On Jul 22, 9:28*am, T8 wrote:
On Jul 22, 8:55*am, Pat Russell wrote:

The towplane rudder waggle signal has done more harm than good. *We
have spent at least ten years trying to educate our pilots about this
signal, and we have failed. *It is time we got rid of the signal.

http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/br...15X11650&key=1

-Pat

maybe it doesn't work because it's never taught, except out of a book.

I've never seen this practiced anywhere, ever. *I suggest CFIG
instruct student to open spoilers on tow at safe altitude (smoothly,
please), tow pilot (briefed ahead of time) gives the rudder wag when
he notices. *We practice wave offs from time to time, we can do this
too.

Radios are good. *Reliance on the radio is foolish. *They are by far
the most unreliable pieces of equipment we use.

-Evan Ludeman / T8

Repeating what I wrote in the other thread:

Folks, the problem is not just lack of knowledge or practice, it is
the human nature of confusion and tunnel vision under stress! Imagine
you are on tow and barely climbing (since your spoilers are out),
your first thought is that something is wrong with the tow plane, and
once you see the tow pilot waggle the rudder (which may also cause the
wings to rock a little), I bet over 90% of pilots will release, even
if they just practiced this manuver a week ago. There are many
examples confirming this, luckily not all of them resulted in
accidents.
Bottom line: Use radios! If this doesn't work, do not waggle rudders
until at safe altitude, unless the tow plane can not climb at all.

Ramy