Messages get clipped and formatted badly here for some reason?

Brian,

Basically yes.

The launch marshall is in charge of the grid and he directs each tug to
each
glider and then away.

Most operations I have been involved with have a dedicated launch frequency

and with typically 10 towplanes, clutter is not an issue.
A thorough briefing on towing and recovery routes to/from the drop zone
(and use of similar performance aircraft) and other normal eventualities
(aborted tow/blocked runway etc) reduces the amount of required radio calls

to almost nothing in some cases. On airfields with limited space a little
bit of
inter-towplane RT keeps it all ticking.

And having good tow pilots and a capable launch marshall makes a big
difference to getting the grid away safely and efficiently.

GG



At 15:59 30 June 2014, Brian wrote:
On Monday, June 30, 2014 8:28:30 AM UTC-6, Gav Goudie wrote:

Typical parlance that seems to work on grid launches I have been
involved

with as used by the launch marshall goes something like:

"Tug GC, next glider is Discus on the left hand side"
"Tug GC take up slack"
Or
"Tug GC take up slack and hold" (if a relight or a landing tug is on
late
finals
etc)
"Tug GC all out, all out" or "STOP STOP STOP" (delete as appropriate)


I am not sure the system you are suggesting came across very well in your
post.
I think you are saying that instead of using a signal relay person that
you
have a radio relay aka a Launch Marshall directing the tow plane.

It is probably a better idea than the signal relay person.
However the concern of course is to not clutter up the radio frequency so
bad that aircraft (tow planes) in the pattern can't make adequate
position
reports with out stepping on each other transmissions.
Very doable, but all aspects of this procedure need to be considered for
each site.

Brian
(Comp Pilot & Towplane/Comp Towplane Pilot) also.