In early 2020, I was taking transition to glider lessons out of Williams, California. The lesson plan for this flight was to tow to 6000 feet while flying to the West, then do some air work and attempt to thermal if the conditions allowed. This video shows us around 4500 feet, kind of relaxed and chatting about local winds about ten minutes or so into the tow.

I saw a couple of flashes directly ahead of us and quickly determined we were on a collision course with another glider. My first instinct was to call out "traffic" and bank to the right. I started to do that then realized we were connected to the tow plane. To be honest, releasing from tow wasn't primed as an option at this stage of training. Even if I had released, I think the tow pilot would have turned left, possibly reducing the margin between the tug and the oncoming glider.

We received no FLARM warning and later spoke to the pilot in the other glider who said he never saw us. I don't know for sure, but I would tend to think the other pilot may have been distracted by other things and not had his FLARM activated.

What do you think? Would you have done anything differently?

From the FAA: A near midair collision is defined as an incident associated with the operation of an aircraft in which a possibility of collision occurs as a result of proximity of less than 500 feet to another aircraft, or a report is received from a pilot or a flight crewmember stating that a collision hazard existed between two or more aircraft.

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