Towplane performance

"Roy" wrote in message
om...
Many thanks for all the advice and suggestions so far.

Non of the suggestions were for other than standard (old) aircraft
products.

It has been suggested that an RV9 with a big motor (160-200hp) would
be great to do the job.

Anyone else considered this approach?
We are not a commercial operation and dont have to pay our pilots.
There is no insurance problem so this solution has some appeal. ie
new airframe, easy repair & maintenance.

"Experimental - Amateur Built" aircraft will always have a "No glider
towing" paragraph in their operation limitations letter. However, Sport
Light Aircraft under the new regs seem to have a loophole that allows glider
towing for profit.

Actually the key design parameter isn't the engine it's the propeller and
after that, the wing. If you start with a prop optimized for max thrust at
towing speed and then a wing optimized for that speed, the HP requirements
go way down. This assumes that the prop RPM can be reduced by belts or
gearing.

Maybe somebody should cook up an SLA design optimized for towing. This
would be a very efficient and very quiet airplane.

Bill Daniels