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When I worked at Torrey in the mid-80s, every year the sailplanes would appear during March storms, when the winds exceed 40 mph. These conditions are candy to sailplane pilots, and sometimes they offered rides. I got to go on a free ride because I worked on the hill, or was excessively cute or some damn thing.
They used a winch to launch the sailplanes. I settled into the front seat. Pilot was in the back. We almost winched up with the rudder lock on, not really something that instills confidence in another pilot. That crisis averted, the winch began to crank us forward from the far east end of the runway. We lifted off, headed for the cliff. At about 50 feet in altitude, the tow line broke!
We were lower than the tower hang glider pilots use to gauge 'landing on top" altitude. LOWER! That dumbass wanted to do a 360 and land because of the broken tow line!!! By this point, we were over the backside of the LZ, so I said, "Hell no! If my kite could reach the cliff from here, you sure the hell have the glide ratio to make it!"
Oddly, he listened to me. I'm not used to that. We punched into the lift, skied out, and he handed controls over to me. (I've flown Cessnas, so it wasn't that foreign.) I spent longer than I should have aloft, they were supposed to be short jaunts, not a full on soaring session, and I um...might've gotten him in trouble by getting into controlled airspace.
Fortunately, the guy was better at landing than taking off, so we made it back down safely. I sauntered away as his fellow pilots yelled at him for a list of dumb stuff he wasn't entirely responsible for! Served him right, I thought. That guy made mistakes and bad decisions. What if I hadn't been on board when the line broke? Would he have actually attempted a 360 at 50 feet of altitude?
Cuz we all know how that would have ended!
