On Sunday, August 5, 2018 at 7:49:48 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Have there been stall spins during an aero tow?

Today, I had a very scary aero retrieve. From being towed to fast to-to slow. Anyways the scaries part was when, the tow plane started to climb and to slow. The indicated speed on the glider was 50 knots and decreasing. The glider kept slowing down and sinking under the tow plane into the wake. By this time the glider felt extremely sloopy and it felt like it was ready to drop into stall. Fortunately as I felt the wing wanting to drop, the tug leveld some and got back to a decent speed.

Yes I did radio the pilot askig for 20 indicated more. And I was attempting to release when I hit the wake, but the release on the standard cirrus is far, and my extention had moved from my legs.


Slight topic creep: As a tow-pilot I always give more speed on tow when requested, but I've also had a complaint later that the climb-rate was very slow. My impression is that Pawnees are very draggy and rate of climb suffers noticeably with extra speed. I've only towed in turbulent air, so can't give any measurements.