Tow Pilot Rand/Question

No disrespect meant, Walt.

My point was that you should get off in lift, not in sink. If there was
sink at your planned release altitude, you should stay on until you get into
lift. Of course, if there's no lift, you have to do what you have to do.

By convention, you have to turn right when you release (in the USA, at
least). If you know the lift is to your left, you can make your right turn
to clear the rope and then immediately turn left into the lift.
Alternatively, you can make a right 270 and you should hit the lift.


"Walt Connelly" wrote in message
...

Dan Marotta;814591 Wrote:
This is prompted by someone's description of a flight involving high
sink
from tow release to landing. The pilot stated that he released from tow
in
800 fpm sink at 3,000' AGL.

It's so common when I'm towing to have the glider pilot tell me, "I'll
take
a tow to 3,000 feet." Then, during the tow, I hit super lift and the
pilot
will hang on to the rope. He'll hang on until I'm struggling through
sink
and hit the magic 3,000' and release!

I shouldn't complain since the higher tow means more income for the
operation, but I'd think pilot judgment would include releasing in lift
-
even if it's below some preconceived release altitude.

Now, the instructors will say, "We need the altitude to accomplish the
objectives of the flight." I ask, "Wouldn't it better to demonstrate
judgment by releasing in strong lift and climbing to altitude to
practice
maueuvers?"

Rant over...

Feel free to rant away. I made the observation of encountering 800 fpm
of sink upon release. My point was that these things occur on occasion
and if not handled quickly and appropriately it might result in being
low in the pattern resulting in the crash that occurred. I was
relatively inexperienced at the time (and by some standards may well
still be) but recognized that the circumstances might well preclude my
ability to return to the airport and land safely if I didn't get ahead
of the situation. Fortunately I received my glider training from two
old buzzards with thousands of hours of experience and benefited from
listening to their advice. I usually take a tow to 3000 feet but on
occasion will release if I encounter exceptional lift. Too often though
one flys thru lift, turns and can't find said lift again. Often times
it's a 50/50 chance of turning in the right direction and when wrong it
requires some searching to find adequate lift to climb. The bottom line
is that with an extra 1000 feet prior to release one has that extra
opportunity. I learned to fly gliders in November and December in
Florida and don't once remember encountering lift while flying with an
instructor. Most days were cold, wet and dreary with heavy overcast.
I'm sure that most instructors will release in lift to give their
student the opportunity to thermal to altitude. I'm just glad that it
was drilled into me to err on the side of caution and insure that I had
sufficient altitude to fly a reasonable pattern, maintain adequate
airspeed and land safely. That's what it's all about.

Walt Connelly
Commercial Pilot/Airplanes and Gliders
and still learning




--
Walt Connelly