On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:55:27 PM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:

Why would anyone lower the nose? The glider is presumably at aero tow speed - 65 - 70 knots which is way above the pattern speed.

Perhaps I have a fundamental misunderstanding...
but I thought that the AofA at 65 knots on aerotow is steeper than the AofA at 65 knots in free flight. So if you don't reduce the AofA (aka drop the nose) after the rope breaks, the glider will slow down. If you start the turn before reducing the AofA, you may find yourself going too slow for the turn.

It is true that you can use the speed coming off aerotow or PTOT to gain a bit of altitude, but that just means lowering the nose gradually as you bleed off the speed. In both cases the AofA needs to be adjusted to match the desired free flight speed.

I thought that we practiced this 'gain altitude and slowly drop the nose' every time we release from aerotow?