Aerotow ropes: short or long, breakable or unbreakable?

I've seen the tow rope snag the fence across the street form the airport
several times...sometimes the rope breaks, sometimes the fence
breaks....once I actually saw the rope wind up once around the top pole of
the fence , then unwind without breaking anything.

Another time the tow rope wound up around the outside rear view mirror of a
passing car. It neatly removed the mirror from the car. The driver
arrived a the glider shack, mirror in hand. He was not too mad...he had
just taken a glider ride...and enjoyed it...He said it did scare him a bit
though...insurance payed for the car repair.


BTW...If you read the FAR...two weak links are required. The FAR is
worded funny...they use the singular twice, instead of the plural. "a week
link at the glider" further down, "a weak link at the tow plane"

Students almost always get my question about this wrong...they stop at "a
week link"..

Cookie




At 11:50 13 November 2013, Evan Ludeman wrote:
It's rare, but I have twice seen ropes break when they snagged something
solid while the tug was on final. Something to consider before going to
an
"unbreakable" rope with a weak link only at glider end.

T8