Q & A from Zen of Aerotowing for Gliderpilots 6/9/2020

From the Presenter: Cindy Brickner

I tried to answer the most pertinent of questions from the webinar. The variety and scope of Q
& A was tremendous. From misunderstandings of some basic aerodynamic theories, to folks
offering to assist in engineering a better towhook, the sincerity of participation is
heartwarming. One attendee asked if they could get a copy of “ALL” the answers that were
asked. Hence this document. It easily doubled the time required of me by this webinar’s
administration.
The other startling reveal of this webinar is the frequency of NearMiss fatals, pilots reporting
serious kiting events that didn’t kill anyone. I have received notice of at least five events.

This event didn’t cover a fair amount about ‘normal’ aerotowing, and missed some of the more
advanced possibilities due to the limitations of an hour’s schedule.

There is a tremendous amount of video and written material at www.soaringsafety.org

Please use it. Please continue to seek further training and educational opportunities.
Thank you Linda C. , for getting me started on this two years ago.
Thank you to all who participated in this webinar…. All 957 of us.

General glider question: The Glider Flying

Handbook states that the lift vector of a glider
has a vertical component and another
component that opposes drag by supplying
thrust by the converstion of potential energy to
kinetic energy. Does lift oppose drag in a
glider? In powered aircraft lift creates [induced]
drag. Thought someone here would be able to
help! Thanks

Lift does oppose drag in the glider.

The ‘forward component of lift’ counteracts drag,

Which is a way of looking at potential energy converting to
Kinetic…. And making us go forward ( and down).

We have no thrust to counteract drag…. So it has to come from somewhere.

If we were sitting on the ground….. it wouldn’t work.
The vertical component of lift counters gravity.
I hope that helps.

And you’re right about tail pivot versus lever.

I’ve got another guy working on a diagram for me for the math of
that little portion. But the force on the tail ( upward) becomes more
than the downward aerodynamic force of the tail ….
And the tug gets pitched over it’s CL.

Thanks
Cindy

wouldn't the Cg be the pivot point?

No – the Center of Lift is the pivot point. The CG is forward of the CL This is what makes the nose fall
and lower the AoA and help the machine re-engage with relative wind and begin flying again.

what about a sensor that detects tension vector on the towplane and
automatically releases if the vector is bad and you are at low altitude?
A lot of very smart folks have put a lot of attention into this problem. They haven’t found a solution that
addresses all the varieties of towing, and can pass FAA certification.

at what altitude should a tow pilot expect to survive if the glider gets out of
position?
Above 1000 agl is a pretty safe regime.
 Standard rope length is usually 200 ft. Been suggested to use a 300 ft.
rope for long x/c tows as easier for glider to keep in position. Yes or no?
You could. But the tug pilot needs to remember it is longer, on approach over the fence. Taxxiing.
And the glider will find it wanders and wallows some in trying to maintain position. Mirrors on tug
aren’t set for that. Glider becomes almost unseeable to cockpit. When one thing is changing – it is
generally thought to not change a multitude of other things.

While towing, I’m too busy on takeoff to check the mirrors to see what the
glider is doing. How can I tell if the glider is getting out of position before it
gets deadly?
A deceleration, or lack of acceleration. A change in stick position ( coming aft), a change in attitude of
the tug.

How do you feel about a tow taking off and

climbing in the airport pattern (turn to x-wind,
then downwind) versus departing the pattern
immediately but remaining within gliding
distance?

Usually my downwind leg is well inside the other traffic.

I am flying a box pattern departure, but tighter than the Boeing patterns
they fly even at uncontrolled fields out here.
I stay in glide with the tug. Easy return for the glider.

Private pilots can’t tow !

FAR 61.113 B. and G. Private pilots MAY tow and even be paid for it.
SSA fought hard for that change about ten years ago.
There is a legal determination that towing is NOT carrying passengers.

Could we create a simulator course to train

everybody’s from kiting? Or is there any already
existing?
Condor flight simulator. Use scott manley smanley@wisc.edu
He has a great curriculum already set up.

Could we use a bowline knot to attach a towring?

You can use a bowline to add a ring, if the resulting rope strength meets the FAR 91.309.

I do it, when I am in a hurry to launch something and don’t have a spare rope.

But it will wear on the ground and weaken the rope in a hurry.

Shouldn't we advise the tow pilot when a glider has a CG hook - which can
more easily kite than a front nose tow hook?
It sure doesn’t hurt. And tow speed, and altitude requested and direction and . . . . . . .
He’s a student, hasn’t flown for 6 months, just rigged this morning….

I am brand new student. Since and if the emphasis seems to be

increasingly focused on Tow Pilots, are plans afoot to increase pay and
qualifications of Tow Pilots? I never talk to tow pilots, seems to me a good
thing to do. These people are quite important.

Towpilots are golden. They work all day for a pittance, and would love a thank you. They are another
resource for learning. They KNOW what you are doing. A different explanation might help you improve.
Take them a water bottle midday, or bring them a treat at day’s end. “Pay” is variable. So are
qualifications, on both ends of the rope. I try to improve both ends through teaching.

Is there an all inclusive SBT tow pilot syllabus available that we can use for
annual tow pilot training?
http://soaringsafety.org/briefings/signals.html
http://soaringsafety.org/learning/towpilot/towpilot.html

http://soaringsafety.org/learning/wingrunner/wingrunner.html This is what is currently available.

Videos online at SSF also.

This webinar and the comments collection as the handout affiliated with it would be interesting to
them. I intend to do another webinar for the towpilot end of the rope.

Have any tests been done on inverted vs upright SGS releases?

Not with any collection or archival to the national level in the US. We tested our downward opening
hook with kiting exercises at altitude in 1992. We released from tug end before reaching the aft stop
on a progressive move to extremely high tow…. Glider brought the rope home.
We were radio equipped, area below clear, and flying to a target for heading control. Tug was out of
sight for maybe a 40 second period. Adjacent airplane estimated a 40* upward rope angle.

We tried with an aggressive kite, and the brand new 2100# tested rope broke – as the tuggie pulled the
release.
It was a 400 ft altitude loss from about 3500 agl. And we all knew it was coming.

So we were pretty darn sure our hook would open whenever we wanted, or the rope would break.
We had also established the top of the vulnerable zone….anything under 1000 agl.
We did, and I do some pretty aggressive slack line recovery training. Never had a tuggie dump me,
but I have had a few whine a bit afterward. I had one student get out of whack at 2000 agl, and the tug
released us as we released. A neighbor returned the rope from his yard!

There are a fair amount of reports of upright SGS hooks failing to open when pilots wanted them open.
And there are a few wrecks where we can’t ask the pilot if they pulled or not.

British Gliding Assoc did some kiting exercises back in the early 1980s I believe.

Has an upward releasing tow hook been invented that releases the tow ring at
vertical loads above say 300 lbs?
Lots of smart people have tried to solve this problem for all situations
And haven’t yet got one
But we keep trying. Meanwhile – I keep training.

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Inverted hooks are better. Tost are best yet. If you’re gonna change –
Go Tost.

Work with your A&P. For SGS I think the cable run is intended to be
A straight line to handle friction forces. It WAS straight in our C-182 from
a center floor mount alongside the Johnson bar flaps.

For Pawnee – there is something from the spray rigs that was a hopper dump release
Or something like it…. Apparently it mounted near the throttle
Check rec.aviation.soaring and find the threads on Pawnee hitches
And you will find someone who can send photos and maybe 337 copies.

Get an N Number and you can pull FAA files for $10 for any Pawnee.
Now you have a copy and paste 337.
I can ask a friend for photos of his Citabria. I never towed in it, only behind it.
Have no idea how it is rigged, but it is SGS.

Two lever decks on left side. Forward attach plate must be a spray release, red arm.
The aft lever deck is the throttle and mixture mount deck. Found this photo on 6/12/20 Cindy

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What's the solution for kiting other than marking a good position for the trim
control?
Question is from glider's perspective: if trim is aft (nose up), kiting is
good possibility?

You would always want to use middle or forward trim for launching on the glider. You might want to
look at your glider’s manual for a recommendation.

Ah, thanks, I missed the trim instructions in the L23 manual (nothing in the 1-26
POH) and instructor never mentioned it. As an add-on student I am used to climb
trim, and the “0” mark for the L23 trim control isn’t obvious. I’ve had a tendency
to float up on initial launch; I’ll make adjustments.
Thanks again (yellow highlight by Cindy)
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Thanks. Would the tug have to nose down to unload the release mechanism?

Some towhooks on tugs don't release well under vertical tension. Some do.

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During an Intro Lesson for a private pilot SEL rated student I had a kiting incident. This
was at XXXX about 40 years ago. Take off was normal with the student in the front
seat of the SGS 2-33A up to about 150'. Student had the controls but was not climbing
as fast as the 180 hp Super Cub. I told him to climb up level with the tow plane and he
abruptly pulled full aft stick! As the Cub disappeared from view I yelled "I've got it!" and
pulled the release. We did a 180 wing over and landed normally on the alternate parallel
runway.
We took off again after a brief discussion. I flew the tow this time and he did well for a
transitioning pilot. I don't remember seeing him again, but that was not unusual for our
Intro Lessons then.
We stressed the glider pilot's responsibility to release if the glider got so high on tow that
the tow plane disappeared below us. Mine was the only kiting incident I remember
hearing about. Yes, I was much more careful about allowing a student unrestricted stick
control during tow after that. We learn best from our mistakes that don't kill us.

I thought your response that a kiting incident below 1,000' might not end well for the tow
pilot was a little simplified and overly pessimistic. I agree that the tow plane wouldn't
have enough control authority to prevent being pushed nose down, but we used 1,200#
test nylon and it would probably break before the tow plane's nose was more than 60
degrees vertical. Full aft stick with the Cub would probably result in a 1/4 loop of less
than 100' radius. So my answer to the question would be that a kiting incident over 200'
would probably be survivable. Not fun! But survivable. (Not true. The whole point of the
seminar. We have plenty of survivors who tell us otherwise, that their Kiting Fatality Near Miss occurred
from WAY higher. For tow pilots – if they’re divergent? Dump Them. For gliderpilots – Don’t Diverge.)

At XXXXXX we used a tow rope winch inside the airplane. Dropping the rope was
not an option at our busy one way airport. The winch also had the safety advantage of a
guillotine rope cut release. There was no way to release the tow rope intact since it was
attached to an internal winch. Regardless of the stress on the tow rope we could
release in an emergency by cutting the rope. The emergency guillotine release was a
red knob mounted on the instrument panel within easy reach.
Tow rope winches were an option on European tow planes at that time. Are they still? I
am surprised they are not more commonly used. Much safer and easily adapted to
dedicated tow planes. (Few tow planes are imported from Europe. Most are US built – Pawnees,
Scouts, Citabrias, C-182/172/150-150, Cherokee 6, Maules, Citabrias, Super Cubs, L-19s.) Winch
retraction systems are still uncommon on US towplanes. They have little bearing on a kiting tipover.
Release handle placement in the tug DOES have an influence.)

One question and answer made me very nervous. The question was whether the tow
pilot should have his hand on, or near, the release lever during tow. Your answer was
something along the line that the tow release should be within easy reach, preferably
close to the instrument panel? The certificated release mechanisms for SGS tow rigs
need a straight pull of the cable which dictates a floor mounted lever because significant
force is required to release under tension. I have never towed with a Tost system,
maybe it would be more adaptable? (Yes.)
I would discourage having your hand near, or on, the release for two reasons. 1. SGS
floor mounted handle might require bending low enough to compromise visibility during
take off and tow. 2. Turbulence could bounce the pilot enough to cause him to
inadvertently pull the release. (Yes.)

We also demonstrated slack line recovery. This was only to be done with an instructor
aboard. The tow pilot kept track of when an instructor was in the glider and had to
cooperate. <snipped some out – cb> Just before the rope gets taught again the glider
yaws with rudder and dives slightly, wings level, to straight behind the tow plane. When
timed correctly the rope pulls tight as the glider gets to normal tow position. There is
very little jerk.

Towing was a lot of fun and a great time builder! It was also demanding and could be
dangerous if one of the pilots was inattentive or sloppy. Some tow pilots were very
skillful glider pilots and could take us to thermals reliably. Some were not. One guy
fixated on his airspeed indicator. This time the indicator was faulty, a bug in the pitot,
and he kept lowering his nose until we were no longer climbing and going 100 mph with
me in an SGS 2-32 with 2 passengers. He was reminded that flying nose attitude was
required for tow pilots.

Thanks again! An advanced towing seminar might be useful. The questions seemed to
come from aspiring tow pilots who might benefit from real life stories and equipment
option discussion.

Sincerely,
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Has an upward releasing tow hook been invented that releases the tow ring at
vertical loads above say 300 lbs?
Lots of smart people have tried to solve this problem for all situations
And we haven’t yet got one. The Brits tried one for a summer, but it wasn’t reliable enough.
But we keep trying.
Meanwhile, I keep teaching about how to stay in position. Cindy

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 I searched kiting accidents in the US,
Switzerland, and Germany from 1980 to
today and found twenty (20).
Continued, 10 dead tow pilots in these 20
accidents.

40 years and “only” ten dead. And we’ve had ~3 of those in 10 years. But you would
be AMAZED at the response to this Webinar on the number of Near Misses of kiting fatals.

Tow pilots assume they have "enough" time to pull the release in the event
of kiteing. with the airport video of the recent accident, Perhaps it would be
possible to analyse that and determine what pitch down rate the towplane
experienced and hence how much time before it's unrecoverable.

It’s pretty easy to know that at his ~300ft altitude, this was unrecoverable. I don’t have the
video, but based on comments, from the photo we saw till impact was only another four
seconds.
There is recognition time, reaction to find and grab the release (during a zero G or strongly
negative G event), then pull back power, and be pulling the nose up? For this accident, the
only action completed was releasing (cutting) the line.

During that time, the tug is moving forward at at least 100 ft per second, probably more, as it
goes nose down and accelerates. From 800 agl – how many seconds IS that, till impact?

A contributed Link british aerotow stats:

https://members.gliding.co.uk/bga-safety-management/safe-aerotowing/

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At the top of kite the glider is pulling almost 2 Gs

Simulation is a great way to train for distractions. Training

the brain to recognize tow position deviations and reflexively
respond depends on repetition, i.e., number and variety of
experiences. Simulation provides that level of experience in
much less time and at far less cost than is possible in the
real world. It is not enough to talk about these things. The
brain has to see and learn to reflexively respond.
Outside the turn kiting effect is demonstrated on the Soaring
Safety Foundation website - Condor demo.
Glider pilots with 100s of hours of soaring flight only have
100s of minutes of experience in the critical phases of flight.
XC tow experience (level flight, glider in low tow) should be
part of initial or recurrent training (e.g. flight review)

Commercial certificate may be required by insurance carrier.

As part of any tow, brief the tow pilot on required airspeed.

Don't expect the tow pilot to know what you need or what
you intend to do.
I have a self-launching glider for sale. Self-launchers never
kill tow pilots.
Before leveling the glider's wings to begin an aerotow, the
ground crew should hold up a sign that says "Dont' kill the
tow pilot".
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Should we continue to tow on CG hooks?
Sure, why not. We flew on them for years and had decent
training and few wrecks. The change? Less training.

Descending tow, should we teach and practice

them?

Yes.
We would be, if we actually trained for dual release failure.
Landing on tow requires a return to earth in formation.
But it seems almost all DPEs have declined to ever ask for a
demo,
So the skill is nearly lost.
The only published description actually says things that will
make a Greenhorn get hurt most likely. If we engaged our
aerodynamic brain While reading the GFH description, we would
know what the false part actually might be.

Why not use Condor to do some of this? Cheap, available,

realistic,
Good for procedural issues.

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From experience, the upset can happen in a

couple of seconds. The reaction to release will
 take a couple of seconds FROM
RECOGNITION and the recovery can take an
ADDITIONAL 4-8 seconds.
Which is why I stated my belief that a serious kite under
1000’ agl is likely to be life threatening. This came from a
pilot with a kiting experience as a tow pilot. Cindy

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The Condor simulation of kiting was very

impressive. It happened really fast. But what
Condor doesn't show is the effect on the
towplane and how the tugs nose would be
wrenched downwards.
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When a glider is wet it can be a real game changer if the tug has marginal
performance in high density altitude (summer here we get 10000 ft DA).
The Pawnee does well but just last week the glider needed 75-80 kts and
we were of the end of the runway about 50 ft AGL. We had to tell the glider
that we just were not going to tow with a full load of water. Just sharing I
guess and to let some newbies out there know that towing wet can really
really get your attention.
The tow pilot has to know how weather and location will affect his performance.
It is the towpilot’s job to limit risk for both machines.
Often the glider pilot hasn’t given it a thought and his training was many
decades ago….. he only knows he wants to soar.

From soaringsafety.org Tow Pilot Course

https://www.soaringsafety.org/learning/towpilot/tpc2.htm
 The better orientation.

The dangerous orientation

https://www.soaringsafety.org/learning/towpilot/tpc9.htm

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Differential Lifting Airmass – BIG Thermals

I had an incident towing a glider with our Pawnee on crosswind last year. I transited a
very strong thermal at about 500 agl. I was rocketed up about 100 ft and then fell off
the lift very abruptly. The glider was rising as I was falling and got so far above that I was
pitched straight down in about 2 sec. The glider released and I recovered easily from
about 4-500 agl as I have lots of competition power acro experience. No time for me to
pull the tow plane release. Could have turned out very bad though.

It is a bit unnerving knowing how quickly a glider pilot can kill you and you have no
defense mechanism. It’s in their hands at low altitude

Cindy’s Reply:

The towplane’s climb rate in neutral air is based on his

Excess thrust available beyond flight speed. He is always flying at full power
(for the typical tow plane ~180 – 260 hp).
For a Pawnee and a 2-33 with 2 aboard – that might be around 400-500 fpm.

IF the glider does something else and adds some tension to the towline,
the glider “takes” away some of that excess thrust, and the towpilot sees the
Activity as a deceleration or a loss of climb rate. We can see that in maneuvering
to box the wake. By holding outside rudder for boxing the wake, we make more drag.
It can also be flying an arc relative to the tug’s path, ie. Kiting or going outside a turn.

The towing job is to provide stable speed, so he doesn’t change a bunch of pitch
Or trim pressure, he just accepts the loss of climb rate.

If the tug flies into lift, he climbs more. If, when we notice that, we add a breath of
Aft pressure, we maintain altitude and position and we actually reduce his displacement
Relative to us. We “take” some of that lift. When he falls out the far side of the thermal,
we can ease that pressure back forward, and allow him the extra thrust (while we are in the lift)
So that he doesn’t fall into such a hole.
The altitude differential is diminished. The climb profile is smoothed.

The “overshoot” happens when the tug falls out of the lift, as the glider climbs through the
Heart of it.

Most folks don’t talk about, think about, the energy that is ‘traded’ through the towline.

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