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Dangerous aerotow takeoff when the towplane flies too slowly for my heavy, ballasted glider.
Glider pilots often fly with water ballast because the extra weight allows them to fly faster and cover greater distances. One of the downsides of the higher wingloading is that the stall speed goes up, i.e., the glider needs a higher minimum speed before it can fly.
Glider pilots must therefore brief the tow pilot before such flights that a higher speed is required during aerotow. If the tow plane flies too slowly, the glider becomes very difficult to control and may even stall while on tow. The same is true when winch launching.
One additional complexity is that - in the United States - tow planes often have air speed indicators denominated in miles per hour whereas glider pilots usually use knots.
You may ask, "what could possibly go wrong?" Well, it's not hard to imagine, and you can see it firsthand in this video...
I'm sharing this incident because I think that the same mistake can easily reoccur, and, yet, it is also easy to avoid. Soaring is objectively dangerous but we can all take steps to reduce the risks. I hope this video will help someone else avoid the same mistake and stay safe!
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My glider is a Ventus 2cxT 18m high-performance sailplane from Schempp-Hirth. The flight originated and ended at Boulder Municipal Airport (KBDU) - an ideal soaring location for exploring the sky in Colorado and beyond.
I flew with approx. 32 US gallons (121 liter) of water ballast in addition to fuel for my sustainer engine. The glider's all-up mass was at the maximum approved takeoff weight of 600 kg (1323 pounds) representing a wing loading of 54.4 kg/sqm (11.1 lb/sqft).
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