When we auto towed on safari, we would only do one launch per day. We'd
simply stop the truck, transfer the rope from the hitch to the spool and
wind it up while parked along the side of the runway. When doing
multiple auto tows on a dry lake bed, the tow vehicle would stop,
disconnect the rope and leave it on the ground, drive to the opposite
end of the rope, hook it up, and drive back to the launch point.Â* While
the glider pilot is completing his checks, the truck would drive back to
the other end of the rope, hook up, and be ready to go.

On 11/11/2018 11:15 PM, Luke Scharf wrote:
Does anyone know of auto-towing gear that will automatically retract the rope the glider releases?

My club has just moved to a new airport, which has a runway long enough for auto-towing. However, we'd like to be able to clean up the runway quickly -- preferably while the tow vehicle is still moving.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

It's worth mentioning that my club has at least three active members who've done auto-towing in the past, so we have some idea what we would be getting in to. We also have some fabrication abilities. I'm just looking for pointers to good designs (or devices we can buy) to update our gear.

Thanks,
-Luke

--
Dan, 5J