motorgliders as towplanes

On Mar 12, 4:02*pm, Tuno wrote:
Mike I don't think the effect has anything to do with standard vs
flapped gliders. I've owned three flapped ships and this phenomenon
has perplexed me on each.

Region 12 contest at Cal City maybe 20 years ago, I was flying my
ASW-20B. Fully ballasted, behind a Maule the takeoff and first 4-500'
were OK, then inexplicably the tow pilot decides to slow down. I
start asking, then screaming for more speed, but to no avail - the
IDIOT decided to fly with the radio off for some reason.

I forget what the indicated airspeed was, but it was a little above
stall, perhaps 50-55 knots. With the stick at the aft stop, the
glider still settled slowly into low tow and that's where I stayed up
to release altitude. The ailerons had almost no authority - the stick
felt as sloppy as it would on the ground with no air loads on the
ailerons.

My left hand was holding the release as I waited for indications of a
spin entry. Had I been lower when this started to happen, the only
safe option would have been to release and land in the desert scrub.
But I was comfortable enough with the ship's stall / spin
characteristics (exciting to say the least, but manageable) that I
felt it was safer to just hang on to 2K or a thermal - again I don't
recall that detail. But I do remember that it took a good 15 - 20
minutes of thermalling away from the other contestants before I
stopped shaking from both fear and anger.

-Tom