Recognizing and reacting to tow plane engine failure

On Thu, 23 Oct 2014 09:14:09 -0600, BobW wrote:

In thinking more about the possibility of a gradual loss of engine power
(e.g.
throttle creep), I concluded it could perhaps be one of the trickier
things for Joe Glider Pilot to detect should it happen (say) before or
immediately after becoming airborne. Never happened to me, but there's
good reasons for mentally preparing for how to recognize and deal with
"the abbie-normal on-tow possibilities."

Slightly OTT, but: At my club field a favourite winch-driver sport, when
asked by an instructor to "simulate a power fade at 500 ft" has been to
slowly reduce power until the glider is being dragged up the field at a
constant height and waiting to see how long it takes for the student to
realise what's going on and release.

Just like Bob describes when on tow, initially its quite hard to
distinguish a genuine winch power fade from a winch driver driver failing
to compensate for a drop in wind speed on a gusty day - about the only
clear distinction is the length of time that the situation persists
without correction.



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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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