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Letter to the FAA



 
 
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  #11  
Old May 24th 17, 06:57 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
PGS
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Default Letter to the FAA

I completely agree with gregg...

  #12  
Old May 24th 17, 11:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default Letter to the FAA

Have to agree with Burt here. Please don't write that letter.
  #13  
Old May 24th 17, 11:34 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Sean Fidler
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Default Letter to the FAA

Walt, don't do it.
  #14  
Old May 25th 17, 12:03 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dan Daly[_2_]
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Default Letter to the FAA

On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 6:34:10 PM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
Walt, don't do it.


I believe the FES (Discus 2, Lak-17B, Lak-19, Ventus 2 and 3) gliders only have C of G hooks, and they take tows... It would be a pity to exclude them from the sport in the US; they are a stepping-stone to electric self-launch for us all once the batteries get better.
  #15  
Old May 25th 17, 02:22 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
son_of_flubber
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Default Letter to the FAA

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 8:43:10 PM UTC-4, Walt Connelly wrote:

I currently have a number of highly experienced pilots from all levels
of aviation in agreement with me and willing to help me in this cause.


Write the letter that presents your case with evidence. Get your supporters to sign it. Send it to everyone who aerotows gliders in the USA (both tug pilots and club officers). Ask them to add their names to the letter for a second mailing. Follow up with a phone call to determine who is still using Schweitzer tug hooks.

We have everything to gain when the USA Soaring Community steps up and self-regulates. We have a lot to lose if the FAA decides to step up regulation of soaring.

It is ultimately the Tug Pilot's responsibility to determine the suitability and airworthiness of their plane and tow hook. Tug pilots should decline to tow if they're not happy with the equipment or the pilot on either end of the tow rope.
  #16  
Old May 25th 17, 03:42 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default Letter to the FAA

Isn't there a tow hook available that releases the glider automatically if the angle goes over a certain degree when a glider gets well out of position? Makes sense to me that if the glider pilot cannot control their ship to the point where the tow pilot has run out of elevator control, that they are then immediately disconnected.

Perhaps this would be a better alternative than trying to create more rules..

If you do write the letter, I'd also like to add an earmark to this letter, that towplanes be IFR rated with turbine engines, Heads up Displays, Garmin G-1000's, autopilots, and smoke systems (to allow other aircraft to see them easily when they are descending back to the gliderport), .......🙄 This should be MANDATORY!!

Or maybe just start winch launching and auto launching like the rest of the world does!
  #17  
Old May 25th 17, 12:51 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
John Godfrey (QT)[_2_]
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Default Letter to the FAA

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 8:43:10 PM UTC-4, Walt Connelly wrote:
Before I send my letter to the FAA I'd like to ask if anyone has ever
attempted to get them to see the light and end the use of Schweizer
hooks on tow planes here in the land of the free and the home of the
brave. It is a well known fact and clearly stated in the SSA/SSF and
FAA circulars and literature that under certain conditions (the exact
condition that the tow pilot will need to release) that it can be near
impossible to release the glider. Tow planes have crashed, lives have
been lost and at the same time everyone knows that this is a dangerous
situation.

Along with the conversion to Tost hooks I'd like to see it made
mandatory that the release handles be up high, near the throttle and
quickly available to the tow pilot with adequate mechanical advantage. I
can assure you that one does not have the time to go ducking and
reaching and feeling for a handle down on the floor of a Pawnee while
the glider kites in back of you.

The idea of requiring nose hooks on all gliders does not seem to be
feasible although it has been brought up to me as something that needs
to be addressed. My understanding is that the CG hook is meant for
ground/winch launch operations, however I have probably done thousands
of CG hook aero tows with no problem. For the most part these are ships
being flown by the best and most aware pilots. I'd like more input from
experience pilots on this point.

I currently have a number of highly experienced pilots from all levels
of aviation in agreement with me and willing to help me in this cause.


If one life is saved as a result of this endeavor then it will be well
worth it.

Walt Connelly




--
Walt Connelly


I also agree with Burt.
  #18  
Old May 25th 17, 01:13 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
WB
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Default Letter to the FAA

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:28:04 PM UTC-5, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas wrote:
Walt,

Please don't write a letter to the FAA.
I understand your good intentions and valid points but asking the FAA to condemn Schweizer releases and make Tost tow release installations mandatory may ground 90% of our towplanes if and when the design and installation engineering is approved for our many different towplanes.



I have been arguing with my club leadership for a while now that we should install a Tost hook on our Pawnee. That said, I absolutely agree with Burt on this. We already have enough mandates and plenty of people both outside and inside aviation who want ever more regulation. The "straw that broke the camel's back" and the "death of a thousand cuts" are real things. Please don't ask for more regulation! Education and rational persuasion are how things are (should be) done in a free society.

Sincerely,

Wallace Berry
WB
  #19  
Old May 25th 17, 02:09 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected][_2_]
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Default Letter to the FAA

Self-regulation is a really good idea. So, Wallace and Burt (and the
others), how many of your tugs have Schweizer releases? What plans do
you have for replacing them with Tost - or, at least, inverting them?

In your own time, without FAA mandates, without bureaucratic
interference, without your tugs being grounded, during the slack season,
of your own 'self-regulating' free will?

No dates even pencilled in? Better write that letter, Walt.
--
GC

On 25/05/2017 22:13, WB wrote:
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:28:04 PM UTC-5, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas wrote:
Walt,

Please don't write a letter to the FAA.
I understand your good intentions and valid points but asking the FAA to condemn Schweizer releases and make Tost tow release installations mandatory may ground 90% of our towplanes if and when the design and installation engineering is approved for our many different towplanes.



I have been arguing with my club leadership for a while now that we should install a Tost hook on our Pawnee. That said, I absolutely agree with Burt on this. We already have enough mandates and plenty of people both outside and inside aviation who want ever more regulation. The "straw that broke the camel's back" and the "death of a thousand cuts" are real things. Please don't ask for more regulation! Education and rational persuasion are how things are (should be) done in a free society.

Sincerely,

Wallace Berry
WB



  #20  
Old May 25th 17, 02:14 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Jonathan St. Cloud
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Default Letter to the FAA

Gee, what could go wrong by asking the FAA to get involved...remember the whole Bob Hoover saga?


On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 5:13:03 AM UTC-7, WB wrote:
On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 10:28:04 PM UTC-5, Burt Compton - Marfa Gliders, west Texas wrote:
Walt,

Please don't write a letter to the FAA.
I understand your good intentions and valid points but asking the FAA to condemn Schweizer releases and make Tost tow release installations mandatory may ground 90% of our towplanes if and when the design and installation engineering is approved for our many different towplanes.



I have been arguing with my club leadership for a while now that we should install a Tost hook on our Pawnee. That said, I absolutely agree with Burt on this. We already have enough mandates and plenty of people both outside and inside aviation who want ever more regulation. The "straw that broke the camel's back" and the "death of a thousand cuts" are real things. Please don't ask for more regulation! Education and rational persuasion are how things are (should be) done in a free society.

Sincerely,

Wallace Berry
WB

 




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