A Tale of Two Takeoffs

Yup John you are whining 😀. If you need and desire the best for you, wing runners and tow pilots, you can bring them along or better yet be a wing runner for a contest. All are volunteers and they do the best they can and contest management do the best with the resources available.

Ron:

Thanks, and I really did hesitate to say anything, as I hesitate and hesitate again to complain at contests. On the other hand, we do have a problem of wing drop after wing drop, sometimes causing damage, once causing damage to a spectator, and the problem is not hard to fix. We also have a constant problem of too slow tows with ballasted gliders. Everyone gets used to flying without ballast over the winter I guess.

Perhaps you can help with social suggestions. While showing my deep appreciation for the volunteers and towpilots, who give up their free time and suffer in the sun all on my behalf, how can I get the message across -- wings must be balanced, slosh ballast through baffles in tanks if need be, they should be darn close to level -- which is hard to see given winglets, and a contest glider wing at familiar shoulder height is way too high -- and if there is a crosswind, it is imperative to have the upwind wing at least level if not a foot low at the moment of release. Plus, run. How do I say that really politely, and show the deep appreciation that I really do feel?

It is frustrating to be sitting on the side of the runway, in the dust, bottom of the wing all scratched up, on account of an easily preventable error..

John Cochrane

Sorry for the delay but am hiking in Germany with limited time and Internet access. My comment about whining pertained to RAS Posts not about speaking up at contests. I cannot speak for others but the contests I have assisted with in thee ground we review everything you mention and we strive no wing drops and appropriate tow speeds.

Of the 700 or so tows at Nephi last year during the Nats I recall 9 wing drops, I do not have m,y notes in front of me. I saw them all, including the one that started this thread. No one common denominator in these incidents. Can we them all? I hope so but human nature is a tough nut to crack

For tow speeds we review with the chief tow pilot, all pilots at the beginning and when we hear for speed calls. Again no excuses but many factors attribute to this situation. Some calls for speed are erroneous when items released such as waffle balls are used to protect rope end and the glider ASI tube is in the nose with the tow hook! I have heard pilots calling for more speed when the tow plane was already doing 75+. We remind pilots about this situation but it still happens every contest I have been involved with.

Getting all pieces together for a contest is a delicate dance with many partners. I do not know any folks organizing contests that does not put safety first. So yes speak up if necessary and better yet lets you and every other contest pilot on t he ground assisting and contributing to the solution at once a year.

One other note concerning tow speeds, it is going to get harder going forward. The latest high wing loading racing gliders are requiring 85 knots at a minimum, according to the manufacturer. Many tow planes while able to dro the speed do not climb as well at those speeds. Sol faster tows may. Mean lower tows which could mean higher tow fees.

Ron Gleason

I may have missed it, but I didn't see any comment on holding wheel brake as the tow plane takes out slack. If the slack is taken out too rapidly it will jerk the glider, leaving a slack rope. Most contest tows will proceed immediately after slack is out, but if the tow pilot holds for any reason, the slack line will jerk the glider and this may result in some of the problems discussed. My wheel brake is on the spoilers and I don't like unlocking them, but I have reluctantly adopted the "hold the wheel brake" procedure to prevent starting with a slack line.
Hope this helps,
JJ

On Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 11:12:11 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I may have missed it, but I didn't see any comment on holding wheel brake as the tow plane takes out slack.

Good point, JJ. Overruns often run over the rope and trigger a back release, which gets everyone excited on a tense contest launch grid.

I cycle the dive brakes in and out repeatedly so the wing runner knows they're out intentionally. As the slack comes out, I hold them out to apply the wheel brake, then ease it off to release any tension on the rope before we roll. Neither I nor, I'm told, tow pilots want a slingshot launch where the glider holds the wheel brake as the tow pilot applies power, then releases it suddenly.

At Nephi, it was the tow pilot who appeared to be powering up, then releasing the brake (in a tricycle gear towplane, btw, so no risk of nosing over if the rope broke). I wouldn't have thought that was a bad technique. But because we were all at max gross, that seemed to stretch the rope briefly before the glider started to move, which then snatched it off the line and (I assume) surprised the inexperienced wing runner.

Chip Bearden
"JB"