15 years back I remember seeing a flexwing hang glider being aerotowed off a French strip by a flexwing. This was sufficiently novel for me to video it. The combination was up to about 30 feet and the glider pilot just tucking his feet into his sleeping bag when the rope broke or disconnected. The glider seemed to virtually stop dead in the air and descended more or less vertically with the wing still in flying attitude. The pilot hit the ground flat ( his feet were stuck in the bag). I guess there was some cushioning effect from the wing as he was OK (but very sore).
The lesson to me was to stick to sailplanes! But it seemed like there's a nasty period with an aerotowed flexwing near the ground where a launch failure is virtually unrecoverable.
Be happy to hear that I'm wrong though!
Could someone explain "lockout", "static tow" and "power tow" please?