TOW LAUNCHING FAQ
Click on your specific question or
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Can anyone get
towed on any canopy?
What are the tow lines made of?
How do you attach to the tow line?
Can you reverse launch?
What is lockout?
How fast are you towed?
How long does the runway have to be?
How high can you be towed to?
Why bother getting a tow?
Q.
Can anyone get towed on any canopy?
A tow rating is a separate qualification to hill
launching. XClent tow club generally launch high performance paragliders by
using a purpose made winch. The critical bit is that the driver of the winch
doesn't put more of a load on the glider than is recommended by the glider manufacturer.
Most gliders are normally rated to 100kg tow weights. The tow line has weak
links in it which will break before the glider is over-stressed . Some canopies
can be towed by a jeep type vehicle but these canopies (accuracy canopies or
squares) are more like a free fall parachute than a high performance paraglider.
The winch is much smoother and the driver has more control over the tow speed.
Q. What are the
tow lines made of?
Most tow lines are steel cable You can use Kevlar
but a different guillotine design compared to steel cable type is needed to
cut it.
Q. How do you
attach to the tow line?
The towline attaches to a tow yoke. There are several
types but the most common is a webbing type material with carabinas on each
end which secure it to the paraglider at the bottom of the risers. In the middle
of the tow yoke is the release mechanism so the pilot can release himself from
the tow line at any time. The release is accomplished by pulling on a cord or
plastic cable which opens up the device holding the tow line. Spinaker releases
and 3 ring circus are common release mechanisms.
Q. Can you reverse
launch?
Yes.
The usual way is to radio the winchman an tell him of your intention. He will
then take up the slack gently and wait for the wing to inflate. Once you have
turned to face forward another radio call to the winchman will tell him to go
all out. If it's particularly windy there is the danger of lifting off immediately
on popping the wing up, since if the slack has been taken up you can't move
towards the wing to damp the inflation. Once you are off the ground in this
situation the line will twist you round and if the winchman hasn't started to
pull you in there is the possibility of getting dumped onto the deck. Looks
very untidy and normally ends up with the wing in a heap and having to sort
it all out again and thus slowing up the procedings. The picture on the right
nearly demonstrates this but I recovered it and didn't quite touch the floor.
You can see the position my legs are in as I swing round underneath the wing.
The skills of the winchman are tested with these type of launches as he can
only see the wing and has to work out for himself what's going on.
Q. What is lockout?
When going up the line, it is imperative that you
do the "noddy dog routine". As you get higher there is a distinct
possibility that the wind direction will change slightly or that you will be
pulled through a thermal. As this happens the wing will turn away from the winch.
If you don't watch what the wing is doing, this turning will eventually result
in a lockout as a direct result of being pulled through the air. The wing will
be so far off the 90 degree angle to the winch you won't be able to get it back
on course. Think of a kite when it turns over in the air and heads for the ground
in a strong wind. The only way the pilot can get out of a lockout is to get
off the tow line. But since he/she would be struggling with the brakes and worrying
about how hard they are going to hit the deck, there won't be much time to find
the release. A good winch driver will save the day by cutting the line and allowing
the pilot to recover the wing and then release the tow line. An even
better winch driver will see the pilot
flying off course and will reduce the power. When the wing comes back on course
he will apply the power again.
Q. How fast are
you towed?
Towing speed of the vehicle or winch is irrelevant.
It is the airspeed of the glider that dictates the speed of the winch/vehicle.
Think of flying a kite. If the wind is strong enough, the kite will lift into
the air without you having to move. There have been cases where the wind has
increased during a launch and the winchman has had to payout line because the
glider was going backwards.
Q. How long
does the runway/field have to be?
The length of runway/field depends on the length
of the cable.
Q. How high can
you be towed to?
Typical release height is anything up to 1000' for
most tow operations. I have been towed to 1400 feet above ground level and from
this height I have been able to find lift in a thermal which took me to much
greater heights. In England we can only tow to heights as set down by the Civil
Aviation Authority. 1000 feet is typical but some clubs do go higher. It is
possible to get a higher launch by turning around when at the top of the tow
and flying back downwind still attached to the line. You then turn back into
wind and the winchman pulls you higher still. The obvious danger here is not
turning the correct way when turning back! The technique is called step towing
but very few clubs actually put it into practice.
Q. Why bother
getting a tow?
Even though there are hills where I live, most of
the surrounding airspace is restricted due to London Heathrow airport. So to
fly nearby, away from restricted airspace, I had to learn to tow. It is an excellent
method to get airborne. If there is no prevailing wind on a hill a paraglider
pilot has to time his launch perfectly to catch the thermal as it floats up
the hill. If he misses it he has a long walk back up again unless he side lands.
If the wind is too strong due to compression effects at the top of a hill he
still can't launch because it's too windy. Paragliders have a fairly small flight
envelope with respect to airspeed. A 10 mph wind on flat ground might get increased
to 30 mph at the top of a hill which is too strong. So the answer is to tow
launch, catch a good thermal because you have time to find one on your way down
from 1000' and then fly over to where the hills are and laugh at all the non
tow pilots sitting on the hill waiting for the correct wind conditions to appear.
Alpine set up for most tow launch flights. The winch
is the dot in the distance. Once in the air all you have to do is maintain direction.
This can only be done by constantly nodding your head back and forth, looking
alternately at the tow vehicle and your wing. Brakes are only used for directional
control with a performance glider.
Back to launch
page
Yes.
The usual way is to radio the winchman an tell him of your intention. He will
then take up the slack gently and wait for the wing to inflate. Once you have
turned to face forward another radio call to the winchman will tell him to go
all out. If it's particularly windy there is the danger of lifting off immediately
on popping the wing up, since if the slack has been taken up you can't move
towards the wing to damp the inflation. Once you are off the ground in this
situation the line will twist you round and if the winchman hasn't started to
pull you in there is the possibility of getting dumped onto the deck. Looks
very untidy and normally ends up with the wing in a heap and having to sort
it all out again and thus slowing up the procedings. The picture on the right
nearly demonstrates this but I recovered it and didn't quite touch the floor.
You can see the position my legs are in as I swing round underneath the wing.
The skills of the winchman are tested with these type of launches as he can
only see the wing and has to work out for himself what's going on.
