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.

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!

On Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 5:03:38 PM UTC-6, Dan Daly wrote:
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.

One clarification on this subject...When the the LAK-17B is modified with the FES the nose hook is replaced with a hook that is quite far forward (and just back from the FES nose cone). It is definitely not a CG hook...I believe Schempp-Hirth is also building their FES equipped gliders with a similar positioning of the tow hook. Thx - Renny

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.

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.

What a lot of people obviously do not realize is that there are some applications where ONLY a Schweizer (not "Schweitzer") release is FAA approved. Getting authorization for a Tost may not be so easy.

And, yes, asking the FAA for advice can have very negative results. The owners Centrair Pegase 101 gliders were hit with an AD that limited them to a 3,000 hour life because of a "question" posed by a potential buyer. It took nine years of effort to get that resolved. (Sort of resolved, anyway.)

Yep you want to really make things better, start getting STCs for Tost hook installations. Then people don't have to shop mechanics and fsdo's to get 337's approved.

The potential for very bad unintended consequences resulting from your well meaning contact with the FAA is large enough to ask you to re-think contacting them.

SF and Burt are right - there is not a lot of knowledge on the FAA regulatory side about soaring so the opportunity for unintended consequences is large.

Let's fix the problem internally. Let's demand and expect higher proficiency on areotow, up our game as a sport with a focus on safety overall, provide clear expectations for pilot performance, provide high quality instruction, manage the risk through evidence based interventions/procedures and educate/empower/protect our tow-pilots rather than treating them as expendable or a necessary evil.

Checklists - canopies, spoilers!

If you fly a single place ship and only fly with a CFI-G the minimum amount "required" - go fly with an instructor, box the wake and so on - get some objective perspective on your flying and work on the fundamentals.

Ask Burt to do a site visit and seriously consider his input.

Question the "that's the way we've always done it" or the "back in the old days" mentality.

I'd never tow with anything other than a Tost hook, btw.

Fly safe!

Tom

There are reports of "unexpected release" and "failure to release" for the Tost release as well, how do the two compare? Anything mechanical is prone to failure so to say the Schweizer is worse than any other release without some type of statistical analysis is kind of meaningless.


On Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 5:43:10 PM UTC-7, 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