Burke "Bruno" Schnedl <<rdufokker>>
writes:

I had an issue with my Russian mouth release. Two days ago down
here at Wallaby Ranch I made two pattern tows and a normal tow. The first tow
was nothing out of the ordinary, This is about my 20th tow using the mouth
release. The second pattern tow was not good.

I did not connect my bridle to the release but someone helping connected it for
me so that all I had to do was bite down on the release. My first mistake was
that I didn't completely check the connection. I glanced at it, but it didn't
look out of the ordinary.

Reaching 800' I was waved off and I relaxed my mouth to release the release but
nothing had happened. I noticed that the bridle was actually over one of the
pins and on the wrong side.

I grabbed the line to pull slack hoping it would jump back over the pin but no
luck. I went for my barrel release but missed it the first time, by the time I
got to it the second time and released, but I was way out of position.

Had this happened to me low to the ground it would have been disastrous. I still
feel this is a better design for a release but needed some polishing up. I would
also say that I was using spectra line as my bridle, which is very small
diameter and more easily caught.

Afterwards, I tried Dacron line and it too snagged but was easier to get loose. 
We are trying to contact the Russians who make these releases to advise them.