Accepting cable/rope at start.

wrote in message
ups.com...

Snipped good stuff

"Tow failure below 200 ft lower the nose and land ahead, above 200
lower the nose and land ahead or behind", is simple, brief and to the
point. If you are at 300 when the tow fails you CAN turn around but
you aren't pre-programmed to do so. You may have sufficient runway
remaining ahead or have a nice pasture off to the side.

Snipped still more good stuff.

Matt Michael


I would like to gently point out that in high density altitude situations
you may need quite a bit more than 200' AGL to get back to the runway on an
aero tow departure. 200 feet AGL is not a 'magic' number that assures a
safe return to the runway.

This past weekend flying from Salida, Colorado the density altitudes were
well above 10,000 feet each day. The climb gradient was so flat that you
were out of range until the tug made a turn back toward the airport which
meant that safe return required more than 500 feet AGL. Fortunately, there
were farm fields that could be used in an emergency.

This is in contrast to winch launch where the runway is always available.

Bill Daniels