Banner towing aircraft ditches into the sea, one rescued.
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Banner towing aircraft ditches into the sea, one rescued.
Glad they are safe, I would imagine the banner would be a heck of a braking effect when it went into the water
https://heysocal.com/2022/07/22/plan...erson-rescued/
https://heysocal.com/2022/07/22/plan...erson-rescued/
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n a related note, can anyone guess, why the banner was not released prior to the ditching? Getting rid of the extra drag could have given the aircraft more energy left for a proper flare before the ditching.
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They were all trainee lifeguards taking part in a competition, handy place to ditch.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/fb6...f36ef5a7d1b5c/
https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/fb6...f36ef5a7d1b5c/
As for releasing the banner comments: Often these banner towing activities over the sea take place relatively low. Could be that the pilot had little time to react between "wtf" and splash.
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But these banner towing operations are not only at low level constantly, but also boring as hell, so when the WTF moment happens, mobilizing congnitive power is harder than in the glider tugs, where the pilots know their kill zones in advance and better anticipate WTF happening to them.
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Yeah, that's true. I am probably biased by knowing that glider tugs must be really quick in releasing a glider, if it starts to climb too high behind them and lifting the tug's tail, risking the tow plane descend into the ground at low altitude.
But these banner towing operations are not only at low level constantly, but also boring as hell, so when the WTF moment happens, mobilizing congnitive power is harder than in the glider tugs, where the pilots know their kill zones in advance and better anticipate WTF happening to them.
But these banner towing operations are not only at low level constantly, but also boring as hell, so when the WTF moment happens, mobilizing congnitive power is harder than in the glider tugs, where the pilots know their kill zones in advance and better anticipate WTF happening to them.
In addition, once the tow rope is released the strong nose-up elevator input might lead to a rapid pitch up and stall.
It would be interesting to hear the experience of a tow pilot that decided to release a glider due to the glider getting too high.
Don't assume you will be fast enough to release. Also be aware that the hook commonly used in USA will not release when loaded by a kiting glider.