In article , Shirley wrote:
I'm curious as to how "busy" it has to be to justify that? Are you talking
about 3 gliders waiting to be towed? or 10? Either way, unless you have 10
people waiting in line *all day long*, how much time is really saved by doing a
downwind landing vs. a conventional one?

It's quite common to have a full grid of gliders waiting to be launched
for most of the day. Downwind landings are only done if the wind is less
than 10 knots. The glider port isn't really a runway as such, it's a
large graded cow pasture (probably the best part of a mile long, and at
least 300 foot width usable).

not to mention the obvious SAFETY
issue -- if you have THAT many gliders ready to go that you're concerned about
a minute or two of their "wait time", there are also going to be GLIDERS
landing *into* the wind at the same time!

Simultaneous landings are common. It's a judgement issue. So far, in
over 20 years of operation, they have never had a tow plane accident.

just to maybe get a couple more tows in. Is a glider pilot going to refuse to
wait the extra couple of minutes for the Pawnee to make a landing into the
wind? I don't think so.

No - the tow plane gives way to gliders - just as the FARs say it
should. Additionally, the tow plane tends to land on one side of the
field and the gliders on the other.

It's down to the tow pilot's judgement when to land and when a downwind
landing is safe. They don't just blindly land regardless of what's going
on on the ground.
Not every glider club is suitable for these style of operations. I would
never do a downwind landing intentionally in even 1 knot of tailwind at
Andreas - it's hard surfaced and the Auster is a squirelly plane to land
even in the best of conditions. Pawnees on the other hand have good
over-the-nose visibility and are probably the easiest taildragger to
land that I've ever set foot in.

Sad ... $$ is really always the bottom line motivator, huh?

It's a not-for-profit club, so I think not. Getting gliders in the air
is the motivator, that's why the club exists.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"