Green Landings Scooter Tow

[Spark]

I tried the scooter tow today at Green Landings, a grass-strip airport near Hedgesville, WV.

The runway is 2800' long, and is used mainly by ultralight aircraft who need less than half the runway. After meeting with the owner and discussing protocol, I set up on the upwind (S) half of the runway and laid out about 1200' of line.

I parked the truck at the S end and attached the sturdy steel 'pulley extender' that Shawn recently made for me. It fits into the receiver hitch of the truck and allows the pulley to stay about 6 feet in the air and 6' behind the truck. This allows the line to be lifted during tow, and reduces wear. Conditions were ideal, with winds from nil to light S.

Jimmy Long (long-time HG pilot and Sport pilot/ultralight instructor/examiner) served as a pilot/towee. The airport owner observed with interest. Jimmy did really well. These were his first flights in over a year and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about scooter towing. We towed both low (student tow) and high (pilot tow).

During the morning. we made ten tows. Around noon, the west winds kicked in and I headed home to pack for the trip to FL.

I plan to look at a few other scooter tow sites. This one is very nice for training/student tows, so I plan to return.

While at Green Landings, I got a call from Shawn who reported perfect conditions at the Pulpit.

I hope everyone got the airtime they wanted today.

'Spark