In the USA,

Sec. 91.309 - Towing: Gliders.

(a) No person may operate a civil aircraft towing a glider unless --
(5) The pilots of the towing aircraft and the glider have agreed upon
a general course of action, including takeoff and release signals,
airspeeds, and emergency procedures for each pilot.

One would hope a tuggie, properly trained or not, would at least
follow the regulation...

Herbert Kilian wrote:
(Andy Durbin) wrote in message . com...
(Herbert Kilian) wrote in message

The answer is, of course, nobody signs them off!

I have trained more than one tow pilot and I was careful to brief them
on the differences in towing light and heavy gliders. My training
included reduced power takeoffs to simulate the slow acceleration and
climbout with a ballasted ship. I then gave them the FAA required tow
pilot endorsement.

Someone signed off this pilot or he was not legal to tow. Do contest
organizers have an obligation to check tow pilot credentials and
experience?

Sorry, Andy, I was being facetious in my statement. I have trained
and signed off new towpilots and I know how seriously many (most)
chief tow pilots take their responsibility in contests. If things get
hectic and tow-ships go kaput right before or during the launch there
is a tendency to compromise, however. I do maintain that pilots
sometimes are asked to tow that have no training and thus no business
in doing so (here in the US at least). As we have heard, that's a
recipe for disaster, especially when the glider is ballasted. We were
at a contest in Littlefield TX about 10 years back when Ron Clarke had
to release his LS6 due to low tow speeds and heavily damaged it flying
through the airport fence. It could have been worse...
Herb, J7




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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA