Thread: Tow plane ideas
View Single Post
  #2  
Old May 26th 21, 08:42 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dan Marotta
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,601
Default Tow plane ideas

I did a few tows using a Maule back in the 80s and I didn't like it.Â*
Flying with a stick is much easier for towing and the visibility out of
the Maule did not compare to that from a Pawnee.

I've also towed with an L-19 and they're great but expensive to acquire,
180-hp Super cub and Citabria which were both great, a CalAir A-9B which
tows quite well but it's physically demanding to fly due to the location
of the stick and the fowler flaps are very difficult to deploy but it's
the easiest landing tail dragger I've ever flown.Â* I've also towed with
a 235-hp Pawnee which is very easy to fly and gets gliders into the air
quickly.Â* Finally I would highly recommend a Cessna Ag Wagon.Â* It's the
roomiest and most comfortable of all of the above, flies naturally and
easily, and is easy to land, but with 300-hp it's the hungriest of all
the rest.

Dan 5J
On 5/26/21 12:37 PM, jackson maddux wrote:
My glider club is looking into the possibility of a new or upgraded tow plane. We currently have a 160hp supercub, but we have also looked into a rare-as-hens-teeth piper pawnee. As i poke around barnstormers and trade a plane, i have seen ads for a 190hp vans RV-6, a maule 235, a stinson 200+ hp, motorgliders, cessna 188, etc.

Anyone out there have some ideas for a tow plane that might be very functional but also (perhaps) not well known? Ive seen stories on stinson's maule's and wilga's being used in the past, for example, but it would be good to hear of some currently used "unusual" towplanes.

thanks for any feedback!