Accepting cable/rope at start.

On Sep 5, 11:33 am, wrote:
On Sep 5, 11:55 am, Ian wrote:



On 4 Sep, 20:55, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

The is related to the other thread on winch launch. I am a firm believer in
not accepting an aerotow rope or a winch cable until the pilot is completely
ready to fly. I teach my students the same.

As a learning routine, I will brief the line person to interrupt the student
pilot while he is doing the pre-flight checklist and agressively insist the
pilot accept the rope RIGHT NOW. If the student asserts his Pilot in
Command authority and tells the line person to back off until asked for the
rope, the student passes the test.

Is that aerotow or winch? I have flown at a couple of sites which
worked n+1 ropes with n tugs, so the pilot at the head of the queue
had a rope on an ready to be hooked to the tug as it lined up. It made
for a nice quick turnaround.

Ian

Ian I think Bill is talking about Aerotow, thats certainly what matt
and I are talking about. the method you mention would be fine with me,
as long as the rope isnt connected to the towplane until im ready. I
envision that your example was using a grid to launch, in which case
everything is ready ahead of time it seems. at our club the glider is
pulled onto the runway, pilot gets in, tug pulls out while pilot is
doing his checklist, rope hooks up, wing goes up and off they go.

Ideally, in a club environment, the pilot(s) is/are in the ready, in
the glider, then pulled onto the runway leaving only canopy,
airbrakes, and hookup. Hurried staging or leaving many tasks to be
done on the runway is often how pilots depart with, straps unfastened,
canopy unlatched, airbrakes unlocked, tail dolly on, O2 off, and in
one case I know of, lap strap fastened around gear retract, and
another, lap strap fastened around rear rudder pedal. Too often,
pilots start putting on their chute when the tow plane is already on
down wind.

Of course, if you have the luxury of many runways, you can tie one up
with staged gliders. Cindy B had a great video about this at the
Region 12 Safety Seminar last spring, but I don't find it on the web
anywhere.