We fly from a 3400' grass strip and I know of only one real rope break in
the last several years.
The full length of the tow rope is examined by the tow pilot at the
beginning of the day and each pilot examines 'their' end before every
flight. An average summer day has about 40 tows and our ropes tend to stay
in service for months.
The tug lands downwind and rolls up to the grid.
When it's busy we use two ropes.
wrote in message
ups.com...


We are trying to collect some information about tow ropes used
in the soaring community and the process people use deterime the
condition of the rope.

This is for aerowtow only. As an example the Tucson Soaring Club uses
a 2000 lb breaking strength rope with weak links on both ends.
Experience
has shown that the rope is best retired after 60 tows. We fly off
a packed gravel dirt surface in LOTS of sunshine. We sometimes have the
rope break without applying a heavy load as migh be encountered
during training or gusty conditions. Do others out there experience
this ?
Do you chalk it up to "just another rope break?" Or do you log the
number of tows for a particular rope and retire it like we do ?

Hope to hear back.

Thanks,

Bob Perry