Ken and Kris Tracy flying their Target. Winter days in Maine are very short. In just over three hours, they managed just over 2 dozen scooter tow flights to between 100 to almost 200 feet. Set up a spot later on and on most flights they were getting within thirty to forty feet of the spot after doing turns which involved challenging cross/tail wind components.
Not bad for hang 1's.
marc
Fairfield Saturday
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
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hang_pilot
- Posts: 662
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:13 pm
- Location: Tallahassee, FL
Fairfield Saturday
That's great!
Have you been able to teach pg and hg students in one lesson w. the scooter tow?
~Daniel
Have you been able to teach pg and hg students in one lesson w. the scooter tow?
~Daniel
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Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
Re: Fairfield Saturday
If you mean can I tow HG's and Pg's at the same time--yes, do it all the time. If you mean have I had a student who was trying to learn both at the same time--nope, that would likely cause confusion and overload.hang_pilot wrote:That's great!
Have you been able to teach pg and hg students in one lesson w. the scooter tow?
~Daniel
marc
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hang_pilot
- Posts: 662
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 11:13 pm
- Location: Tallahassee, FL
Re: Fairfield Saturday
Yes, the former not the latter. That strategy makes sense as a business model, capture a larger portion of the local market. I wonder if we'll see more of that in the future?Flying Lobster wrote:If you mean can I tow HG's and Pg's at the same time--yes, do it all the time. If you mean have I had a student who was trying to learn both at the same time--nope, that would likely cause confusion and overload.marc
~Daniel
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Flying Lobster
- Posts: 1042
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:17 pm
Lots of discussion about the virtues and shortcomings of scooter towing on the Oz Report in recent issues.
Many people misunderstand the utility of scooter towing. Large operations that use maximum numbers of pilots flown as a primary "business model" will likely not want to use a scooter tow. More powerful systems--and more operators available--might be better options because of their ability to pull a greater range of aircraft to greater heights.
However, for a single operator working with low numbers of beginning pilots, the scooter system is hard to beat. Because of its built-in automatic clutch which slips at high pressures (in other words, a built-in pressure limiter), the use of just the throttle allows an astute operator excellent tow pressure control over the entire flight--especially at the critical beginning phases. Lower cc's means smoother acceleration and easy "low altitude skimming" flights, especially when using gliders like the Condor. Students trained in this method will also tend to retain good foot-launch and landing skills. And, when they're ready, you can pull them just high enough to set up a standard approach.
So, for low/medium volume operations concentrating on training H/P 1's and 2's--the sooter tow is definitely a boon to training. I encourage anyone with further interest to contact Steve Wendt at Blue Sky--he and Tex built my system for me.
marc
Many people misunderstand the utility of scooter towing. Large operations that use maximum numbers of pilots flown as a primary "business model" will likely not want to use a scooter tow. More powerful systems--and more operators available--might be better options because of their ability to pull a greater range of aircraft to greater heights.
However, for a single operator working with low numbers of beginning pilots, the scooter system is hard to beat. Because of its built-in automatic clutch which slips at high pressures (in other words, a built-in pressure limiter), the use of just the throttle allows an astute operator excellent tow pressure control over the entire flight--especially at the critical beginning phases. Lower cc's means smoother acceleration and easy "low altitude skimming" flights, especially when using gliders like the Condor. Students trained in this method will also tend to retain good foot-launch and landing skills. And, when they're ready, you can pull them just high enough to set up a standard approach.
So, for low/medium volume operations concentrating on training H/P 1's and 2's--the sooter tow is definitely a boon to training. I encourage anyone with further interest to contact Steve Wendt at Blue Sky--he and Tex built my system for me.
marc