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#11
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we don't cut ours in half, we use the whole ball, drilling holes at the
"poles" to thread the safety link through, or higher up the rope above the "safety to rope" connection. The balls out here in the desert south west can last about 100 launches, landings are the roughest on it, dragging it over the ground at 60knts or less, we don't drop the rope on landing, but leave it attached to the tug and either back taxi if the landing was long, or just pull up for the next tow. What a difference a 5knt headwind makes on the landing distance required. BT "Mark James Boyd" wrote in message news:3fd4e9c8$1@darkstar... What is a wiffle ball made of and what size is it and how long do they last on the end of tow ropes? John Galloway It's a little hollow plastic ball about the size of an orange or softball which has a bunch of holes through it to make it even less aerodynamic. Kids buy them with a plastic bat and can hit the ball as hard as they want and it only goes about 5 feet (that's about 1.6 meters for you international chaps). Buy a set for your kids, and when they get tired of it, cut the balls in half and put them on the end of the tow rope. The bat is useless for the tow pilot, but I've seen instructors use them to help improve student progress ;-P They last I dunno, maybe hundreds of tows? I guess it depends on cement vs. dirt runways... |
#12
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John Galloway wrote in message ...
I have a vague recollection that a while back someone mentioned in passing that their club used a little drougue chute near the glider end of the aerotow rope to fly the rings higher during approach and landing. Does that ring any bells? If so I would appreciate some information - or did I just imagine it? You could use the wiffle balls, they are still manufactured, but here's what I've used when I ran out of wiffle balls; take your imported water bottle, like the 16oz size, not the liter size, and cut off the bottom half. Put the rope through the neck, and the tost rings will retract into the top of the bottle, preventing them from dragging down the runway. A proper water bottle will "fly" like the wiffle ball, and there's always a fresh supply around. Warn your friends with nose-pitot like libelle, no airspeed on tow. The ball or bottle will last forever on turf, one or two trips through the barbed wire fence, and for awhile on tarmac. There's also retractable towrope systems, with pros & cons. -Dan |
#13
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"W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.)." wrote in message ... I agree completely with David Starer about what pupils ought to do, and what to do about it if they don't. c. As soon as the cable is seen to release start the climbing turn, and look again to make sure it is safe to continue the turn. It is important that the turn is not started with the rope still attached (this has been known, tug pilots don't like it!). The BGA are now teaching instructors on Assistant Cat courses to climb away from the tug without turning. This was reported by someone at my club who did a course recently. Unfortunately I can't remember the reason for the change. Stephen |
#14
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Are you sure there has not been a misunderstanding?
Which club is this, where was the Assistant Cat course and who was the coach? For the U.K. the B.G.A. give advice to be found in "Laws and Rules for Glider Pilots" 14th edition June 2003: Under "Recommended Practices": "RP13. After releasing the cable, the glider should turn away so that the tug aircraft pilot can see clearly that the glider is free." If you can find out the reason given I should very much like to hear it, since it contradicts the BGA's own recommended practice published just 6 months ago. If there has been a change in doctrine since then I have not heard about it. Apart from other considerations, it is normal to release in order to join a thermal, failing to turn at once could easily lose you the thermal. W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.). Remove "ic" to reply. "Stephen Cook" ] wrote in message ... "W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.)." wrote in message ... I agree completely with David Starer about what pupils ought to do, and what to do about it if they don't. c. As soon as the cable is seen to release start the climbing turn, and look again to make sure it is safe to continue the turn. It is important that the turn is not started with the rope still attached (this has been known, tug pilots don't like it!). The BGA are now teaching instructors on Assistant Cat courses to climb away from the tug without turning. This was reported by someone at my club who did a course recently. Unfortunately I can't remember the reason for the change. Stephen |
#15
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Bill,
The emphasis of the exercise being taught is that it is not necessary to turn away from the tug. All that is required is to gently decelerate the glider by gently climbing the glider as the tug will accelerate away. This was demonstrated by both Dave Bullock and Simon Adlard on assistant cat courses at Bicester some 3 years ago. The emphasis on turning is not always practical particularly if one has been towed close to a ridge e.g. both aircraft would require to turn away from the ridge - if the glider remains straight on course the tug turning away will result in divergence of both rope and glider. Suggest that if you want to discuss this further that you should contact either of the National Coaches to determine the exact reasoning for this teaching. SRE Scotland & Borders |
#16
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"John Smith" wrote in message ... Bill, The emphasis of the exercise being taught is that it is not necessary to turn away from the tug. All that is required is to gently decelerate the glider by gently climbing the glider as the tug will accelerate away. This was demonstrated by both Dave Bullock and Simon Adlard on assistant cat courses at Bicester some 3 years ago. The emphasis on turning is not always practical particularly if one has been towed close to a ridge e.g. both aircraft would require to turn away from the ridge - if the glider remains straight on course the tug turning away will result in divergence of both rope and glider. Suggest that if you want to discuss this further that you should contact either of the National Coaches to determine the exact reasoning for this teaching. SRE Scotland & Borders Thanks for this John. I was going to get in touch with the person on the course before replying to Bill's post. If this has been the recommended method for three years why hasn't it reached the rest of us? Our Chief Flying Instructor makes an effort to get recently qualified instructors to pass on what they have learnt, but there should be a more direct route than this. This isn't the only change to instructional technique that I have found out about on the grapevine. Why isn't there an instructors newsletter? Stephen |
#17
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"John Smith" wrote in message ... Bill, The emphasis of the exercise being taught is that it is not necessary to turn away from the tug. All that is required is to gently decelerate the glider by gently climbing the glider as the tug will accelerate away. This was demonstrated by both Dave Bullock and Simon Adlard on assistant cat courses at Bicester some 3 years ago. The emphasis on turning is not always practical particularly if one has been towed close to a ridge e.g. both aircraft would require to turn away from the ridge Other situations also come to mind, for example, traffic or cloud clearance issues may make a turn a bad option. Also it should be stressed that turns after a waveoff depend on the situation; first, it is important to allow the towplane the most direct path to the runway (assume that he really has an emergency) and second, the glider itself may not want to turn away from the runway if it was a low waveoff. Vaughn |
#18
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The release without turning is not a recommended method as such and does =
not replace a (climbing?) turn where local club rules require that the = glider turn in a specific direction after tow. The aim , I believe, is = to show that a highly banked and fast climbing turn is not required as = it is this scenario that causes tug upsets when the glider pilot has not = ensured that the tow rope has actually released prior to initiating the = turn. As a tug pilot myself I know which method of release that I would = prefer particularly if the rope hangs up on the glider. If the club = rules specify a particular direction of turn this may be due to the = position of the mirror on the tug or for other similar visibility = reasons. This exercise shows that after the rope is released a gentle = climb is all that is required to achieve separation. It can be combined = with a turn in either direction. |
#19
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We don't teach climbing turns on release because of setting up the habit of
slowing down after the release. If the rope breaks, you need that airspeed to make the turn back to the field. If you get in the habit of climbing, you will always climb and slow down. Fred |
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