On Tuesday, March 27, 2018 at 10:20:56 AM UTC-7, kirk.stant wrote:
As a glider pilot and tow pilot, there are a couple of SSA - recommended hand signals/procedures that I find confusing at best and dangerous at worst:

First, the HOLD and STOP signals. snipped by CB

The SSF "STOP" signal is even dumber - totally invisible from the towplane and not used anywhere else that I can find. And again is a two handed signal.

I propose that the SSA and SSF change the US standard signal for HOLD and STOP to one arm held straight up (preferable with a hat or paddle), or two arms held up crossed (if both arms are free).

Aaaagh. So the suggestion is to have two potential actions for the same suggested signal? Again, a less than desirable 'vocabulary' for communication. Or is Hold/Stop the same thing?

I tell folks that MOVING parts are easier to see from a tug mirror. If you Really Need that towpilot's attention - you will MOVE the signalling appendage. How do you stop/halt auto traffic from striking an item on the roadway?
You hop in front of the oncoming machine, and WAVE your arms over your head.
(Please do remove yourself, if the machine isn't halting.) You Got Big.
Maybe you jump up and down or move laterally while waving. Motion is the item that gets attention across a retina.
Once you have them stopping, you convert to a still being. Probably still hands-high.

Having a wingtip on the ground means - wait, don't launch.
Having a hand overhead means - wait, don't launch.
When that hand is 'changing' from below-waist movement (taxi) it has two possible next instructions - Stop, or Go. One is no motion, one IS motion.
Two arms up-and-crossed aren't much different visually than one arm.
But two-up arms must mean a tip is down.... = waiting (for the tug).
An Arm Up with a ballcap/gliderhat/T-shirt/washtowel or seat cushion in hand - is Big visually.

The key is - learn the LOCAL protocol.
The refinements are important.
I like that UH uses a system that is so-similar and like groundlaunch signals.
Moving = moving. Still = still.

The SSA/SSF signal that bugs me is a different one.
How do you tell a tug to release a line and move off the area
and park, or shutdown?

If you hold your hand palm down and cross your throat with it,
no towpilot I ever met (that's a big number) has released a line.
Every one of those pilots has immediately shut down their engine.

If I want a tug to release a line, I point to his tow hook, then
I grab hands together in front of my chest (as if connected), then release and flare fingers and spread hands wide apart. If needed (from no pre-briefing),
I repeat this and have always been successful getting a line dropped.
Then I point to them, to where they should taxi, and shut down with the throat-cut signal. That has always worked for me.

Be careful out there.
It's "the silly season".

Cindy B