Rudder waggle

Let's rephrase that..
Let's not do any "training" signals below 200ft
And if we are climbing safely and I cannot reach you on a radio, wait until
at least 200ft for the rudder waggle.
But if I'm below 200ft with a problem.. can't climb, got no power, and the
glider is the problem.. It's for real and you'll get the signal.

If I've got the problem, bad motor, flight control issue and I can't get you
to a safe altitude, you'll see the rope go slack.
I always hate the wing rock.. if I'm low and loosing power.. that's the last
thing I want to do.

BT


"jeplane" wrote in message
...
In any case, since you can't trust the glider pilot to correctly
interpret this signal, the policy to train tow pilots would be to NOT
give any signals below 200 feet.
Or back to what Todd Smith was saying. Nothing wrong with it.

Richard
Phoenix AZ

On Nov 18, 10:12 pm, "BT" wrote:
Let's rephrase that..
Let's not do any "training" signals below 200ft
And if we are climbing safely and I cannot reach you on a radio, wait until
at least 200ft for the rudder waggle.
But if I'm below 200ft with a problem.. can't climb, got no power, and the
glider is the problem.. It's for real and you'll get the signal.

If I've got the problem, bad motor, flight control issue and I can't get you
to a safe altitude, you'll see the rope go slack.
I always hate the wing rock.. if I'm low and loosing power.. that's the last
thing I want to do.


Yeah! What he said!

Pete
#309
"Former" Tow Pilot
Tugs: Most dangerous planes I've flown thanks to maintenance,
failures and STUDENT GLIDER PILOTS.

1. Back over the airport, try one last time to release
WITH SLACK IN THE ROPE. It worked for me when I was
about to land while being towed.

2. How many students in the US learn the signals only
from a book, and how many actually practice them?
We tell the tow pilot to give us the rudder waggle
at 1000ft agl and the wave off at the top of the tow.
Frequent practice is the answer.

At 15:12 19 November 2007, Cats wrote:


I was told that the tug takes you back to where you
can safely get
back to the field (quite possibly descending en-route),
and releases
you. You land normally but using a reference point
well inside the
field because of the tow rope dangling from the glider.

On Nov 18, 7:06 am, toad wrote:
Since the rudder waggle signal was brought up in another thread, I
have a few thoughts and would like to get other opinions. I am a
glider and tow pilot for my club, so I have thought these through from
both ends.

To start with, if the tow plane gives you a wave off signal, THERE IS
TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT ! If there was no time (30 sec or less to
disaster) the tow pilot will just pull their release. So any signal
that you get, you have enough time to carefully think. "What is that
signal; check spoilers or wave-off ?" Take 10 seconds and THINK !

On the tow-pilot side, assume that the glider pilot will most likely
release when you give the waggle, so don't waggle unless 1) you are
going to die soon, if the glider doesn't close the spoilers, or 2) the
glider is high enough and close enough to the airport to land with
full spoilers out.

If you have a radio, you could calmly call the glider and say "hey
glider, are your spoilers open ?" Don't say the word release, because
he might release. I still wouldn't do this close to the ground.

Todd Smith
3S

When you experience enough wave offs, you learn the signal. Years ago,
when flying at 29 Palms behind what I think was a 170, our tows only
went as high as the engine oil temperature would allow. Just wait for
the wings to rock and then release.

A comment regarding radios - using a radio would be nice but the
towplanes where I fly either don't have a radio or do not have them
turned on. In fact, I have never talked to a towpilot by radio in over
30 years of soaring!
Steve

wrote:
On Nov 18, 7:06 am, toad wrote:
Since the rudder waggle signal was brought up in another thread, I
have a few thoughts and would like to get other opinions. I am a
glider and tow pilot for my club, so I have thought these through from
both ends.

To start with, if the tow plane gives you a wave off signal, THERE IS
TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT ! If there was no time (30 sec or less to
disaster) the tow pilot will just pull their release. So any signal
that you get, you have enough time to carefully think. "What is that
signal; check spoilers or wave-off ?" Take 10 seconds and THINK !

On the tow-pilot side, assume that the glider pilot will most likely
release when you give the waggle, so don't waggle unless 1) you are
going to die soon, if the glider doesn't close the spoilers, or 2) the
glider is high enough and close enough to the airport to land with
full spoilers out.

If you have a radio, you could calmly call the glider and say "hey
glider, are your spoilers open ?" Don't say the word release, because
he might release. I still wouldn't do this close to the ground.

Todd Smith
3S

When you experience enough wave offs, you learn the signal. Years ago,
when flying at 29 Palms behind what I think was a 170, our tows only
went as high as the engine oil temperature would allow. Just wait for
the wings to rock and then release.



A comment regarding radios - using a radio would be nice but the
towplanes where I fly either don't have a radio or do not have them
turned on. In fact, I have never talked to a towpilot by radio in over
30 years of soaring!

That would never fly (ahem) with the glider pilots at Boulder. Just ask
anyone in radio range ;-)

Typical Boulder radio communication between Tuggie and Tugger:

"Could you go just a little to the north?"
"This cloud or the one that looks like a horse?"
"The Quarter horse or the Thoroughbred?"
"Oh, I see. I think it's an Arabian, is that really a Quarter horse?"
"No I used to breed Quarters..."

We got a radio frequency all our own recently :-)


Shawn