Thanks for the input, Fred.

There is some built in redundancy with a tow reel, one can always leave the rope trailing behind if the retract mechanism fails. In the event of some sort of other failure that would have a the rope partially retracted or hopelessly tangled, planning ahead with a new rope at the ready and with a length of heavy weed whacker line taped to the tug end as a "fish tape", a temporary fix should take just a few minutes.

1) If the partial rope or broken rope is hanging out the back of the tug, pull it clear of the guillotine and conduit (the fairlead tube running from the guillotine to the tail fitting.

2) Push the nylon "fish tape" from the back to the front. Then, if the reel is inop and half full of rope (a condition I have not experienced), tie the new rope around the reel using a bowline (easy to undo later) and use as a normal drag behind tow rope. Or, if the reel is operable, replace as normal.

As Fred says, all the reel installations I've seen have a guillotine. I did not make the guillotines used with my tow reels on the SoaringNV ships. Those were sourced from Rex, as he had some extras made - - a good design too..

Tost makes some tow reels that use a frangible mount for the reel behind the pilot seat. There is a slug clamped on the line and that stops the rope payout when is should and places the towing loads on the tail post cluster (unlike the forward mount reels, we are talking about, that put the load on the landing gear and fuselage main cluster where the spray tank would go. I don't like the Tost design as much, though have never flown with it. Seems in the event of some sort of tangle or other problem that locked up the reel before the towing slug reached the tail, the frangible mount could break loose and see the reel go bouncing down the fuselage towards the tail - with attendant collateral damage.

I recall reading about just that issue here on ras, but it's been a few years back.