Cheaper tows?

On Friday, October 19, 2018 at 10:58:33 PM UTC-4, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Back in the early 2000's Parowan had a 600 HP BiPlane Ag wagon.

Yup, those things were amazing.
IIRC there were 2 radial-powered Eagles there when I first visited Parawon in ~97.
Towed behind it in the whale!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Aircraft_Eagle

Bob Carlton once towed his Salto (before he put the jet engine on it) behind Dr. Ray Vetsch's "Turbo Shark," running a Walter M601T 780 HP turbine. Climb to 6,500 AGL release altitude was about 65 seconds and they were running at the Salto's redline speed (155 knots). After twanging the release, Bob gained another 800 feet.

http://turbo-shark.com/Plane.aspx

That was a Grumman Ag-Cat, probably built by Schweizer, not an Ag
Wagon.Â* I towed behind it at Parowan during our first soaring safari
with my partner in our LS-6a.Â* This was before we started doing safaris
with a 1,000' rope and my truck or his car.Â* I also towed behind their
Eagle DW.1 biplane.Â* It had long, slender, tapered wings.Â* Reminded me
of a Discus.

On 10/19/2018 8:58 PM, Nick Kennedy wrote:
Back in the early 2000's Parowan had a 600 HP BiPlane Ag wagon. I took a few tows in my 1958 KA6CR with that thing. Wild man JC Hutchcorne would get me to Pattern altitude before the first taxiway and often at 2000' by the end of the airstrip with a little wind. Probably burned fuel like crazy but the time under full power was very short. It seemed the tow angle was about 30 degrees, up.


--
Dan, 5J

A little thread drift here.....I flew the factory demonstrator Eagle (300hp Lycoming) back in 1980 for one little flight. While I can't attest to it's towing capabilities, I remember it was unique in that it had the long, skinny wings, and spoilers on the top of the bottom wings. Each spoiler had it's individual lever, or you could move them together. Individually, each one would help roll into a turn a bit faster, and together they would help the slightest bit if coming in over a power line. I don't recall them being particularly effective as far as being able to come down any faster from a tow, but then I was flying in the ag pilot mode, not tow pilot. I do remember it feeling like flying a big box kite.

Towing behind a turbine would be like a cat shot. Probably the same angle, but LOTS faster than a winch!

Towing behind a turbine would be like a cat shot.
Maybe...

Probably the same angle, but LOTS faster than a winch!
Doubtful... One can easily climb at 3-4,000fpm in a winch launch. Can that tug do that even w/o a glider attached to it?

Uli
'AS'

On Sat, 20 Oct 2018 14:27:00 -0700, AS wrote:

Towing behind a turbine would be like a cat shot.
Maybe...

Probably the same angle, but LOTS faster than a winch!
Doubtful... One can easily climb at 3-4,000fpm in a winch launch. Can
that tug do that even w/o a glider attached to it?

Uli 'AS'

Here's the fastest and highest winch launch I've ever seen: 4500 ft on a
standard Tost winch using Dyneema rope.

While you're watching the dials go round, remember that this is a metric
glider, so the altimeter is in metres (inner markings are 1000m) and the
vario is m/sec (initial stabilised climb rate is 15 m/s or 30 kts).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VlRd9-wxQI



--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

On Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 2:27:01 PM UTC-7, AS wrote:
Towing behind a turbine would be like a cat shot.
Maybe...

Probably the same angle, but LOTS faster than a winch!
Doubtful... One can easily climb at 3-4,000fpm in a winch launch. Can that tug do that even w/o a glider attached to it?

In the latest version in skydiving configuration, that NZ ag plane takes 17 jumpers to 12000 ft in 10 minutes, throws them out, and gets back on the ground in 15 minutes, all up.

I imagine it would do 3000 FPM empty. And what do 17 parachutists weigh, with gear? Probably 1500 kg 3300 lb I guess. It wouldn't notice a single set glider much.

http://diverdriver.com/pac-750xl/

Yup, the Eagle that's what it was.
J.C. crashed it along with just about everything else he flew there during his short time in a partnership with Dave Norwood. J.C. was a wild man Hang glider pilot from Canada as I recall. I met and flew with him in the Canadian HG Nationals in Faulklin BC.