On Monday, February 25, 2019 at 3:07:36 AM UTC-5, Charlie Quebec wrote:
It only makes sense if you like towplane crashes. When a glider kites on high tow down low there is no time for the tow pilot to recover.
Had this been a low tow, the likely hood is very strong that the pilot would have survived. In Au, we only do low tow training, and I’ve never seen
any problems or even the slightest upset of the tow plane on low tow. Some years ago we used to go to high tow to release, but even that was scrapped.
It needs to be remembered that low tow means just below the slipstream. C of G hooks make high tow even more dangerous.

I realize that you come here chiefly to wind people up, but let's just set that aside for a moment.

If you have a shred of actual evidence for the relative safety of low tow, cite it. The guys who studied the problem and test flew upset scenarios at altitude don't agree with you.

Chris Rollings:

"The belief that low-tow significantly reduces the risk of sling-shot tug
upsets is mistaken. The trigger is if the glider pitches up to about 30
degrees above the line of the rope. Being in low-tow when that happens
simple makes the sunsequent event take about half a second longer - not
enough extra time to greatly increase the chance of releasing before the
critical point."

Critical point: it's the acceleration of the kiting glider that does the tow pilot in. The towplane is suddenly slowed, probably below 1g stall speed, accompanied by loss of elevator authority, then it's pitched over and put into a deep negative angle of attack. Take away: low tow doesn't and can't prevent this from happening. The glider pilot has the task of preventing this from happening. See figure 2 here https://members.gliding.co.uk/librar...owing-booklet/

Rope length is far more important to tow (in)stability than either tow position or hook location. Anyone can test. Try a 150' rope and a 225' rope. Difference is obvious and dramatic. In contrast, the difference between high and low tow is pretty subtle as far as control pressure goes and I honestly feel no difference in stability. We use 225' because it's the longest our tow pilots can safely manage on final approach (road crossing). I have on rare occasion towed on even longer ropes (275') and felt that was over doing things.

Nose vs CG hook is another myth. It would take a lot of work to assemble the data, but anecdotally we already know: the vast majority of tug upsets and upset/accidents involve nose hook equipped gliders. Most CG hook gliders (e.g. ASW-20s and such) tow very nicely.

T8