On Jan 2, 1:34*pm, "kirk.stant" wrote:
On Jan 1, 12:44*pm, Free Flight 107 wrote:





On Jan 1, 3:21*am, Doug Greenwell wrote: At 06:24 01 January 2011, Anne wrote:

I've certainly sparked some interest here - considering it's New Year
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And I mignt add this is a very fast moving discussion too! While I was
loging in 2 messages were posted..

Concerning the Tow Plane position while on tow, two of my CFIs have
said to position yourglider as if you were going to Machine Gun the
pilot of the Tow Plane. this is equivelent of aligning the horizontal
of the TP with a portion of his foweward fuslage, like the wheels on a
Pawnee.

Works great in all conditions I've come accross in 15 years flying 8
different types from 2-33 to Duo Discuss. Never been criticized for it
either in BFRs.

Wayne

Without a gunsight, how do you do that? ;^)

I don't understand why the high tow position is taught by reference to
the towplane or horizon, when what should be taught is how to find the
correct tow position (just above or below the wake, which is actually
the propwash). *Simple - once safely airborne (usually before the
towplane), just ease down until you feel the towplanes turbulence,
then ease up a bit. *THEN look at the towplane and pick whatever
convenient references you need to maintain this vertical alignment.
Any significant change in towplane speed will require a readjustment
of the tow position (normally only a factor if on an aerotow
retrieve).

Obviously, if you only tow behind the same towplane on every flight,
you will quickly learn where to position your glider. *But if you have
a variety of towplanes, or are towing behind something different
(Agcat, Wilga, AN-2, whatever) for the first time, you can use this
process to find the correct position quickly.

Many US instructors seem to only teach HOW to do something without
going into WHY it is done. As a result, there are a lot of "shortcuts"
being taught, and a lot of poorly trained pilots, IMHO. *A result of
not having a standardized curriculum, a la BGA, perhaps?

Kirk
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This is one of my pet peeves.........I don't like to use the term
"high tow" because beginners seem to assume it means that the glider
is flying higher than the tow plane. I use the terms "normal tow"
and low tow. (because around here we noramlly tow above the wake.)

But I do take the time to explain to my students that "high" tow means
"high" compared to the wake(not campared to the tow plane), and you
need only to be above the wake a little, and low tow is "low" compared
to the wake, and you want ot be just barely below the wake. Also that
flying "too high" on tow is a "mortal sin", and extremely dangerous.
In rough air gliders seem more prone to "bounce up" than to "bounce
down" so if your already running toward the high side on tow, one or
two good bounces will make you too high. If you fly just above the
wake, you have room to "bounce up" once or twice, and have time to re-
position, before getting "too high" giving the tow pilot a hard time.

As far as visual reference....there are several....some pilots and
some instructors seem to prefer some or one more than others. I like
to use the tow plane compared to the horizion. Another is the
position of the tow plane in the glider's canopy...if the towplane
appears low in the canopy, like under the inst panel, the glider is
too high......if the tow plane appears way high above the inst panel,
the glider is too low. My least favorite visual is lining up stuff on
the tow plane itself, like top of fin to pilot's head, or stab to
strut or whatever.....every make and modlel of tow plane is different,
and tow pilot may change pitch attitude........The problem with the
horizon method is if in hilly or mountainous terrain, the horizon is
not always visible, students sometimes use the wrong reference
then...The best is to use a sort of combination of all the visual
references at once......not hard after the student has a few flight
under the belt.

On X-C retreive, I find that once the towplane levels out, that the
wake goes way high, and to fly above the wake makes the glider too
high.......I recommend, and usually go to low tow then...and since the
wake is way up there, the low tow is not very low at all. In fact
I've done low tow retreives that were higher than some high tows
behind a strong tow plane!


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