Auto-Towing - why is this not more popular?

Gee, thanks Herb! My comfort level is 700' so you must be more
dangerous than I am... 8-)


On 10/14/2015 3:42 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at 3:50:43 PM UTC-5, Werner Schmidt wrote:
kirk.stant wrote 2015/10/12 at 22:21:

You found us!
wasn't too hard :-)

We have talked about trying to get a winch demo at our field to find
out it we should look more carefully at a winch - but as we already
have 2 nice Pawnees, there is not much interest.
Fuel still too cheap? ;-)

(But I do love towing with the Pawnee... ;^)
Oh, I understand, however i'm not flying powered planes :-)

As an aside, one of the disadvantages of using aero tow is that
everybody gets used to 3000' tows and can't thermal down low! Even on
booming days I'll tow them through the house thermal at 2000' but
they will grimly hang on then release in sink, spot on 3000' agl.
Arrggghh!
Yeah. Arrggghh. I like the winch; it's more of a sport and it's training
your skills. And I also like to sit on the winch and launch my fellow
pilots!

But I will bring up your point at our next club meeting (tomorrow) -
maybe we can get some interest going.
Ah, and now, how did it work out?

Regards
Werner
Danke Werner!

Winch training is in my humble opinion the key to being comfortable down low (shout-out to Dan for sticking to his un-popular views). I release from aero-tow at 1,000' if I can but mostly hang on to 1,500. If I go higher the towpilot asks me what's wrong today. Once or twice a year I have to take a relight. I cherish the feeling of connecting and working a weak thermal early in the day and making my own altitude. If it doesn't work for others, I don't care. Close to the field my personal limit is 500'. Instructors use me as the 'bad example'. Of course I modify in high winds and on days with broken-up thermals. Wouldn't want to miss my training on the winch back in Oerlinghausen and at the Luftsportverein Hameln.

Herb

--
Dan, 5J