Transitional Tribulations

The soaring lessons to this point were all play and no work! I have over 300 hours on power (not instrument rated yet; the glider rating comes first). I was having a blast.

Today, however, I got to take the stick on tow.

It was an exercise in humility! 8-[] I felt utterly incompetent and sometimes terrified. I over-corrected all my botched control inputs. The tow pilot must have thought I was drunk (or new at it, which I most certainly am). A few times I ended up a story or two above the tow plane. Thank *GOD* I had a CFI sitting behind me! And to think I asked him beforehand if I would practice boxing the wash this time! It seems absurd in retrospect.

Back on the ground I got some pointers and encouragement. All hope is not lost, but my aspiration to become a glider CFI is, at least for now. First things first: learning to follow the tow plane.

I am pleased to be learning all kinds of things, and re-learning others in richer detail. I knew I would after reading Robert Buck's 'Flying Know-How.' He raves about soaring. (I learned about him from a Rod Machado article. If you don't know who Robert Buck is, he is a retired TWA captain with more trans-Atlantic crossings than most people have flying hours.) I think most power pilots are aware of that soaring holds many precious lessons. It forces one to do things properly. Last time there was a United Airlines captain working on his glider rating out there.

I know a teenage glider pilot who went on a field trip with some of his classmates to a Naval Air Station (NAS), where they all got to try out a full-cockpit simulator. They did the aerial refueling scenario. Guess who was the only one in the whole bunch who could dock with the tanker's fuel boom?

Thanks to whoever posted that a commercial soaring operation is probably a faster way to transition than going to a club. (I read up here before embarking on this endeavor, and I am glad I did. I must say thhe soaring lessons to this point were all play and no work! I have over 300 hours on power (not instrument rated yet; the glider rating comes first). I was having a blast.

Today, however, I got to take the stick on tow.

It was an exercise in humility! 8-[] I felt utterly incompetent and sometimes terrified. I over-corrected all my botched control inputs. The tow pilot must have thought I was drunk (or new at it, which I most certainly am). A few times I ended up a story or two above the tow plane. Thank *GOD* I had a CFI sitting behind me! And to think I asked him beforehand if I would practice boxing the wash this time! It seems absurd in retrospect.

Back on the ground I got some pointers and encouragement. All hope is not lost, but my aspiration to become a glider CFI is, at least for now. First things first: learning to follow the tow plane.

I am pleased to be learning all kinds of things, and re-learning others in richer detail. I knew I would after reading Robert Buck's 'Flying Know-How.' He raves about soaring. (I learned about him from a Rod Machado article. If you don't know who Robert Buck is, he is a retired TWA captain with more trans-Atlantic crossings than most people have flying hours.) I think most power pilots are aware of that soaring holds many precious lessons. It forces one to do things properly. Last time there was a United Airlines captain working on his glider rating out there.

I know a teenage glider pilot who went on a field trip with some of his classmates to a Naval Air Station (NAS), where they all got to try out a full-cockpit simulator. They did the aerial refueling scenario. Guess who was the only one in the whole bunch who could dock with the tanker's fuel boom?

Thanks to whoever posted that a commercial soaring operation is probably a faster way to transition than going to a club. (I read up here before embarking on this endeavor, and I am glad I did. I must say that the L/D of this news group, meaning literacy-to-denseness, is much higher than that of most news groups.) Instrument rating? Yes, it separates the men from the boys, and I will get around to it, but glider pilots seem to be the intelligentsia of aviation.

At your stage of the game, most problems on tow are due to not coordinating the stick with the rudder properly, IMHO. Your experience is pretty typical. OTOH, I just had a 6000 hr power pilot on his first glider lesson fly the take off and the entire tow with only verbal coaching. It wasn't pretty, but it was safe. Strangest thing I'd ever seen.

Tony V. CFIG

I once aerotowed a K21 HANDS OFF. It even followed the tug in turns. Trouble was when the tug levelled up, it kept turning. Helps if you get it trimmed perfectly of course. I've never dared to demonstrate this to student in case they try it however.

Hmmm. Someone had me try the tow above 1500 ft on the second flight. Interesting, to say the least.

Ditto here, flight #15. Same flight, I made the first landing, been trying to reproduce that one since then. Three flights later, I had it from dead stop to dead stop.

I think what helped me was to get rid of the 'deathgrip' on the stick. For some reason, when I was given the plane, I decided to just use two fingers and my thumb, using my wrist instead of my arm. I won't say I was exactly in position, but from that time on, when I thought I had gone too far, I was told that I was still ok. (The thought that immediately comes to my mind is that I was being told 'you screwed it up, now fix it'.) I think the thing with the deathgrip was that I couldn't feel any feedback, and no indication of how far I was moving the stick.

Absolutely. Getting rid of the 'death-grip' is the single best thing you can do to improve your flying skills. That's why you will always hear us saying 'relax' from the back seat! I understand that it's tough to fly with a light touch in the 2-33 while on tow. I've never flown one that has enough nose-down trim, so you're always going to be holding the stick tighter while on tow. My personal technique: below 1,000ft., my left hand is wrapped around the tow release knob and the canopy cross-bar (so I don't accidentally pull the release!). Above 1,000ft., I move my left hand onto the stick below my right hand. The left hand adds forward control pressure while my right hand flies the plane. I'm always smoother when flying this way.

Chris Fleming

I'll share my towing tips. All of the other stuff about small inputs and following the *trend* of the tug's wings are perfectly correct. But the thing that did it for me was learning not to try to fly back into station if I noticed I was out to one side or the other. Instead, I concentrated on flying straight and level (or turning if that's what the tug was doing) and once stabilised the glider drifts back into the slot. This is particularly so of low tow (normal tow in Australia) where the margin for error is larger and there is less tendency to drift out of station in the first place. Before you get totally bamboozled or discouraged, ask your instructor to let you fly for a while in low tow and see if that's easier.

I'm curious about the fact that high tow is considered normal in the US, while low tow is normal in Australia. Especially since, on another thread, there was a lengthy discussion of how to handle slack line on tow, where the most common recommendation was 'do nothing unless it's a lot of slack, in which case climb to take it out.'

I find that in my (very limited) experience of glass ships (mostly Grob 102), when flying in high tow position I generally can't see much, if any, of the tow rope. If I noticed slack and climbed, I'd lose sight of the towplane as well! As a result, I generally handle slack line by yawing a little, which creates drag and allows me to watch the line around the side of the nose.

I haven't tried it, but it seems to me that low tow would provide a clear view of the towplane and rope, and would allow for a healthy climb if needed to control slack line without risking losing sight of line or towplane.

Thoughts, anyone? Why is high tow preferred in the US?

snip

Gus Briglieb insisted on low tow at the old El Mirage glider port in Southern California. I think this had more to do with the fact that he used TG-3's for training and towed with PT-23's. The combination just worked better with low tow especially considering the poor visibility from the back seat of a TG-3.

You have to consider your tug and glider. A LS-3 with the Tost hook on the landing gear would be a poor choice for low tow, for example. You might also consider the possibility of catching a rope on a fuselage/flap junction should it drape back over the glider. Slack ropes have fouled glider control surfaces.

Low tow does give a better view of the tow rope - particularly for an instructor in the back seat. This is probably the strongest reason in favor of low tow. This is offset by a greater tendency for a slack rope to drape over the glider which can be very nerve racking. It does seem that high tow provides an easier and safer escape should you choose to release during a slack rope episode. Even Gus insisted on releasing from high tow.

I don't think it is any easier to maintain position in low tow, it's just that you have fewer references with which to judge whether you are out of position so it looks easier.

The 'take home' thought is that airtow has dangers regardless of how it is practiced. It requires a substantial skill level to insure safety. Be careful.

Bill Daniels

Do you fly low tow in Australia with gliders having only belly or CG hooks? If so what path does the tow rope take over the nose.

Don't know what the rules are in Australia but US didn't adopt the 'no cg hooks for aero tow' rule.

Andy Durbin

That doesn't sound like high tow

IMO we use low tow in Australia following a number of tug upsets when the glider got too high. It seems that tug elevators can cope with the down force of low tow much better than the up force caused by a too-high glider. Likewise, all new gliders and those changing ownership must be fitted with a nose tow hook if aero tow is to be used as the launch method. A CofG hook and a too-high glider can get into an unrecoverable situation due to the moment around the wings of the low tow attachment point. John G.



snip > > I haven't tried it, but it seems to me that low tow would provide a > clear view of the towplane and rope, and would allow for a healthy > climb if needed to control slack line without risking losing sight of > line or towplane. > > Thoughts, anyone? Why is high tow preferred in the US? > Gus Briglieb insisted on low tow at the old El Mirage glider port in Southern California. I think this had more to do with the fact that he used TG-3's for training and towed with PT-23's. The combination just worked better with low tow especially considering the poor visibility from the back seat of a TG-3. You have to consider your tug and glider. A LS-3 with the Tost hook on the landing gear would be a poor choice for low tow, for example. You might also consider the possibility of catching a rope on a fuselage/flap junction should it drape back over the glider. Slack ropes have fouled glider control surfaces. Low tow does give a better view of the tow rope - particularly for an instructor in the back seat. This is probably the strongest reason in favor of low tow. This is offset by a greater tendency for a slack rope to drape over the glider which can be very nerve racking. It does seem that high tow provides an easier and safer escape should you choose to release during a slack rope episode. Even Gus insisted on releasing from high tow. I don't think it is any easier to maintain position in low tow, it's just that you have fewer references with which to judge whether you are out of position so it looks easier. The 'take home' thought is that airtow has dangers regardless of how it is practiced. It requires a substantial skill level to insure safety. Be careful. Bill Daniels |