Recognizing and reacting to tow plane engine failure

It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 10:41:57 AM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

The classic problem is one of not having a plan. All portions of the critical part of the launch need to have a plan of what to do so it is "only" a matter of execution.
There is almost no time for problem solving.
I have had 3 engine failures as tow pilot. 2 were complete power loss. 2 pilots got it right and released- one started reporting smoke from the towplane instead of getting off.
UH

On 10/23/2014 8:41 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane
engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time
to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in
this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow
plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any
other recommended training exercises?


I've experienced 2 (that spring to mind) incidents of unplanned loss of tuggie
power while on tow, both above pattern altitude. Neither resulted in a radio
call - and no waveoff - that I remember. The gradual one was trickier to
detect from my end of the rope, in that the symptoms developed "non-digitally"
and could easily have been due to towpilot inattention or distraction or
"something" unrelated to a problematic engine issue. Other than the time
constants involved, both were detectable (in no particular order) by reduction
in climb rate, some loss of airspeed, and "something's different" flags
raising in my noodle. Neither resulted in "an obvious rope bow" or
deceleration before I released in both cases once it was seemed (but wasn't
"crystal-clearly evident") to me it wasn't your basic tuggie inattention
situation.

Talked with both after the flights. One was (gasp) out of fuel (slosh-related
unporting as I recall) and the other something related to the throttle
(details forgotten in time) that didn't put the tug down for the day. Both
tuggies thanked me for releasing.

In thinking more about the possibility of a gradual loss of engine power (e.g.
throttle creep), I concluded it could perhaps be one of the trickier things
for Joe Glider Pilot to detect should it happen (say) before or immediately
after becoming airborne. Never happened to me, but there's good reasons for
mentally preparing for how to recognize and deal with "the abbie-normal on-tow
possibilities."

Bob W.

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 8:41:57 AM UTC-6, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to side of the tow plane path (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

A simple answer. Save yourself first. I have been on both ends, but not at once. If YOU have a problem don't expect the other guy to fix it. Don't kill the other guy. If he has a problem, you have no way to fix it. So, take the best way out for you. Typically this put into go left or go right, but I would suggest that this makes little sense. It depends entirely on where you are and what's in the way. Rope failure - not the towplane's problem. Keep flying the towplane. Towplane failure - not glider's problem - let towplane fix it by staying out of his way.

So there are tuggles (new word) who are insensitive
to change in engine note and do not monitor the tach!
No surprise, unfortunately. Importnt to check the RPM
at the start with full throttle, and thereafter.
In the PIK 20E I do not need to read the tach for
full power; the noise tells me!
JMF

At 15:14 23 October 2014, BobW wrote:
On 10/23/2014 8:41 AM, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane
engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little
time
to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in
this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow
plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)?
Any
other recommended training exercises?


I've experienced 2 (that spring to mind) incidents of unplanned loss of
tuggie
power while on tow, both above pattern altitude. Neither resulted in a
radio
call - and no waveoff - that I remember. The gradual one was trickier to
detect from my end of the rope, in that the symptoms developed
"non-digitally"
and could easily have been due to towpilot inattention or distraction or
"something" unrelated to a problematic engine issue. Other than the time
constants involved, both were detectable (in no particular order) by
reduction
in climb rate, some loss of airspeed, and "something's different" flags
raising in my noodle. Neither resulted in "an obvious rope bow" or
deceleration before I released in both cases once it was seemed (but
wasn't

"crystal-clearly evident") to me it wasn't your basic tuggie inattention
situation.

Talked with both after the flights. One was (gasp) out of fuel
(slosh-related
unporting as I recall) and the other something related to the throttle
(details forgotten in time) that didn't put the tug down for the day. Both

tuggies thanked me for releasing.

In thinking more about the possibility of a gradual loss of engine power
(e.g.
throttle creep), I concluded it could perhaps be one of the trickier
things

for Joe Glider Pilot to detect should it happen (say) before or
immediately

after becoming airborne. Never happened to me, but there's good reasons
for

mentally preparing for how to recognize and deal with "the abbie-normal
on-tow
possibilities."

Bob W.

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 11:30:05 AM UTC-4, firsys wrote:
So there are tuggles (new word) who are insensitive
to change in engine note and do not monitor the tach!
No surprise, unfortunately.

The other possibility is that we (mostly) have tow pilots with enough grit that they don't wave off or release at the first hiccup. This has been my experience.

T8

At the risk of thread drift, I would like to make a related point:

When the climb fails to materialize as you expect, take a peek at your
wing to see if your airbrakes are open.

Added that one to my list after an SMLG adventure by "a person I know"...


On 23/10/2014 17:41, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 9:41:57 AM UTC-5, son_of_flubber wrote:
It would be useful to hear your stories of how incidents of tow plane engine failure turned out for you. It seems that there is very little time to recognize, react, and recover. What are classic mistakes to make in this scenario?

Would it be useful to practice 'release and land to the side of the tow plane path' (and have the tow plane fly a normal departure of course)? Any other recommended training exercises?

Your training should have covered these eventualities before your checkride..

As a glider pilot, I've had a towplane run out of fuel (at top of tow - we both released at the same time, rope never recovered), towplanes abort takeoff due to canopy door slamming open on ground (Pawnee), and at least one PTT (not towplane related). All were interesting but well within what was covered by my training.

From the towplane perspective, I've briefed and given sumulated emergencies to student glider pilots - such as briefing the glider pilot to slowly extend his divebrakes (at a safe altitude), note the difference in climb, then watch for my rudder waggle signal to close them. I've also done practice engine failure on tow (again, prebriefed) by slowly retarding the throttle at the top of the tow, and giving the waveoff wing rock to the glider, so the glider experiences the sensation of the tow losing power, and sees the "release now" signal.

If you are properly trained, have a plan, and pay attention, there is always plenty of time to take the correct action. If you are not sure you are ready, I suggest some practice scenarios with a cooperative tow pilot and instructor.

Kirk
66

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 9:39:53 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Thursday, October 23, 2014 11:30:05 AM UTC-4, firsys wrote:
So there are tuggles (new word) who are insensitive
to change in engine note and do not monitor the tach!
No surprise, unfortunately.

The other possibility is that we (mostly) have tow pilots with enough grit that they don't wave off or release at the first hiccup. This has been my experience.

T8

That "grit" is often an inability to make a timely decision.

A true, recent incident illustrates the point:

Tug (C-182) loaded to gross with survival gear, full fuel and two aboard attempts to tow a heavy glider with two aboard from a high density altitude airport with no off-field landing options. The takeoff runway is 7,700 feet long but uphill and downwind.

The tow barely misses the REIL lights on the departure end and then begins a descent down a dry wash toward a river. No wing wave is given and the glider does not release. Finally, with no option left except landing in swift, white water, the glider pilot sees a patch of unimproved desert slightly above him and releases. He uses his airspeed to gain just enough height to make a safe landing atop a small mesa ~ 500 feet below runway elevation. The tug takes several minutes to gain enough height to land back on the runway.

So, what went wrong? The tug had a problem developing full power. Probably a muffler baffle had come adrift partially blocking the exhaust - something hard to pick up on a run up. All have been tight lipped about the postmortem.

The decision to make the takeoff in the first place is questionable. The tug had not been test flown that day which, had that been done, would have likely revealed the problem. In any event a C-182 should not have full tanks for towing so the 'test flight' should have lasted long enough to burn off excess fuel.

The tug pilot should have released the rope while the glider still had room to stop on the runway when it became clear the takeoff roll was WAY too long. The glider pilot should have released while still rolling for the same reason. Once past the departure end, neither pilot had any real options until the patch of desert atop the mesa became available.

I always suggest selecting a "GO - NO GO" point on the runway where the glider can still release and stop if the takeoff is not going well. Had the glider pilot done this, he would have stopped at the downwind end of the runway so successive tows could have been downhill and into the wind. The tug pilot would have probably detected the lack of power and retired the tug until the problem was corrected.

On Thursday, October 23, 2014 12:38:09 PM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:
On Thursday, October 23, 2014 9:39:53 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Thursday, October 23, 2014 11:30:05 AM UTC-4, firsys wrote:
So there are tuggles (new word) who are insensitive
to change in engine note and do not monitor the tach!
No surprise, unfortunately.

The other possibility is that we (mostly) have tow pilots with enough grit that they don't wave off or release at the first hiccup. This has been my experience.

T8

That "grit" is often an inability to make a timely decision.

Happily, that isn't *my* 28 years of experience. Yours may vary.


A true, recent incident illustrates the point:

Tug (C-182) loaded to gross with survival gear, full fuel and two aboard attempts to tow a heavy glider with two aboard from a high density altitude airport with no off-field landing options. The takeoff runway is 7,700 feet long but uphill and downwind.

It illustrates something, alright, but it isn't relevant here.

T8