At 23:11 02 January 2011, John Chapman wrote:
The discussion of forces surrounding a climb on high tow has been
interesting.
However, has anyone considered descent on tow?

A SGS 2-33 glider descending on tow behind a Cessna 182 has some
interesting lateral control issues.
* Descending behind a 182 with 10 degrees of flap at 65 mph in high
tow with full spoilers is reasonably stable.
* At 40 degrees of flap the 2-33 is almost uncontrollable. You need
full stick and some patience to recover from the frequent level flight
excursions.
The 182 high lift/high drag wake is the obvious difference.

Would anyone care to venture an analysis or opinion?

Cheers, John Chapman, 1DG


At what speed are you using 40deg of flap?

In a descent I would think you are likely to be closer to the tug wake
than in a climb