On Wednesday, August 8, 2018 at 5:18:26 AM UTC-7, PGS wrote:
On Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 10:45:24 AM UTC-4, Steve Koerner wrote:
This subject comes up every few years on RAS and that's a very good thing. Long ago there was a death on tow with a heavily watered ship that I'm pretty sure was caused by this.

I have already posted a couple times in the past about my own near death experiences I have had dangling from a slow towplane at a remarkably low stalled tow position while slamming the stick back and forth against the stops in Ventus 1 and in ASW27. When this is happening at a very low altitude (as it was), then releasing is not an option.

Several have pointed up the necessity of communicating with the tow pilot. I think it preferable to communicate in writing. Except at contests, I always make sure that the tow pilot has been handed my written towing instruction when I have water ballast. Here's a link to my little towing instruction sheet: https://goo.gl/PwVu71

Steve, you should not assume the tow planes airspeed indicator is calibrated or accurate. You might consider modifying your note to say "minimum" or "at least" and once safely on tow ask to slow down if need be.

Another way to calibrate the speed, tell the tug to tow you as he would tow the operation's SGS 2-32.