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Old June 1st 12, 02:05 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
noel.wade
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Default Compare/Contrast: CG hook on aerotow vs. CG hook on winch

To add to the chorus:

Any of the more-modern ships I've flown (70's glass/metal and newer)
seem to fly just fine on Aerotow with a CG hook. There are three
points to consider during the launch, in this order:

1) Wing position and cross-wind corrections. This has been covered by
others in the thread well-enough; but I'd like to emphasize that
starting with full downwind rudder helps a lot, at least in my
experience. And, as others have said: The best thing to do is watch
your first 50 feet of ground-roll. If it is going from bad to worse
yank the release and come to a controlled stop. In my experience with
auto-racing and flying, the worst situations always seem to happen
when something starts to go wrong and a person tries to "save it" (by
leaving their foot on the gas, or over-correcting, or whatever).
Don't try that - just call it off and try again.

2) On liftoff - as you get rolling try to use forward-stick and stick-
trim to get the tailwheel off the ground as soon as your rudder is
effective. That'll give you better steering control on the remainder
of takeoff *and* put the wing at a lower angle of attack (so you won't
jump/kite as quickly). Be prepared to add forward stick as you come
off the ground, and don't be shy about changing your trim multiple
times on the takeoff and aerotow. I'm not yet a CFIG but I've been
flying with a lot of new-to-XC pilots recently and I've noticed that a
LOT of them don't trim on aerotow, during thermalling, or in many
other phases of flight. Trim is your friend - the less you're pulling
or pushing on the stick, the better control-inputs you can provide for
roll & pitch excursions and the more relaxed you'll fly (making you
better able to feel and focus on other things).

3) Throughout the launch and aerotow - USE YOUR FEET! Aerotowing with
a CG hook means that you can pretty-much point the nose in any
direction you want. I actually view it as a nice "bonus" and prefer
towing with a CG hook for this reason (excepting the crosswind
difficulties during the beginning of the ground-roll). But I again
have found many newbies recently that don't think to use their feet on
aerotow. Its far easier to make small corrections with a bit of
rudder and slipping, than with big bank-angles on tow. Keep your feet
active and don't be shy about using some rudder (within reason) to
keep the glider behind the towplane and pointed in the direction you
want.

Just my $0.02,

--Noel
P.S. The back-release of the rope is a tricky thing on the ground in
my DG-300; like others I find a bit of wheelbrake while taking up
slack and just at the beginning of the roll is an effective "cure".