]

Reminds me of a stupid mistake I made once as a towing pilot in a Robin; went to land on the general aviation runway to refuel (gaz station to the other side of the glider box) and simply forgot to dump the towing cable !!! People said they had seen the cable dangling behind my plane as I crossed the treshold very low just overflying a traffic road. This was in Grenchen (Schweiz) By luck there was no car or truck crossing at the same time I was overflying the road.

[PureGlide]

I find a bit of side slip or yaw helps soften a cable sag as it comes tight again. It basically 'dampens' it.

[christopherleveck]

The easiest way to take the slack out of the line is to use your rudder and just move to one side or the other.
This will take up the slack gently instead of letting it snap by staying directly behind him, and it also gives you an immediate line to take in the event the rope brakes to clear the area.
I always tried to slip out to the same side I normally would release too.
The tow pilot is always waiting for that moment when you pull, so he is going to treat a break the same as a pull anyway.

[nuil]

Congrats Vincent, very didadic  your video, great instructor, kept calm during all incident, correct actions, even asked you  about your decision/options, have nice thermic flights. Thanks for posting, oscar 

[welshpete]

I used to pull a little airbrake. If the tow plane had to dive a little due to turbulence, and the line was developing a large dip . Only a little, just enough to keep the tow line from sagging to much . At the begin he looked high on the tow. I was taught to keep his tail wheel on the horizon . That way it kept the tow plane and the glider in line and stopped the tow plane being pulled upward by the gilder .

[patrickradcliffe]

Boy that tow line seems aweful short. Seemed to be having issues staying above the towplane.

[richardweil]

Great analysis afterwards. The one thing I would suggest is adding sufficient airspeed first. When you leave tow (intentionally or otherwise) it bleeds off pretty fast. In practice rope breaks that has always been drilled into me--turning at that height you never want to be near a possible spin. But this was a very unusual situation that they handled well. (A power plane pilot would more likely be killed doing a 180 at that altitude; see the AOPA course, "The Impossible Turn.")

[PhilippeLecl]

L' analyse de l' incident est très intéressante. Merci de l' avoir partagée.

[gliding_soaring]

The instructor was busy filming keeping the phone in his hands. Terrible habit

[reconwatcher]

Calm heads--smooth actions--  Job well done and walked away

[bepowerification]

thank god the cable was only like 3 meters long...

[davidglosser]

First, check the rope and the tost hook for faults before and during tow day. Next, if slack develops yaw glider away from direction of slack rope loop. When slack tightens it softens the strain on the rope and both of the planes. If tow plane abruptly drops in sink don't over-react by chasing it down with forward stick. Your glider will hit the same sink in a few seconds and be in ok position. If you chase it down you will speed up more than the tow plane and make a slack rope. The pilots stayed cool and pulled their chestnuts out of the fire. They were at adequate altitude for return to field....a maneuver practiced by all soaring pilots. The low sink rate and high L/D ratio of gliders makes the "impossible turn" quite possible if executed properly. Fly safe and have fun.

[xGSFxGoat]

How long was this tow rope? It seemed really short.

[georgehaeh]

Really high on the towplane. That's how towpilots get killed. Just above the wake gives the best margin in avoiding kiting and towplane upset.