Wilga as a towplane

Does anyone have any experience using a Wilga as a towplane?

A Wilga is too ugly to be a tow plane.

Many years ago (in the 70s I think) a Wilga did the rounds of glider clubs in the UK trying to get sales as a tow plane. IIRC the CFI at Lasham said the big radial would lead to high maintenance costs and decided against it. (The latest ones do not have radials I believe). Later I spoke to a Ka8 pilot who had had launch behind one and he said it was almost like having a winch launch!

George Emsden Moderator - Kestrel Newsgroup on Yahoo <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kestrel401>

Bruce Contact the guys at the worlds in '99 at Bayreuth, Germany. They had approx 10-15 Wilgas as tow planes there, .....it was more like a winch launch site the way they were throwing them in the air...don't know about operating costs though.

ps they are bloody ugly!!!

At 20:30 09 July 2002, Bruce wrote:

The whole Poland do. Wilga is quite powerful and can handle even three gliders at once, but - as pilots call it - it's a 'flying drag coefficient' and consumes a lot of fuel.

For comparision - there's a single plane 'Gniady' with wings and body from Koliber and Wilga's engine, constructed especially for towing - and makes up to 5-6m/s of lift with glider.

There is a Vilga at Marfa, TX

I have been towed by Wilga in almost all my flights (first 10 or so were auto-tows). What I can say about Wilga is:

1. It's a flying tractor. Slow, powerful and need's lot of maintainence. 2. It has a glide angle of approx 4. So, when the engine fails, pilot has to act very fast. Like in the helicopter. 3. Two Wilgas are enough to keep Your training fleet in air. Usual tow to 300 meters (1000 feet) takes 3 minutes and Wilga is available after that in half minute or less depending on the skills of the pilot. 4. Fuel consumption is really high - some 1 litre in minute while towing 5. Oil consumption is high too - some 1 litre in hour 6. There are some maintainence works to be done always and after every day of flight. Ok. Almost. The positive side is, that not much special instruments are needed eaven in the thoughest theings. In the winter of 2000/2001 we switched the engines on one Wilga. Cause the new engine needed to be reconservated (it was stored some time in Russia), we had to take it apart and put back together. The work was done all by ourselves. 7. It has very big prop with automatic pitch control. So the starts are very fast and that's why Wilga is ideal plane for short grass runways and for starting from offlandings. 8. The tail of Wilga is pretty weak for shocks and therefore the plane has to be landed carefully on three spots. Landing is a bit tricky too. 9. It is noisy and need's a pilot with ability (and willingness) to sustain a day-long vibration. 10. It needs a lot of rudder in turning, so experience on Cessna 172 does not allow one to fly Wilga (also because of the tricky landing). 11. It has a big removable glass doors with the exceptional view sideways. By filmmakers it's found to be the best airplane for aerial shots. It's still cheaper to fly on cruise than helicopter.

The biggest problem is, that the older Wilgas (dunno about the new-ones) have limited flight-hours on airframe. And they are not only limited in paper, but in real life too. After the flight-hours are exhausted, the cracks start to develop here-and there and the airframe need's to be inspected and refurbished by factory or by qualified shop (which is hell-of-an-expencive). Estonian authorities still allow flying certain amount of hours after the official flight-hours are exhausted. Then the plane qualifies in Experimental category and can be used as a pulley only. Transporting passengers is permitted.

Although we have several Wilgas, they all have their flght-hours close to the end or already over. Therefore we bought Morane-Saulnier with 235 hp Lycoming engine. This far the experience is been positive. Pulls like a Wilga (althouth does not get off the ground as fast), but consumes less fuel, a lot less of oil and does not need as much maintainance. Also Morane is easier to fly, more comfortable for passengers, less noisy and much cheaper to fly on cruise. Morane needed some adjustments in automatic pitch control to be suited more for towing.

Hope it helps someone.

Regards, Kaido