Vacancy for tug pilot - unpaid.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 33
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From: West Midlands
Vacancy for tug pilot - unpaid.
Lasham Gliding Society has a vacancy for a summer season tug pilot. Requirements are: PPL, 100 hours power, Silver C, Current Medical. Previous tugging experience would be useful, but is not required. Aircraft types are Robin DR400, Piper Sup Cub and Pawnee. From 1st April to 30th September.
For further information contact [email protected] or PM me.
For further information contact [email protected] or PM me.
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 22
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From: Rome
I must say, you should at least offer something, even if your club has no great funds available.
What is the going rate for a tug pilot these days?
What is to stop these pilots getting some experience with you then moving onto a better club where they may actually be paid?
Come on, cough up!
What is the going rate for a tug pilot these days?
What is to stop these pilots getting some experience with you then moving onto a better club where they may actually be paid?
Come on, cough up!
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 434
Likes: 0
From: UK
Am sure a gliding club could afford to pay the pilot at least the minimum wage, NI contributions, SSP, holidays, etc. Providing, in return, the pilot could pay a nominal amount (say £80p/hr) for all the flying they'll get to do.
Do the maths folks...
Do the maths folks...
The Original Whirly
Joined: Feb 1999
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 4,327
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From: Belper, Derbyshire, UK
And think of all the money that the pilot would have to spend in order to get a CPL so that he/she could legally be paid....anything!!!! You can do this with a PPL, folks. 
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,547
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From: Dublin
Why would they want to pay a tug pilot, when there is a queue of people offering to do it unpaid? Only reason I can think of would be that the quality of the applicants would be too low, or their reliability too poor.
The savings can go back into the gliding club.
dp
The savings can go back into the gliding club.
dp
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,199
Likes: 3
From: Hunched over a keyboard
£90-100 per week, accommodation included, 5 day week (inc weekends, of course).
Contact Gordon Burkert (01789) 772606 or (07957) 587671 or [email protected]
(NB: I've no connection with the club other than having workmates who are club members)
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 22
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From: Rome
Squawk 2650: Most gliding clubs I have been to the tuggies dont get paid. They do it for hours, experience and just to help out. There is rarely a shortage!!
Really, then why is 172 driver advertising for a tug pilot?, why not just call any one of the willing volunteers.
Bidford Gliding club clearly offer some reward other than free flying, why not Lasham Gliding Society?
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 51
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From: East Anglia
This is fairly standard practice at the larger gliding clubs.
The successful applicant will get several hundred hours "free" flying over the season in return for their labour. Board and lodgings are usually included. You get to do hundreds and hundreds of takeoffs and landings (probably 6 or so an hour) and get to fly all sorts of interesting aeroplanes. Your stick and rudder skills will probably never be as good again!
300 hours x £80.00 hour = £24,000 free flying!
Dependant upon the weather, 300 hours could be very conservative - you may well get loads more........
The successful applicant will get several hundred hours "free" flying over the season in return for their labour. Board and lodgings are usually included. You get to do hundreds and hundreds of takeoffs and landings (probably 6 or so an hour) and get to fly all sorts of interesting aeroplanes. Your stick and rudder skills will probably never be as good again!
300 hours x £80.00 hour = £24,000 free flying!
Dependant upon the weather, 300 hours could be very conservative - you may well get loads more........
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,199
Likes: 3
From: Hunched over a keyboard
I appear to be in the minority here but I think that it's immoral for a gliding club to expect an "outsider" to fly the tug for free. After all, the club charge for a launch yet keep all the profits for themselves.
Bidford, for example, are doing the decent thing - you are more likely to get a loyal, professional performance from your tug pilot if you reward him for his efforts.
I appreciate that the flying is free - but to expect the tug driver to work for nothing stinks. It's almost as bad as Ryanair!
Bidford, for example, are doing the decent thing - you are more likely to get a loyal, professional performance from your tug pilot if you reward him for his efforts.
I appreciate that the flying is free - but to expect the tug driver to work for nothing stinks. It's almost as bad as Ryanair!
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 434
Likes: 0
From: UK
Tug pilots aren't expected to "work" for free...after all they're not paid and aren't usually employees, so (technically at least) they're not working. Many gliding clubs have members who're happy (keen!) to fly the tugs to keep their hand in anyway. There's no obligation for tug pilots to do what they do....gliding clubs don't go around PPL schools press-ganging wannabe airline pilots and forcing them to live in a caravan. What they do is to provide keen, enthusiastic, pilots with an opportunity to hour build at zero cost.
While tugging pilots often have the chance to fly in a variety of types, in varying conditions and have a chance to do interesting stuff like looking out of the window to see what's going on instead of concentrating on the needles and numbers on the gauges. This gives them a chance to extend their spacial awareness, develop mental models of what's going on around them (weather, traffic, zone and noise abatement wise) and build their ability to be flexible (quite annoying when a glider suddenly lands right where the tug pilot had chosen!). They get to do a high number of take-off and landings which gives them the opportunity to practice their skills (usually in front of an audience who're watching them too!). They also become an important part of the club and are valued/appreciated/slagged off something rotten (usually in good humour of course).
All great fun.
While tugging pilots often have the chance to fly in a variety of types, in varying conditions and have a chance to do interesting stuff like looking out of the window to see what's going on instead of concentrating on the needles and numbers on the gauges. This gives them a chance to extend their spacial awareness, develop mental models of what's going on around them (weather, traffic, zone and noise abatement wise) and build their ability to be flexible (quite annoying when a glider suddenly lands right where the tug pilot had chosen!). They get to do a high number of take-off and landings which gives them the opportunity to practice their skills (usually in front of an audience who're watching them too!). They also become an important part of the club and are valued/appreciated/slagged off something rotten (usually in good humour of course).
All great fun.
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: UK
I think that it's immoral for a gliding club to expect an "outsider" to fly the tug for free. After all, the club charge for a launch yet keep all the profits for themselves
Having one or more full-time tuggies is useful for a big club like Lasham in the summer as there's continuous demand from glider pilots that can't necessarily be filled just from the members' rota.
I rather like the gliding club culture in the UK - it's 99% volunteer labour and everything's done at cost.
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,901
Likes: 1
From: On the wireless...
I have had very polite comms with '172 driver' who clearly requires his tug pilots to hold the Silver C. Hundreds of hours powered flying from Lasham is no substitute. I have come across other gliding clubs whose tug pilots are not required to hold Silver C. How important do the rest of you think it is to hold Silver C? Having soloed in K13 what would I have to do to get Silver C to make me eligible for tug pilot?
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 164
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From: Witney
Desirability of having a silver C for a tuggie
a) you understand what's going on behind you (alarming at times!)
b)you understand where the lift should be and how to deliver the gliders to it(most important!)
c)you understand how a gliding club works (peculiar at times!)
How to get a Silver C
a) Go solo
b) Get your Bronze C =
50 flights or 10 hrs flying
2 x 30 min duration flights (winch launched) or 2 x 1 hour flights (aerotow)
Pass the theory exams
Get flying & field landings check by Full Cat instructor
c) Get your Cross Country Endorsement =
1 x 2 hr flight
1 x 1 hr flight
Field selection exercises
2 x field landings with instructor
plan navigation for 100 km XC flight & fly enough of it to show intructor that you know what you are up to.
d) Get your Silver C =
5 hour duration flight
1000 metre height gain
50 km cross country flight
The silver C qualifications can be done in any order or even all in one flight if you're very lucky with the weather,
or a couple of years (like wot I took) 
a) you understand what's going on behind you (alarming at times!)
b)you understand where the lift should be and how to deliver the gliders to it(most important!)
c)you understand how a gliding club works (peculiar at times!)
How to get a Silver C
a) Go solo
b) Get your Bronze C =
50 flights or 10 hrs flying
2 x 30 min duration flights (winch launched) or 2 x 1 hour flights (aerotow)
Pass the theory exams
Get flying & field landings check by Full Cat instructor
c) Get your Cross Country Endorsement =
1 x 2 hr flight
1 x 1 hr flight
Field selection exercises
2 x field landings with instructor
plan navigation for 100 km XC flight & fly enough of it to show intructor that you know what you are up to.
d) Get your Silver C =
5 hour duration flight
1000 metre height gain
50 km cross country flight
The silver C qualifications can be done in any order or even all in one flight if you're very lucky with the weather,
or a couple of years (like wot I took)