Standardization in Slack Rope Recovery?

On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 3:32:32 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sunday, February 7, 2016 at 12:02:53 PM UTC-5, John Cochrane wrote:
Some times on long retrieve tows I put a few degrees of slip in and leave it there, which smooths things out nicely.

I haven't done many retrieve tows of sufficient distance to obviate the tow pilot's typical advice that "I'll keep climbing until you release". But when I have, I've been reminded of how much easier it is to get slack in the rope once the tow combination has leveled off.

A little slip works. But I like to move into low tow position, assuming I've briefed (or radioed) the tow pilot ahead of time. There's very little tendency to get slack in the rope. Low tow can be discomforting visually if you've never done it (a different angle) so it's worth practicing. Or fly with an operation like Valley Soaring Club (NY) that uses low tow almost exclusively.

Chip Bearden

I believe a number of training manuals suggest using low tow for long tows (like Middletown, NY to HHSC, NY...).
Yes, Middletown, NY is almost exclusive low tow (except for some training and what a transient pilot likes).