To Pawnee or not to Pawnee...that is the question...

Ours was used for a couple of comps in 2005 with great effect (matched
the Pawnees as due the very quick descent and only used 1/3 the fuel),
but since then it hasn't been insured for towing. Another club is a
using a G109 with the turbo Rotax, but has performance issues once the
5-minute boost period is over (i.e., if you want to go higher than
about 3,000'). Finally I know of a Rotax-engined microlight being used
for towing in South Africa.

So, being honest, it's not being used widely (at least not to my
knowledge). There's no good reason though - maybe it's a combination
of it not being around for long, that there's still a lot of Pawnees
and Robins knocking around which are still in use, and that new things
rarely get taken up widely in gliding even if they're proven (e.g.
plasma rope).


Dan

A couple of links about towing with Rotax power. First the microlight
in SA:

http://www.glidingmagazine.com/FeatureArticle.asp?id=91

And also on using Rotax Falkes:

http://www.glidingmagazine.com/Featu...cle.asp?id=117

I bet a fair few Falkes are being used as tugs in Germany - any of our
members from over there know?


Dan

I bet a fair few Falkes are being used as tugs in Germany - any of our
members from over there know?

Bleurgh, it would help if I RTFA I linked to. At least 20 are used for
towing over there, and that was in 2001. A good point made in the
article is also that, of course, a motorglider tug still gets used for
circuit training, field landing exercises etc., and all that ups
utilisation and lowers costs. And it is damned quiet - ours is *much*
quieter than our Pawnee.


Dan

Dan G wrote:
I bet a fair few Falkes are being used as tugs in Germany - any of our
members from over there know?

Bleurgh, it would help if I RTFA I linked to. At least 20 are used for
towing over there, and that was in 2001. A good point made in the
article is also that, of course, a motorglider tug still gets used for
circuit training, field landing exercises etc., and all that ups
utilisation and lowers costs. And it is damned quiet - ours is *much*
quieter than our Pawnee.

I think you'll also find that a number of German operations are using
modern glass ultralights as tugs. IIRC the Wasserkuppe uses a Virus or
similar - a nose gear gear high-wing anyway - for towing single seaters
and a GR400 for their ASK-21s.


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