On Friday, August 5, 2022 at 8:20:19 AM UTC-4, DWhite wrote:
I recently volunteered to update our club’s towpilot manual. One thing I would like to add is a section on kiting. Specifically for this group, what does it feel like, look like, how did the controls feel, etc? I had an incident several years ago
where the glider kited just at liftoff but recovered quickly. I recall a couple of seconds of “What the hell!” before getting things under control again. I know some of you have had similar or worse experiences. If you could share them, along with
any techniques, advice, or other wisdom, I would be most appreciative. (Our club flies Pawnees wth Tost hooks and the release is just forward of the throttle.)
Well you have cleared the first hurdle by having a Tost system with the release up near the throttle. When I suggested this several years ago, many on this site lost their s—t. While there is NO perfect system this is preferable to many I’ve seen.
Well done.
My first experience with a kite was during a pattern tow at approximately 700 feet. I had just flown thru a thermal bump and then the glider experience the same thermal, he went with it climbing significantly above the tow plane. I could feel the nose
go down, the tail go up and I ducked down in the cockpit and had to look up into the top of the mirror to see the glider. All I could see was the bottom, no visual on the canopy so he could not have seen me. I put my hand on the release and as I began
to pull he descended rapidly and off to my left. When he got back to my altitude he was flying probably 30 degrees off to my left and pulled my tail hard to the left. I heard a loud harmonic from the tow plane as it almost went sideways. I maintained
control and got him to the release point. When I landed I told his instructor that was the worst tow I had experienced and the student and I needed to talk. I asked him to tell me about the tow and he thought I was going to fly UP to him. An amazing
response considering he was an experienced commercial power pilot. I asked him why he didn’t release and got a blank stare. This was a rather slow kite and as I later learned, they are not all slow.
I experienced two very violent kiting situations, one at altitude and one down low, probably not more than 350 feet. You might hear that you need 800 feet to recover from such an event, that was fortunately not my experience. In the low event I found
myself nose down probably 60 degrees or more and turned 90 degrees to the left at full throttle in the wink of an eye. You will find yourself being knocked around violently in the cockpit. I dove for the handle (down on the floor) which was improperly
installed and would not provide sufficient mechanical advantage as it did not release. I retarded the throttle and made another stab at the release, no luck but fortunately the rope broke. I recovered at or below treetop level, a learning experience
for sure. A poorly trained 15 year old female whose lights were on but nobody was home was behind me. It was her third solo of the day, she had trouble staying in the mirror, was over controlling and on the third solo she was far to my right and out of
the mirror. Her instructor was a former “world aerobatic champion.” Proof positive that not everyone who is good at something will be a good teacher. A subsequent check of her online social profile indicated to me someone who had emotional
problems. Management’s attitude was that they were not going to tell someone who wanted to continue to try that they could not. Some people just need to be told no sometimes.
The tow pilot must not become complacent, easy to do after thousands of tows without a significant event but remember, it’s the last one that kills you.
Learn to evaluate every pilot you tow, know the squirrels and make sure they understand that their one job is to keep their eyes on the tow plane. Ask new students who have had a few lessons what the most important thing they can do on tow might be?
Ask directly what they should do if they lose sight of the tow plane. If they don’t know, if they hesitate there is something deficient in their training. Most instructors just TELL the student, “if we lose sight of the tow plane, we release.”
There is a difference between TELLING and TEACHING.
I was a classroom teacher at the NSA (4 months, hated it) in KL7 operation and Cryptographic Account Management. One lesson I found necessary to drive home was to insure the crypto courier pouch was turned inside out after it was emptied. Some
students felt it was perfectly adequate to just LOOK inside to make sure all classified information was removed. Invariably someone in a practice inventory of pouch contents would say “there is no inventory sheet.” It was left in the pouch, had
they followed procedures they would have found it. Leaving high level classified material in a courier pouch and have it compromised will get you a big time visit to the round bar hotel unless you are Hillary Clinton.
Be cognizant of the MUCH older pilots, yes many are excellent but mentation slows as we age, reaction time slows, it’s an inevitability. Be aware of new and older pilots whose skill levels are unknown, ask questions, when was the last time you took a
tow? A pilot that shows up at a commercial operation with their own glider should be evaluated by the chief instructor before they get a solo tow. At least one pattern tow should be required or NO TOW FOR YOU.. I am NOT talking about the Kilo Sierras
or the Delta Bravos of the world, they are well know and trusted, I’m talking about the guy no one has heard of. The tow pilot will be among the first to know when a glider pilot should hang it up. If club or commercial operator management is
unaware, make them aware.
And finally regarding pilot types, INSTRUCTOR pilots can F00k up too. The last two fatalities in the USA that I am aware of were precipitated by INSTRUCTOR pilots who violated the never take your eyes off the tow plane rule. At Byron the instructor
reached for the opened canopy instead of concentrating on flying the glider, directly causing the crash and tow pilot death. At Front Royal, Virginia the instructor was distracted by the GoPro camera contributing to the death of the tow pilot.
At the moment of great stress, and I would describe a low, violent kiting incident as a moment of great stress your body will release catecholamines which can cause someone with a compromised cardiovascular system to have a myocardial infarction commonly
known as a heart attack. Many pilots might be walking around with such a compromised condition, I’ve seen it happen many times. An older tow pilot with a compromised CV system might not be able to take a catecholamine response further exacerbating
the situation.
Tow Pilots must actively participate in all decisions regarding towing. If you see something isn’t right, call everything to a halt and make it right. The best time to stop a kite is before it happens.
Perhaps the most important piece of advice is to never give up, never stop trying to get control of the aircraft. When you give up you are dead and it just might be that last bit of input that saves your behind.
WALT CONNELLY
FORMER TOW PILOT
NOW HAPPY HELICOPTER PILOT.
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