PPLvirgin,
It was a decision made very quickly after an assessment of my options. I had an 850 Kg aircraft with dodgy brakes about 40 m behind me. It was a short, hard runway and a high density altitude - probably 5000-6000 feet.
I could have dumped the rope and slowed to turn off at the end, but there was a possibility that the glider pilot might have had to veer off the runway to avoid me. The terrain either side of the runway was rough with 50 cm bushes, so there would have been a significant risk of a ground loop.
So I felt the best option was to continue and fly an appropriate attitude, particularly since I had had a previous experience of ASI failure. Without mentioning my problem, I did ask the glider pilot if the speed was OK.
By the time we reached release altitude, the ASI had slowly come to life. I was flying a Bellanca Scout. On the ground, the pitot tube is angled upwards, as you can see in this photo of a different Scout that had a very precise bee strike:
We had had a thunder storm the night before and I think some rain had found its way into the pitot.
mary, thanks for the vote of support.
