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How does an aerotow rope break in two places?



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 17th 18, 02:38 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
son_of_flubber
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?
  #2  
Old October 17th 18, 02:55 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Darryl Ramm
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 6:38:55 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?


Rope flailed itself off after it broke.
  #3  
Old October 17th 18, 07:52 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Heinz Gehlhaar
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 6:38:55 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?


Truly amazing! But would the gliderpilot not release the broken rope with its Toast-beginning, to prevent the remaining, but invisible rope from tangling into the flight controls (flaps, elevator, rudder).
Heinz
  #4  
Old October 17th 18, 03:34 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Dan Marotta
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

Heinz,

Do you know how much Tost rings cost?Â* At least 100 trillion Zimbabwe
dollars!

I once broke the rope on a ground launch while on a safari.Â* I elected
to keep the ring since I did not know if we had another one with us.Â*
When I landed, the wheel rolled over the rope and back released.Â* I
simply had to walk back and pick it up so we could reattach the ring to
the remaining rope.

I am now prepared for the inevitable flames.Â* Let it begin!

On 10/17/2018 12:52 AM, Heinz Gehlhaar wrote:
On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 6:38:55 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?

Truly amazing! But would the gliderpilot not release the broken rope with its Toast-beginning, to prevent the remaining, but invisible rope from tangling into the flight controls (flaps, elevator, rudder).
Heinz


--
Dan, 5J
  #5  
Old October 17th 18, 04:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

Must've been one of those rare actually legal tow ropes with a weak link at both ends.
  #6  
Old October 17th 18, 07:54 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
john firth
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 9:38:55 PM UTC-4, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?


Same reason a piece of spaghetti does that, maybe.
JMF
  #8  
Old October 18th 18, 06:06 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Steve Koerner
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 6:38:55 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?


That's an interesting puzzle. Here's one way of thinking about it that makes it seem possible...

Polymers are not purely elastic. They have a dynamic modulus. That is to say that stress and strain are not communicated instantaneously. There is effectively a time constant of propagation down the rope. So assuming that the tension in the rope is steeply rising before a break occurs, and assuming that the strength of the rope is pretty well balanced between the two ends; then as the weak end breaks first, the tension at the far end will still be rising for a short period of time while the message is in transit that the rope has already broken. During that propagation interval, the strong end breaks as well as it was only slightly stronger than the weak end. Or, in the limit, the two ends were busy breaking at the same time and neither end knew anything about the trouble at the other end of the rope since the two ends are isolated by the mechanism of the dynamic modulus.
  #9  
Old October 18th 18, 09:49 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
[email protected]
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

On Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 1:56:38 PM UTC-4, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Thursday, October 18, 2018 at 12:06:08 PM UTC-5, Steve Koerner wrote:
On Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 6:38:55 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
True story. A couple years ago I ran the wing for a glider that aerotowed into rotor. The rope broke. Both aircraft and both tost rings made it back to the airfield. The rope broke at both ends.

How is that even possible?


That's an interesting puzzle. Here's one way of thinking about it that makes it seem possible...

Theory snipped...


Or, the tow pilot snagged it in the trees at the approach end of the runway.

Steve Leonard
Have seen and recovered more than one tow rope from the trees at the approach end of the field.


That was my guess.
UH
  #10  
Old October 19th 18, 12:25 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
SF
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Default How does an aerotow rope break in two places?

Its usually the simplest explanation that's correct. While I love the stress propagation delay theory for it's intellectual elegance, my money is on the towpilot snagged it on something.

SF
 




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