On Saturday, February 22, 2014 1:58:28 AM UTC-6, GC wrote:
On 22/02/2014 16:17, Alan wrote:



...You don't get kiting if you fly normal "high" tow behind the towplane,

if you remain in control.



If you don't remain in control, starting from low tow is not going to

make a lot of difference.



Experience (tens of thousands of aerotows) shows there is an enormous

difference. The inadequate control and time to go from high tow to

kiting is orders of magnitude different from that required to go from

low tow to kiting. In fact, I've never heard of that ever happening.

Even with low time students. Kiting from high tow, however, is

apparently so common as to need a whole new system of electronic

whizzbangery and gallons of bandwidth to stop.



If the tug has just lifted off, being in low tow sounds a bit difficult,

but that would be a particularly hazardous time.



Yes. Liftoff is a time to be wary and we train accordingly.

Nevertheless, all I can say is that low tow has prevented kiting

accidents for many years. But don't take my word for it, keep this

ridiculous discussion going with another screwball idea for pivoting,

autoswivelling, pitch-sensing, stick-following nonsense.



If the issue is serious - as it was in Australia - flying low tow will

solve it. If it isn't - see my previous post.



GC







As for automatic methods to mitigate the problem, perhaps the solution

is not to modify tow planes, but to modify gliders. If the glider is

in a very high pitch attitude on tow, it might be a good time to automatically

release.



Another modification might be to attach the tow rope to the top of the glider.

This would cause the tow force to pitch the glider down.





Is this more of a problem when folks try to tow a slow glider like a 2-33 at

high speeds?



Alan


GC is making his point for low tows very convincingly - why is he immediately being ripped, Chris? Preparing and steering into low tow at a safe altitude, say 300', means to mentally and then practically pushing the stick forward and then holding in the low tow position. That's the opposite maneuver of what's leading to kiting. Drifting upwards takes you into the prop wash and again, it takes forward stick pressure to move into the safe spot. That feedback mechanism is correctly maintaining the intended safe spot while in the normal tow position only visual cues are being used.
I think I'll give the low tow a try, if ever that polar vortex over Chicago makes like tree...
Herb