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The Towing Contract
The other day I had an opportunity to tow for a small club way up North, in my old neighborhood, and because the towing was done in a Super Cub, I just could not say no to an opportunity to fly that great little plane. Part of the day’s activity was to reposition a glider via aero tow. I have towed gliders cross country many time, so I had no problem with the assignment. Before takeoff, the glider pilot and I had a review of the flight plan, what route to take, communication, procedures etc. We agreed on a plan which basically called to fly from A to B, climb to 5,000 feet, level out and head straight to the destination airport. The glider pilot stated to me that he would be moving into the “low tow” position, just as soon as he felt comfortable to do so. I agreed, and we got going. All went well, after takeoff the glider moved into the low tow position, which meant for me that he would be out of sight.
At 5,000 feet, the Cub was only climbing at two or three hundred feet a minute, we leveled out. Of course, part of leveling off was also easing back on the throttle; because the Cub, equipped with a climb prop would quickly exceed the RPM redline. All appeard to be fine, I was still adjusting to the new cruise when suddenly the tail of the cub was yanked up so violently, I thought the angels caught me on their fishing lines, and I found myself looking straight at the ground. Before I really understood what was going on and before I could react, the pull suddenly let go, and all was back to normal, except I knew that the piece of fiberglass that I was towing was no longer attached to the end of the rope.
As soon as I was in control of the situation again, I called for the glider pilot. He sounded OK on the radio, babbled something about not sure if he could make it to our destination airport, but we both made it. Once on the ground, we quickly discovered that the tow rope failed at the glider hookup point. I asked the glider pilot what happened, and to my surprise his reply was: “I don’t know! Suddenly I could not see you, and before I knew what’s going on the tow rope failed. I have no idea what went wrong!”
Keep in mind; he was in a low tow position when the “event” occurred. He shot from a low tow position through the prop wash to a position above the tow plane until the rope snapped.
This was kind of a strange response, but to be honest, I did not think too much about it, and just thought, things happen. A glider with a flying tail, CG hook, falling asleep (just kidding) or maybe he reached for something and before he knew it he lost control. It’s probably just a tiny screw up.
That evening, after a day or great soaring, I was to tow that same pilot back to the original airport. We discussed the route again, same idea, climb to 5,000 feet, level off and he would release just as soon as he felt comfortable that he could make the home field. At 5,000 feet I called him on the radio, advised him that I would level out and maintain the agreed towing speed. Yes, you guessed right, just like this morning, the same thing happened again, glider ballooned upwards, yanked my tail up, but this time the glider pilot released before things got out of hand. My thoughts were: “WTF!”
This time we turned back to the departing airport, and once back on the ground I asked the glider pilot what was happening but I got the same answer. According to him, he suddenly ballooned upwards, but this time he was ready to react and released. But still, he did not know why he lost control of the glider.
This was starting to worry me. One incident, I can live with that. But the same thing again? That was strange. In any case, we decided to let things be for now, and maybe tow the glider home the next day.
So, what do you think happened? I really don’t know, except that this particular sailplane has a CG hook, and what may have happened is that when we leveled out, a slack rope developed, and when the rope tightened again it yanked the glider into a nose up position which was not aggressively corrected.
Here is what goes through my mind. At 5,000 feet ASL, we were at least 1,000 feet AGL, I was never in a dangerous position. I had plenty of time to release. But what would happen if for some reason the same situation develops at below 500 feet AGL? This thought worries me just a bit. The fact that the event occurred again in the evening appears to point out that there is an issue, and that the pilot may not be completely current in dealing with unusual situations.
Here is the bottom line: When you, the glider pilot, and I, the tow pilot, tie a knot, meaning we are connected with a tow rope, we have entered into an unwritten contract that we can’t ever break. The substance of this contract is simple and basically says I keep you alive, and you keep me alive. More specifically here are the terms:
“I, the tow pilot, promise that I have checked out the tow plane, it has sufficient fuel on board, and the plane is air worthy. I have also done everything I can to be up to date on any procedure to conduct a safe operation and I have taken every step necessary to safely tow you to the requested altitude and location.”
“You, the glider pilot, promise that you have done everything you can to be current on any procedure and maneuver to safely stay behind me. You are familiar with slack rope and you know how to deal with it. You are ready to deal with any unforeseen emergency, including releasing if the situation requires this. You are intimately familiar with your glider and all its unusual quirks and you know how to deal with those quirks. You have taken every step to ensure that your glider is properly assembled and you will not endanger my life.”
This is our contract and let us both not forget that! The fact is, in case of a screw up at low altitude, it is very likely I will end up dead. (Case in point, recent accident in Oregon.)
I love to tow, I always have fun doing it, and as long as you and I are doing all we can to keep it save, we will be OK. But if you are negligible, and you screw up and kill me, I will haunt you the rest of your live, don’t forget that!
Joe Cool
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