Newbie question: staying calmly behind glider tug

wrote:

I could not keep the glider (a Blanik) anywhere
close to remaining calmly behind the tug. I was all over the sky and
was acutely aware that I must be yanking the tug's tail back and forth
and up and down.

Don't feel bad. I had lots of USAF close formation time and I was not at
all impressed with my ability to fly a steady tow position, until I
RELAXED and quit trying to force the bird to go where it should.

You'll get a lot better with practice, and somewhat less intensity.

Have Fun.


Jack

Corky,

Welcome to ras! I've been an advid reader of you on rah.

I added glider this year and enjoy soaring more than I thought I would.
Initially, I was just adding a rating for the hell of it, but soon found
soaring to be a great flying experience.

I became part owner of a sailplane and have not flown power since. It is
hard to beat hours of flying after a $40 tow.

Keep with it, and keep you feet active.

Tom


On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:10:17 -0400, charles.k.scott wrote:

Welcome to soaring! Don't let the difficulty of flying the aerowtow dissuade
you from the fun of learning to fly. See the other thread here called
"Aerotow - learning and teaching". Aerotowing is formation flying - and it
is not easy for the beginner! One school of thought is that the student
should learn basic speed control, turns, and straight-and-level flight
before even attempting to fly the tow. So... talk it over with your
instructor, and maybe get a few more flights in before worrying too much
about the tow.


wrote in message
...
I'm planning to join the local soaring club and had my first ride last
weekend. I was eager to take the controls while being towed and was
enormously humbled by the experience.

I've had my ppsel for several years, but do not have many hours under
my belt. Never the less, I was looking forward to this and thought:
How difficult could it be? No P factor, just hang in there behind the
tug.

I was embarrassed. I could not keep the glider (a Blanik) anywhere
close to remaining calmly behind the tug. I was all over the sky and
was acutely aware that I must be yanking the tug's tail back and forth
and up and down.

Three times I was rescued by the guy giving me the ride, although by
the last time I was beginning to understand that the tow rope itself
could bring the nose back.

I had not prior instruction before the ride, I really thought it would
not be a problem. BZZZZZT wrong.

Once we cast off, holding headings, holding airspeed and just keeping
the wings level wasn't a problem. I was astonished at how far we
could travel at 60 mph without seeming to loose much altitude. Heck,
I've lost more altitude than that when I was flying cross country and
TRYING to hold my cruise altitude. :-)

One of the more expert glider pilots reassured me that all first
timers have the same problems, and told me that I should concentrate
on holding the wings the same as the tug, and using the rudder to stay
behind it.

I wasn't doing it that way, I was sawing back and forth with the stick
and getting into all kinds of trouble.

I'm eager to try again, but I thought I'd drop in here and ask how
folks stayed behind the tug... If you all can remember back when you
were at my stage. ;-)

Thanks, Corky Scott

A couple of earlier posts mentioned "relaxing" and "not over
controlling". That is the key. When I first learned aerotow many years
ago, I too found myself oscillating behind the tow plane and needing my
instructor to rescue me before I broke the tow rope, was cut loose by
the tow plane, etc.

Then the instructor told me, "Next time the tow plane gets a bit high
[or low or right or left] don't do anything for a second or two and
you'll be amazed at how you come back into position." He was right. And
it makes theoretical sense as well. Without getting into control
theory, suffice it to say that while some feedback (correcting for your
position) is needed to maintain stability, too much feedback will
guarantee oscillations. The trick is getting the right amount and
newbies tend to overcontrol. Oh yeah, my instructor also told me to
stop holding the stick with a "death grip." Part of the same syndrome.
Try to relax more.

One other point that might make you feel better (tho I suspect all the
now proficient glider pilots saying "that was me at first too" helps
even more): Learning to fly aerotow is learning to fly formation.
You're lucky that you already have PP-SEL. A totally new glider pilot
is trying to learn to fly, and fly in formation at the same time!

Lastly, welcome to the club. I'm sure that in not much time you'll look
back on this problem (and any others, like getting dizzy in thermals)
and smile at how far you've come so fast.

Martin

I've got a new Husky with tow hook. I've been in contact with Frito-Lay and
they've agreed to provide me with big free decals for the side of my ship
that say, "Fritos®"

I suspect I'll have no problem finding "customers" once I learn how to tow,
but one question keeps nagging me, "How can I stay calmly ahead of the
glider?"

bumper
Minden, NV

bumper wrote:

I've got a new Husky with tow hook. I've been in contact with Frito-Lay and
they've agreed to provide me with big free decals for the side of my ship
that say, "Fritos®"

I suspect I'll have no problem finding "customers" once I learn how to tow,
but one question keeps nagging me, "How can I stay calmly ahead of the
glider?"

Only half in jest, I think an experienced tow pilot's adrenaline kicks
up several notches as soon as he/she applies full power. You don't want
to be caught in "calm" when the pilot behind you stands the towplane on
it's nose!

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Bumper, I don't know if you a joking, but there is a related story
about "Free-Tows".

When I was a kid, growing up on a gliderport south of Miami, Dad (Fritz
Compton) had a Cub towplane. One particularly wealthy and "loud"
sailplane pilot would alway holler "thanks for the tows - I'll buy 'ya
a tank of gas sometime!" Then walk away laughing. After several dozen
free tows to this guy, Dad turned his anger into art: He painted the
words "El Frito" on the rudder of our Cub, but never got that tank of
gas, probably worth about $5.00 in the 1950's.

My Dad always encouraged me to build my commercial glider operation,
and at age 90 told me this story (again) just last month. I listen
patiently of course, but his business lesson is there, and twenty
gallons of gas for my towplane is now over $100. Later, I shoulda made
that guy pay his debt to our family, but he's dead. But the irony is
that Dad won - he outlived the S.O.B.!

A retired commercial glider operator once told me: "There are two ways
glider operations go out of business: A poor safety culture or they
didn't charge enough for their services."

Burt
Marfa Gliders, west Texas
www.flygliders.com

wrote:

I'm eager to try again, but I thought I'd drop in here and ask how
folks stayed behind the tug... If you all can remember back when you
were at my stage. ;-)

Thanks, Corky Scott

It takes practice. It doesn't do much for your thermalling experience,
and it makes you feel like you're losing out on time, but it often pays
to take lessons late in the day when the air is still -- the kind of
air perfect for a hot air balloon ride.

Midday with the sun out is no time to be learning the tow.

The club I belong to does 3 tows for the price of 2 before 11:30 for the
same reason--to encourage trainees to learn the basics in still air.

"Jim Buckridge" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:

I'm eager to try again, but I thought I'd drop in here and ask how
folks stayed behind the tug... If you all can remember back when you
were at my stage. ;-)

Thanks, Corky Scott

It takes practice. It doesn't do much for your thermalling experience,
and it makes you feel like you're losing out on time, but it often pays
to take lessons late in the day when the air is still -- the kind of
air perfect for a hot air balloon ride.

Midday with the sun out is no time to be learning the tow.

In control system jargon we would say that you have more than unity
gain at 180 degrees of phase shift. What that means in English is that
by the time you recognize you need to make a correction your corrective
action is too much. So you make another corrective action to fix the
problem the first action, using even more control input. This results
in an even larger deviation in the opposite direction. And so it
goes...

Add to this that you have three control surfaces that you are
manipulating (you may feel like they are manipulating you!).

The phase shift part means you are late in recognizing you need to make
an adjustment.

Try making more timely (reduce the phase shift), but smaller
adjustments (reduce the gain). Remember, once you get a large mass in
motion (such as a turn to bring the glider back to center line) it
can't stop immediately, so you have to anticipate stopping it with
control action in the opposite direction.

Start out by towing in the morning before thermal activity starts - it
is much easier to maintain position in calm air.

Don't worry: with practice you will get comfortable with towing.

Good luck!

Tom Seim