The Pik 27 looks as if it is getting close to completion.
It is a small single seat low wing Rotax 914 engined
machine with rear fuselage air brakes that has been
designed specifically as a glider tug and is expected
to outperform a Pawnee for towing and be much more
economical. See:

http://www.windcraft.fi/pik27/welcome

John Galloway


At 13:00 13 September 2005, Bill Daniels wrote:

'Stefan' wrote in message
...
Is anyone doing this?

In Europe, this is becoming more and more common.
Towing works
astonishingly well with 100 hp and one of those new
planes. The limit is
when the glider is very heavy (fully loaded two seater)
or the runway is
very short and soft. Towing with 3 gal/hour and with
remarkably little
noise is much cheaper and neighbour-friendlier, even
if a tow it last
10% longer.

There are currently two categories of 'new tow planes':
Motorgliders
(such as the Super Dimona, in the USA called Katana
XTreme) and modern
ultalights, as they are called here (see for example
http://www.remos.com/).

All in all, in Europe we strongly believe that this
is the future of
towing.

Stefan

I don't believe an optimum design tow plane would look
anything like a
touring motorglider. The key to performance and economy
is the propeller.
It should be really big and slow turning. Remember,
propeller blades are
just rotating wings. They work best at the L/D max
just like a sailplane.
Think of a three to four meter diameter prop turning
at 1000 RPM. The
touring motorglider airframes won't accommodate a prop
that big.

I'm thinking of something that would look like an oversize
ultralight with
the pilot way forward for the best view and a pusher
prop over a low wing.
The wing would baffle what little sound the prop made
so it should be very
quiet. A very slow prop could be easily driven with
a tooth belt. 130 HP
should be more than enough for the heaviest 20 meter
two-seater. A water
cooled Honda or Subaru engine might work great.

Bill Daniels