Another flaw with charging by time is those towpilots that want to "build time" or take longer to get back after the glider gets off, or keep on climbing even after the glider released, etc. No system will be perfect.

At my club, glider pilot fills out a ticket. Has his name, address (for billing), date, glider type, speed, and planned release altitude. Towpilot is handed the ticket, puts his initial on it, tow number for the day, and starting tach time. If the glider pilot gets off early, he still gets to pay to his desired height, unless the towpilot changes the ticket. If he gets off late, and the towpilot does not change the ticket, he got some free altitude. And we bill in 1000 foot increments.

Yes, we still use hand signals for take up slack and go. We have far more non-towpilots than we have towpilots, so to try and have all contribute equally to running the club, we have more people scheduled on line duty than we have scheduled towpilots each day. So, we have someone on ground ops at the front and back of the tow rope. We think our system works pretty good. Although, I did just have a day's worth of tickets from November show up with the ones from our last day of flying in February...

Steve Leonard
Kansas Soaring Association