On May 30, 10:19*am, Walt Connelly Walt.Connelly.
wrote:
Just curious as to how it's done elsewhere. *I fly at a commercial
operation and the priority for launch always goes to the school
gliders....this makes sense...the student has scheduled for a specific
time days in advance.... Next come the renal ships and glider rides and
they too have been scheduled for a specific time. * If a private ship is
pointed down the runway, meaning they are ready for tow and a school
plane needs to launch, they take precedence. *I do a lot of hook up, not
an employee just another glider pilot trying to be helpful but
occasionally one of the "glassholes" gets their panties in a wad. *Every
one gets launched but perhaps as quickly as they might like.

The students, glider rides and rentals keep the operation open and pay
the bills to a greater degree than a private ship paying for a tow and a
place for their trailer. * *Any suggestions on this procedure?

Walt

--
Walt Connelly

You've pretty much described how our local commercial operation does
it. Most of the time it works as planned but a problem arises when
the natural rhythm of soaring gets out of sync with the schedule.
It's tough to make gliders work to a schedule. If some people have
expectations otherwise, they can get irritated. Schedules just set
people up to be disappointed.

IMVHO, a better solution is a simple start queue operated on a first
come, first served basis. School gliders, rides, private ships get
just in line and launch in that order. A queue is easy to
understand. The rules are simple too. If a pilot isn't ready when
the tug is, he gets pushed out of line and goes to the rear. Don't
get in the queue unless you're ready to fly. Most of all, don't
'crash' the line.

XC types who want a noon launch can finesse the queue by entering it
at a time calculated to bring them to the front at noon. The queue
will be filled with XC gliders around mid-day but that's OK if it fits
everyone's expectations. Training and rides work better in the
smoother air of early morning and late afternoon anyway.