Aerotow Technique Flapped gliders

On Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 6:15:05 AM UTC-8, Jock
Proudfoot wrote: In another thread
=20

When I started flying a 19meter Kestrel years ago (on aerotow) I
quickly fo=
und I could not reliably keep my wings level at the start of the
aerotow la=
unch if I looked straight ahead, because the ailerons were so
inneffective =
at low speed. So when we started to move, I looked directly left or
right t=
owards one wing, for the first few seconds. That made it much
easier to kee=
p the wings level, although it usually needed full aileron inputs
initially=
.. My tailwheel Kestrel would initially roll straight ahead wth the
tailwhe=
el on the ground, so there was no need to look ahead. It just
needed a few =
seconds to gain reasonable aileron effectiveness, then I could look
ahead a=
gain.

I to had a Kestrel 19 and never had a problem with aileron control. I
would start the launch with 1 stage land flap and negative flying
flap, until I had enough airspeed so I could select 0 flying flap. The
launch was always completed with at least 1 stage of land flap
otherwise you could not see the tug. The tuggie needed briefing on
the max speed with the land flap down, it was quite low.
We swapped the Kestrel for an ASW17, that was much easier. Full
negative flap gave good aileron control and enabled the stick to be
held on the back stop nailing the tailwheel on the ground, handy in
a crosswind. As soon as the tug wheels left the ground stick to
neutral and flap to neutral, airborne behind the tug, no sideways
drift. Both required a loop of paracord round the release and the
wrist. The ASW 17 technique works for the ASW20 as well.