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#11
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Letter to the FAA
I completely agree with gregg...
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#12
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Letter to the FAA
Have to agree with Burt here. Please don't write that letter.
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#13
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Letter to the FAA
Walt, don't do it.
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#14
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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