SINS BEST CONFESSED

Rope breaks!  For too many reasons to enumerate here, they do happen.  And like flat tires they can be very inconvenient, but if you’re prepared and operating properly they don’t have to be disasters.  Even so, better to avoid them than not.It’s gratifying that nearly all rope breaks occur in training.  The higher this percentage the better, if you think about it.  It’s true that unplanned, or ‘real’ emergencies provide a more profound variety of training, but full application of that logic would suggest no emergency training at all, and who’d want that?No, as unfun as slack rope can be, training for it is a practical necessity, and occasional breaks are a fair price — one always paid by whomever’s waiting for the next tow. I hereby propose a small procedural nicety that will cost nothing and could potentially help someone sometime (YOU, SOON) avoid unnecessary ‘inconvenience’.We had a break not long ago while practicing slack line recoveries.  Not a big deal.  What’s noteworthy is our tow pilot said later that he felt a harder yank on the tow before ours, and suggested that first one might have compromised our weak link… If there were evidence of such, we destroyed it. This suggests that pilots at either end of any line would do well to report unusually hard yanks by radio the moment they happen, whether in training or ‘real’ life, so someone on the ground can take an extra close look before the next tow calls for hookup.We all know how easy it is to casually glance over and nod before takeoff without careful visual confirmation that the rope (and rings) are actually sound.   Eventually, one fellow pilot confessing an awkward moment on tow could provide another with just the heads-up needed to prevent inadvertent sabotage… Which of these two would you rather be?