Posted Sunday, October 18, 2009 @ 02:26 PM
Greetings:
On Aug. 23, one of the pilots I endorsed for towing crashed and died in Oregon flying his own Pawnee. Although Scott was a club member, he was towing at a field about 100 miles South of Portland and was not towing for our club. The aircraft was destroyed by fire. I am the Safety Officer for our soaring club (WVSC.org) and have done most of the tow pilot training, lots of glider training, SEL and I am the only CFI-G who gives Motor Glider Endorsements. In all of this flying, I consider glider towing the most dangerous. I have been totally upended in the tow plane and know how unbelievably fast it can happen. For many tow pilots a kitting event at low altitude in unrecoverable. Every time I launch in a glider, I realize that I am responsible for the tow pilot's life.
There are a few things that I wanted to share with the Forum as I think you will find it informative. I will provide much more information if you are interested, but I wanted to start with a link to some images at an album to give you some perspective.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Bomar1&target=PHOTO&id=5393988419957908658&aid=5393988412672268993&authkey=Gv1sRgCPuao-bH_7f-_wE&feat=email
Scott was towing a student flying a SGS-2-33.. it was the students second solo flight. The NTSB will have some results before long. In fact some of the data we are providing my be helpful in understanding the death/accident.
One of the tools that I have used recently is the NEWflyWithCE Flight Recorder
You can go to wings and wheels web site for more information on the Flight Recorder...
below is some of the information on the recorder:
Runs on (2) internal AAA Batteries, no cables, no mounts or additional hardware required!
FlyWithCE Flight Recorder advantages
Simple to use :With only one ON/OFF switch flyWithCE recorder is extremely easy to use. Few minutes before flight just turn on the device and when valid GPS position is detected Flight Recorder will start logging positions.
Small size: It is one of the smallest and lightest flight recorders on the market. With size of 70 mm x 37 mm x 24 mm can easily fit in your pocket.
Power independent :It is powered by two AAA size batteries or rechargeable batteries and will run for more than 8 hours on 1000 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries. With internal battery you will not be dependent on planes power supply.
Memory size :Flight Recorder can record more than 100 hours with 1 second interval rate (or 1200 hours with 12 second interval rate).
Software :Together with Flight Recorder you will also receive flyWithCE Logbook program, with which you will be able to download and view recorded flights.
Secure recorder :flyWithCE Flight Recorder will record signed flights that can be used for competitions like OLC (on-line championship).
I used one to obtain flight data during my tests, and I was quite impressed (it is about $ 100 dollars) ... not only can you follow the flight on Google Earth, you can do flight profiles, etc. The Alt. and Speed graphs are from this data... all free software. I think this is an invaluable tool for flying motor gliders.
