Nice article on soaring on EAA web site

At 04:30 13 February 2011, wrote:

What is the "plus" of soft release as far as tow pilot is concerned?

The only thing I can imagine is that a soft release is less likely to put
a knot in the towrope. Mostly I've heard tow pilots say they'd rather
be able to feel the release. I try to avoid releasing at a moment when
the rope has extra tension in it, but generally release with a normal load
on the rope.

Jim Beckman

On Feb 13, 8:31*am, Jim Beckman wrote:
At 04:30 13 February 2011, wrote:



What is the "plus" of soft release as far as tow pilot is concerned?

The only thing I can imagine is that a soft release is less likely to put
a knot in the towrope. *Mostly I've heard tow pilots say they'd rather
be able to feel the release. *I try to avoid releasing at a moment when
the rope has extra tension in it, but generally release with a normal load
on the rope.

Jim Beckman

Hi Jim,

The "knot in the tow rope" is an arguement I have heard for the soft
release. But in reality, a "normal tension" release will usually not
put a knot in the tow rope. The normal tension is really not all that
much tension. Release under "extra" tension tends to knot the rope
more often.

Now knots in the tow rope is a problem in itself. If you spend the
whole day on the flight line, you will find some days there are no
knots at all, and sometimes quite a few. It is just one of those
things. Some knots form after release, and some form as the tow plane
is landing, dragging the rope on the ground.

But... the solution to knots in the rope is to inspect the rope each
flight, and remove the knot. A knot formed during release or during
landing is easy to untie. The problem comes when nobody sees the
loose knot, and then does another tow! Now the knot is almost
impossible to remove, and has most likely weakened the rope.

The solution to knots in the rope is not some cockamamie wierd
dangerous release "pull up and dive" deal!

Cookie

This soft release deal seems to be a lot more common than I thought!
Searching the Internet brings up some interesting stuff. Here is
something form a SOP manual for a glider club:

Soft Release Procedures
A soft release, or low-tension release, is standard operating
procedure at . We do this to prevent damage to the fuselage structure
and excess wear of the Schweizer tow hook which can occur after
repeated high-tension releases. A soft release is performed in all of
our aircraft for standardization. As an added bonus this type of
procedure also all but eliminates harmful knots forming in the towline
after release and alerts the tow pilot that you are about to release.
The purpose is to relieve some of the tension on the towline, not put
a lot of slack in the line. When a “bow” begins to form in the
towline, the tension has been reduced enough to release.

To perform a soft release:
1) HOLD the release handle with your left hand.
2) REPOSITION slowly to just beyond the right wing of the towplane.
This is done to enable the glider pilot to continuously view the
towplane during the following steps, and ensure rapid and visible
separation from the towline after release.
3) Initiate a BRISK CLIMB until the towplane appears about 10 degrees
below the horizon.
This climb must be rapid enough to accelerate the glider. This speed
difference relative to the towplane is what will create the slack you
want.
4) PITCH OVER to stop the climb BUT NOT ENOUGH TO DECEND.
5) Once a “bow” forms in the towline forms, RELEASE.
At this time the glider should be level with the towplane or slightly
above. With proper slack in the line you should here little to zero
noise when releasing the rope.
6) After release, TURN RIGHT to clear the towplane and rope.
*** Never dive to accelerate the glider. This is not as effective as
climbing and may cause you to fly below the towplane

On Feb 13, 10:02*am, "
wrote:
This soft release deal seems to be a lot more common than I thought!
Searching the Internet brings up some interesting stuff. *Here is
something form a SOP manual for a glider club:

Soft Release Procedures
A soft release, or low-tension release, is standard operating
procedure at . We do this to prevent damage to the fuselage structure
and excess wear of the Schweizer tow hook which can occur after
repeated high-tension releases. A soft release is performed in all of
our aircraft for standardization. As an added bonus this type of
procedure also all but eliminates harmful knots forming in the towline
after release and alerts the tow pilot that you are about to release.
The purpose is to relieve some of the tension on the towline, not put
a lot of slack in the line. When a “bow” begins to form in the
towline, the tension has been reduced enough to release.

To perform a soft release:
1) * * *HOLD the release handle with your left hand.
2) * * *REPOSITION slowly to just beyond the right wing of the towplane.
This is done to enable the glider pilot to continuously view the
towplane during the following steps, and ensure rapid and visible
separation from the towline after release.
3) * * *Initiate a BRISK CLIMB until the towplane appears about 10 degrees
below the horizon.
This climb must be rapid enough to accelerate the glider. This speed
difference relative to the towplane is what will create the slack you
want.
4) * * *PITCH OVER to stop the climb BUT NOT ENOUGH TO DECEND.
5) * * *Once a “bow” forms in the towline forms, RELEASE.
At this time the glider should be level with the towplane or slightly
above. With proper slack in the line you should here little to zero
noise when releasing the rope.
6) * * *After release, TURN RIGHT to clear the towplane and rope.
*** Never dive to accelerate the glider. This is not as effective as
climbing and may cause you to fly below the towplane

Any mechanical device benifits from being operated at lower stress
loads to the structure..Tost,Schweitzer, the tow plane or your
auto...

On Feb 13, 8:32*am, ray conlon wrote:

Any mechanical device benifits from being operated at lower stress
loads to the structure..Tost,Schweitzer, the tow plane or your
auto...

So leave it all parked on the ground then it will never wear out!

Anyone doing a soft release behind me is going to pay for the tow up
to the time I find out they left.

Anyone doing a brisk climb while on tow behind me is going to hear
about it on the ground afterward.

It may be of interest that the Arizona site that has been linked with
mandatory soft releases also thinks it's OK to use bits of hardware
store chain instead of approved Tost rings. Go figure that one.

Andy

this article was posted at soaring cafe. there, the pilot who
actually flew the flight commented, saying:

"I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask Corey to pull up and then dive to put
slack in the rope on release. We don’t do that at Beloit and its not
necessary with the Tost release on the Grob 103. ‘Much more likely he
was too low on tow for a safe release and I asked him to move up into
a proper high tow position before releasing."

On Feb 13, 8:06*pm, Tony wrote:
this article was posted at soaring cafe. *there, the pilot who
actually flew the flight commented, saying:

"I’m pretty sure I didn’t ask Corey to pull up and then dive to put
slack in the rope on release. We don’t do that at Beloit and its not
necessary with the Tost release on the Grob 103. ‘Much more likely he
was too low on tow for a safe release and I asked him to move up into
a proper high tow position before releasing."

OK...we have to let the pilot off the hook on this one! When you are
the subject of an acticle you are sometimes presented in a bad light
because of the author's lack of understanding.

One of our local pilots landed in a soybean field a couple of years
back. Somebody called the police, and the police called the FAA. The
FAA told the police it was a "non issue". In the morning paper the
article read. "Glider plane crashes in 27 acre soybean
field....Crops destroyed" (Giving the impression that all 27 acres
were somehow destroyed, when in reality about 15 soybeans got pulled
off thier stems!)

We called the newspaper and asked them to retract the story and write
what really happened. We found out that the reporter did not even go
to the glider landout...he merely called the police station and asked
if anything interesting happened that day. The paper said they had no
intention of retracting the story or presenting what really happened!

Don't always believe what you read!

Cookie

On Feb 13, 5:30*pm, Andy wrote:
On Feb 13, 8:32*am, ray conlon wrote:

Any mechanical device benifits from being operated at lower stress
loads to the structure..Tost,Schweitzer, the tow plane or your
auto...

So leave it all parked on the ground then it will never wear out!

Anyone doing a soft release behind me is going to pay for the tow up
to the time I find out they left.

Anyone doing a brisk climb while on tow behind me is going to hear
about it on the ground afterward.

It may be of interest that the Arizona site that has been linked with
mandatory soft releases also thinks it's OK to use bits of hardware
store chain instead of approved Tost rings. *Go figure that one.

Andy

I received a private email about this post. It seems that at least one
person had the impression that I was saying the soft release would be
both undetectable to the tow pilot and so violent as to be a hazard.

I replied:

"The problem with a well executed soft release is that it gives the
pilot no cue as to the release. If the tow pilot is not looking in
the mirrors he may well miss it. This is no problem at all for ride
operations where the release is always at the same altitude but it may
when the glider pilot releases early in lift.

Making a "brisk climb" is not required for a soft release. Anyone
inexperienced pilot reading RAS and then attempting a "brisk climb" to
start one could get the tow pilot into trouble."

I also replied that I had experience of soft release at both ends of
the rope.

Andy

On Feb 14, 8:50*am, Andy wrote:
On Feb 13, 5:30*pm, Andy wrote:





On Feb 13, 8:32*am, ray conlon wrote:

Any mechanical device benifits from being operated at lower stress
loads to the structure..Tost,Schweitzer, the tow plane or your
auto...

So leave it all parked on the ground then it will never wear out!

Anyone doing a soft release behind me is going to pay for the tow up
to the time I find out they left.

Anyone doing a brisk climb while on tow behind me is going to hear
about it on the ground afterward.

It may be of interest that the Arizona site that has been linked with
mandatory soft releases also thinks it's OK to use bits of hardware
store chain instead of approved Tost rings. *Go figure that one.

Andy

I received a private email about this post. It seems that at least one
person had the impression that I was saying the soft release would be
both undetectable to the tow pilot and so violent as to be a hazard.

I replied:

"The problem with a well executed soft release is that it gives the
pilot no cue as to the release. *If the tow pilot is not looking in
the mirrors he may well miss it. *This is no problem at all for ride
operations where the release is always at the same altitude but it may
when the glider pilot releases early in lift.

Making a "brisk climb" is not required for a soft release. Anyone
inexperienced pilot reading RAS and then attempting a "brisk climb" to
start one could get the tow pilot into trouble."

I also replied that I had experience of soft release at both ends of
the rope.

Andy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Andy,

Years back we had a tow pilot who was pretty much programmed to tow to
3000' on every tow. For ****s and giggles we found that if you did a
soft release at say 1400', we all got a good laugh at his expense as
he continued to climb to 3000.

Yet another very bad reason to do the soft release....but funny!

Cookie

and may cause you to fly below the towplane

Any mechanical device benifits from being operated at lower stress
loads to the structure..Tost,Schweitzer, the tow plane or your
auto...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Not true........Mechanical devices are designed to do the
job........Why should I put myself / passenger/ glider/ towpilot in
danger just to give the tow hook "less stress"? How about "less
stress" on me? Like a "normal release". THat climb and dive deal
give me too much stress. Mechanical devices, tools, etc work for
me....I don't work for them.

BTW......no "T" is Schweizer...(yet another of my pet peeves) LOL

Cookie