On Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 8:05:35 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Monday, December 31, 2018 at 7:24:34 AM UTC-5, Bob Youngblood wrote:

I fly "both ends of the rope" routinely too ... and I am not sure what this is all about other than a whining session.

If you don't have access where ground launch is possible, then soaring only exists because there are towplanes and tow pilots.

there are a LOT of problems with tow-planes and towing at the moment; big cost problems and regulatory difficulties, and the national supply of towplanes is going down, and I am really worried about the longer-term existence of our sport in the USA, due to towplane problems.

Could we perhaps have a discussion about the big issues? My list of these would be:

1. Towplanes are getting bloody expensive: to buy, to maintain, to tow with ... you name it.

2. A lot of the worst sailplane accidents involve towing and the towplane.. Last year my club had a kiting-on-take-off episode -- amazingly nobody was hurt, destroyed the towplane, scared the bejezus out of everybody, me included. We survived as a club, but not easy.

3. Most soaring clubs exist to keep a towplane ... see #1. It's getting worse

OK, DRONE tow...