Towing is a potentially dangerous job that
requires precision flying and very good judgement. The club should encourage
all tow pilots to develop their skills and demonstrate them by obtaining
Commercial licenses. Required by FAA regulations or not, this would be a safe,
conservative policy. Exactly the type of thing that would look very good to
your insurance company, or (heaven forbid) in court.

Vaughn

Vaughn



Yes, it is dangerous and requires skill and judgement. Unfortunately,
the skills required for
towing are somewhat orthogonal to the skills the FAA requires of
commercial pilots.

Strange patterns, 360s on short final to yield the runway to gliders,
towing precisely to pattern
altitude at the IP, knowing when to circle in a thermal and when to
'take care of the student',
holding heading during a wake box, slip spiraling at 60% power to
avoid shock cooling
the engine, recognizing glider problems in the vibrating mirror,
guarding
the folks on the ground from the dangling towrope...

I could go on and on. None of these are part of the asel commercial
syllabus.