Tow Plane Upsets......

Slack in the rope? What's that other than a training exercise? I'd be
willing to bet that kiting incidents are caused by glider pilots losing
sight of the tug and not releasing immediately. Either that or they're
not qualified to be towing as pilot in command. I don't think students
see many difficult situations until after they're soloed and then
they're not prepared to handle them.

What Stu said: Training is key.

On 5/2/2017 7:00 AM, wrote:
"Could you tell us about glider type, CG, weight and tow speed, especially
in relation to manufacturer recommended tow speed? "

Ventus B, 15M with winglets, dry. CG at 56% of range, 740 pounds, 60 Knots, Flaps +1, Spoilers closed.

Maintaining position with stick and rudder. (slips instead of airbreaks)
I think pretty nominal, but if you see something I'd like to hear.


Again, the lesson I took was to be aware of the failure mode, stay low near the prop wash, takeup slack nose down, and be willing to release if things get out of hand.

With the second lesson, I've towed through fairly violent rotors with a CG hook. I've released when I'd had enough, but there wasn't a kiting issue.

Training is key.


--
Dan, 5J

If you think slack line only happens in training, why are you doing it? What real world event are we training to prevent?

Of the course the answer is that slack line is NOT just something to practice.

Tow into some rotor or other severe turbulence and you have slack line that you can't prevent, no matter how good you think you can control a glider.

I know you know that Dan.

I've been in severe rotor turbulence on both ends of the tow line and
it's no fun, but the slack lines that I've seen, again from both ends of
the rope, never got out of hand. At those times both pilots are quite
alert. The only other slack lines I've seen have been due to
inattention or lack of skill.

Why is everyone so reluctant to call a spade a space?

On 5/2/2017 11:49 AM, SoaringXCellence wrote:
If you think slack line only happens in training, why are you doing it? What real world event are we training to prevent?

Of the course the answer is that slack line is NOT just something to practice.

Tow into some rotor or other severe turbulence and you have slack line that you can't prevent, no matter how good you think you can control a glider.

I know you know that Dan.

--
Dan, 5J