A low tow has several uses.
1. It is easier to fly and hence less tiring for the glider pilot so useful on long level retrieves.
2. The Australians use it in preference to the normal tow (above the slipstream).
3. If the tug is towing two gliders at the same time then one above and one below is appropriate.
4. When training glider pilots to aerotow so they know how it feels flying up and down through the slipstream if they get out of position inadvertently (uncomfortable!)

Disadvantages:
Tug pilot has difficulty seeing a glider in low tow in mirror.
If glider releases in low tow then the rings on the end of the rope may smash the glider's canopy so the glider must climb above slipstream to normal tow to release.

You are assuming the load from the rope to the tug is much more than it really is. For example a 500 kg glider at 70 kts with a glide angle of 40:1 has relatively low drag. The glide angle is usually known at lift divided by drag so in this case the drag is 500/40 = 12.5 kg in level flight. If it is climbing then one has to add the load for the effort to pull a body up an inclined plane - not something for here.

If the glider is in normal tow above the slipstream, with the tug in trim, and the glider moves down to low tow then as it does so the combination will tend to speed up slightly (less pull on the rope) and then stabilise when the glider stops descending. The stick load difference in the tug, bearing in mind that there is about 50 metres of rope to the glider, is negligible and there is no need to retrim.

Mary will correct me if I'm wrong but the main reason low tow is taught afaik is for cablerelease malfunctions.
If the gliderpilot is unable to release the tow cable he will signal this to the towplane and assume low tow position. This will enable the tow pilot to take the tow combination back to the airfield and land in the safest way possible.
This enables the glider to land first, at which point the tow pilot can cut or release the cable and land ahead or go around.

BDM - not in the UK.

Why make it so complicated? Why not tow the glider to be within easy glide range and with the glider above the slip stream have the tug release the rope and let the glider land with the rope attached?

Interesting! I was not aware the procedure was that different in the UK. In Belgium the low tow and combined landing are the official procedure when the glider cannot release.
Though defintiely more complicated, the benefit is not having to land your glider with 60m of rope attached adding to drag and increasing the risk of the rope getting caught on obstacles.
I fly at a field surrounded by high trees, so that makes sense to me.
Thanks jim59 and 3wheels for teachin me something I did not know about gliding in the UK!
So is low tow taught to students on your end just to train piloting skills in aerotow like 'boxing the wake' etc.?

In Australia we used to be taught this (landing on tow) during ab-initio but it was discontinued as the training risk was perceived to be more than the risk of it actually being needed - it was quite difficult to do! It's a lot easier for the tug to release from high tow ("abnormal tow" to us!) and land with the rope dangling.

I believe that the reason we use low-tow downunder (and almost nowhere else, surprisingly) is that we had a double (triple?) fatality after the glider got too high and neither tug nor glider could release .. the low tow position gives both parties more opportunity to recognise the glider getting out of station and release in time.

Interestingly enough, after 30 years of towing in both low & high tow I find it is generally easier to teach in low tow as getting out of station is visually much more obvious.

And to contradict another comment made, my experience here in Australia has been that it's better to go to high tow for a long retrieve as it doesn't require as much effort, and it's also more efficient.

Interesting discussions, I have taught both low tow and high tow in a number of countries and used them both for valid reasons. I'm aware of the incident Australia had, but countries across the world had tug 'upsets' and more recently there was a fatal accident low down in low tow which has caused a rethink at one of the bigger Australian clubs.

Having done some long level aerotow retrieves towards the top end of the speed range, the low tow seems to keep the slack out of the rope more easily. The idea of landing on tow is something most countries have consigned to history, with the reliability of wheelbrakes, the risk is far higher than it needs to be if you needed to do it, and a mistake low down would not leave much room for error. In many countries you have a weak link at the glider and tug end of the rope, so even if you couldn't land with the rope on the glider, you could do a controlled break of that weak link. Saying that, chances of not being able to release are very low if everything has been done properly beforehand. Just my two cents

Planesandthings

Most clubs I’ve been to use weak links at both ends of the rope (about 20% stronger at the tug end), so add release mechanisms at each end and you’re pretty well covered. Exception being sites where the immediate land-out possibilities are bad enough that you’d rather overstress the structures than be exposed to a certain crash.

In the UK, yes, plus dual tows. As Jim says, standard practice for a failed release is for the tug to dump the glider with ample height for a circuit and landing. Tugs mostly land with the rope attached, so following that profile should see the rope clear of obstacles. Not that it matters that much as in the extremely unlikely event of it getting stuck it will break...

Go For It Jazzer 83!
 

Soaring is one of the more fulfilling events of a lifetime! From learning to "fly the box" behind one's tow plane to befriending and mimicking airborne hawks who silently and selflessly show the locations of the best thermals, the experience is quite literally breathtaking. One becomes united with the sky; there is only the comforting sound of the relative wind and the enduring hope that the variometer (vertical speed indicator) reads in positive territory.

I started soaring in 1983, six years after I acquired my PPL-SEL. My then lady friend and I were picnicking at the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Jackson, Mississippi, when one of these flew overhead at 100 feet:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....06532bb54a.jpg
A Blanik L-13 all-metal glider with forward-swept wings. I was hooked! I asked my companion where the aircraft was based and she said: "Oh, Sugah! Theyah's a glidin' club jus' down the road from heah!" (She was a native of Moss Point, Mississippi.) Less than a half-hour later, I was aloft and loving it. The Blanik, though a strong and forgiving plane, had the lift-drag ratio of a greased anvil when compared to my next ride, A Grob 103a-Twin II:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bf6ecc711d.jpg
This fiberglass beauty is a sports car of the air! One reclines in a nearly supine position; the streamlined canopy offers extraordinary views and the craft features a 36.5::1 glide ratio with a top speed of 160 m.p.h. Aerobatics are enjoyable, though one must get used to the extreme flexion of the high aspect ratio wings.

I belong to the largest club of its kind in the United States: Caesar Creek Soaring Club outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. A great group of people and a strong inventory of gliders. Caesar Creek Soaring Club

Should you or other of our PPRuNe brethren/sisteren be in my neck of the woods, let's go for it! (Steak and beer to follow...)

- Ed :ok:

Hello Broomstick Pilot, and the rest....I always understood that Australians did things backwards, like the low tow. Which calls for an interesting maneuver at the start of your takeoff; the glider would much rather follow the tug above the slipstream. To assume the low tow you have to dive through the wake. Fancy maneuvers low down have often led to bigger problems, so nearly all the tugging I ever did was UK regulation, above the wake, but RULE NUMBER ONE for the glider pilot was NEVER PULL UP THE TAIL OF THE TUG. Also, it is much easier to kill a tug pilot than a winch driver! Only once in my tugging career did a glider vanish on tow, I couldn't see him in the tug mirrors, so eventually figured he had pulled off gently, so I gently began a descent, and of course it was still there on the rope! he gave up just as it was getting interesting. Another time at Shenington, a K8 was hooked on for an airtow....that is, I assumed it had been hooked on..... Onlookers were greatly amused to watch me take off, glider left behind! I couldn't be quite sure that being a light weight K8 it wasn't still following....so towed the empty rope to 2,000' .
As far as dumping the rope, farmers tend to get irritated if you leave ropes lying around on the crops.

Hi Mary, yep the transition during the initial climb is an extra thing to manage I guess, but in my years of instructing it's never caused big issues and in fact can be virtually avoided by holding off the nose up rotation until the glider is in the low tow position. I guess ground effect helps cancel out the rolling effect.

To Mary and Everybody
 

Thanks Glider Pilots, one and all, for some EXTREMELY interesting responses to my question on low-tow. It's clearly a much bigger subject than I thought it was.

Broomstick.

Low tow on aerotow retrieves as it is easier simply because unlike a normal aerotow the tug is not climbing but is flying level.
This means it easier to accidentally get too high on a high tow position on such a retrieve as the tug is in a different position wrt the horizon than you are used to.
(UK based)

Stumbled across this thread and it could have been written for me! I am also 35 and think I would love to learn to glide. I have been up once before at Dunstable Downs - my dad was given a birthday present of a gliding experience there and the instructor very kindly took me up for a quick flight at the very end of the day. I loved it!

I've been looking for a hobby to occupy my weekends that doesn't involve drinking and does involve me learning something new and I remembered how much I enjoyed my first flight.

I have booked a one day course at LGC for 1st Dec (earliest they could do) and am very much looking forward to it. That said, I am wondering what the consensus is on learning to glide at either LGC or Booker - both are similar distances from me (Booker a bit closer, but not much in it), but from my reading so far it sounds like they are quite different. Interested to hear the views of those who are familiar with both!

Secondly, assuming I do wish to pursue this after the one day course (likely I think), is it realistic to go solo within a year or so assuming I can only get up there probably one or two weekends each month?

Thanks in advance!

Perfectly reasonable to get to solo standard in that time frame - probably much sooner if you commit your weekends for a while. The key to making good progress is to try and string a few weekends in decent weather together so that you don't regress too much between sessions.

Disclaimer: gliding often can & often does involve drinking .. only in the clubhouse afterwards though!

Hi Henwood
Not that familiar with either Dunstable or Booker, but the key difference between the two is that Dunstable offers both winch and aerotow launch facilities whereas Booker is to my knowledge aerotow only (winch cables are not happy bed-fellows with busy power airfields). So Dunstable will be cheaper when you're learning the circuit bashing and landing, as you're not forking out for an aerotow launch every time. That said, students who learn exclusively on aerotow tend to solo after fewer launches than those who learn via winch, as you get more stick time early in your training and you don't have to learn and practice all the winch launch failure scenarios. And both sites have interesting airspace constraints, so if you can cope with that at those sites you will never be intimidated by complex airspace at other sites. As for drinking, wot rich said. You can drink and fly, but you have to do them in the right order....

Henwood, I began gliding at Booker in 1983 at the age of 50....and have since flown over 3,000 hours in this and that, in the US, UK, Russia, and France and Spain! Grand for sightseeing. Booker was very busy in those days, and helicopters don't seem to mix very well with winch cables! which is the cheapest way of throwing a glider into the air. Dunstable has always been a gliding site, they are wise, and friendly. My club at Shenington would also be worth a visit, though not so . busy in the winter season, we are active on weekends with decent weather.
Dont try flying in fog, rain, or wind over 15 mph! When you decide to learn to fly, you will make a very intense study of the weather. My longest flight in a Pegasus glider, no engine at all at all, was 8 hours and 53 minutes, in the UK, in a competition; the task, from Husbands Bosworth was 500 kilometers. Both Dunstable and Shenington are located on hills, which if the wind is from the NW or West, work fairly well, providing rising air even in winter. Beginning on longer days in March, we fly 7 days a week, weather permitting. In summer weather, the strongest lift is found under cumulus clouds, which form over towns or hot fields facing the sun. Do you have family? teenagers learn to fly very quickly!

I agree about fog & rain, but wind over 15mph? Sites like PMK regularly fly in quite a bit more wind, how much more depending on the direction.

Thanks for the advice - will try and string a few weekends together to begin with! Good to know that going solo in that time isn't unrealistic too. Thank you!

Thanks very much for your responses everyone. Sounds like Dunstable is not a bad spot to learn for a number of reasons. I'll start there and see how I go.

No kids of my own just yet, but that also means that finances aren't too much of an issue either, so every cloud!

Now, Henwood, do let us know how you get on at Dunstable! That is a club which must have the longest gliding history in the UK. They were gliding there before WWII. I am told they used to tow the gliders back to the launchpoint with a horse! One thing, any of you folks intending to fly gliders, DRESS VERY WARMLY. Any airfield is open to the wind.
Our German friends still have the tradition of gliding before power, and I think this had something to do with restrictions enforced by the Allies after WWI. The best gliders on our Planet are designed and built in Germany.....

I will do, thank you Mary!

Hi Henwood

If you are online now 12.30 Sat 27th take a look at Flightradar24 and go just north of Worthing and you will see a whole string of gliders hill soaring which is not a bad why of learning.

Mike

May have been mentioned elsewhere, but a summary of pros & cons of taking up gliding:-

Pros - Great fun, very "team-spirited", great way to do lots of cheap flying, definately makes you a better pilot, lots of variety compared to GA flying.
Cons - Very time consuming (not family-friendly if you have young kids), even more Wx-dependant than VFR GA (perfectly good flying Wx can be crap Wx for gliding), some odd characters around & politics/arguments in clubs, can be cliquey.

I did it for a while as something different to do, enjoyed it and it made me a much better pilot, but in the end it wasn't compatible with family life and I came across a few weirdos (including one downright nasty bugger) which I became wary of. Went back to powered flying with a very different perspective. If you have the time, I'd do it.

I'm sorry to hear of that bad experience, in every area of Aviation there are odd characters and it's a shame you found that part in Gliding. Politics you'll find in any club environment, it's a given.

Just to put some points aside, Gliding in itself is not more weather dependant than VFR GA, thermal soaring may be, but that's not a huge problem for someone learning the basics. In fact for basic training, quite often poorer weather during the winter (strong winds, cloud below 1500ft) is made advantage of, and hence the recent publications by the Airprox board pointing this fact out of the wrong assumption of gliding only being a fair weather sport.

The issue of time comes up a lot, I'm not sure when you left the sport but many clubs (especially the larger ones) operate booking systems now similar to schools so you only have to be around for a morning or an afternoon, much less of this "hang around all day for 2 flights business", sure it's not a precise 1-2 hour slot, but you're not paying anywhere near the amount, so there has to be a compromise.

Looking forwards to hearing more from the OP.

I hate to say 1 weekend day a month will not allow sensible progress to be made. However with effort fast progress is possible. I have recently watched someone at my local club start from scratch, achieve his first solo within 3 months and then complete bronze and cross country endorsement, fly a K8 100km land tour the vintage gliding museum at Lasham, take a low aerotow and fly 100km home (in the K8), complete a first 300km flight and then 420km of a 500km attempt. Ab-initio to 420km in 11 months. Granted it has been a superb summer, but still not bad for someone in full time employment.

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and good advice.

I am starting with a one day course and will then probably be able to give it 1-2 weekends a month. Towards the middle of the year I may have time to do the five day course offered by the club. So hopefully my aim to go solo next year is not completely unrealistic.

Get Gliding!
 

Much like Jazzer83 I always wanted to fly but finances were an issue. Having been in the military I was fortunate to get a number of 'exciting' flights in all manner of fixed and rotary aircraft which made the urge stronger! I had numerous flights in PA28's and C42's etc but again costs precluded actually being able to afford regular lessons. Then of course what do you do when you're solo? Realistically I was not going to be able to afford a plane of my own, hangar it, maintain it and fuel it whilst getting signifcant use of it. Ultimately it'll be fun to take friends about for a bit till they get bored, then you're paying for all the flying. Of course syndicating is an option to make things affordable but that possibly presents its own problems. Are you flying to visit places or just flying to fly?

Cue Gliding.....

So I was in a position where I was fortunately within shouting distance of 5 gliding clubs. Having had a trial flight I was hooked and took advantage of a 30 day membership enabling me to fly at members rates.

Firstly I would say it takes a lot of commitment BUT if you're that interested it will be fun as you're indulging your passion. I generally try for a day a weekend. Most clubs rely on volunteers to function effectively, we have no paid members at my club! This enables costs to kept to a minimum.

So you'll pay an annual membership which is no more than a gym membership and you'll pay to fly. In most cases you'll pay a fee to launch and then pay per minute in the air. Instruction is free! I solo'd in a year and then migrated onto the club single seaters, I can then fly for £20 an hour! This year I achieved my silver duration which was a 5 hour plus flight. Of course its the norm for experienced hot ship pilots to exceed this regularly whilst task flying.

And I now own a 3rd share in an aircraft.......... yes a syndicate. Fortunately most gliding syndicates tend to work pretty well, members will grab an hour or two on a flying day or agree amongst themselves if one pilot is going to take the aircraft for a task. Fortunately this can be semi planned as there are specific forecasts which can give indicators as to what the 'day' will be like. A glider syndicate can be run very cheaply, ours will cost each of us circa £350 for the year not including launch fees. A winch launch can be had for a less £10 depending on the specific club.

If you really want to fly and want to challenge yourself try gliding, without a fan on the front to drag you around it really is you and nature!

Thanks szd - looking forward to my one day course on 1st Dec and will report back after that!

I did my first solo at 16 in a glider, at the end of a one week course... If I can, then anyone can!

My gliding experience consists of one short flight, at an "experience" evening for members of a power flying club. All good fun, but it pretty well lived up to the stereotype of an hour hanging around on the ground for each minute or two in the air.

What I wasn't expecting was that the cost - in terms of £ per minute in the air - was going to be pretty similar to power flying, rather than the several times cheaper that I had somehow expected after reading discussions like this one.

But, like I said, all good fun.

Experience evenings are just group trial lessons, they are run for the benefit of the club to create a bit of extra revenue. Gliding is only cheap when you become a member!

Presumably while you were an Air Cadet (or similar) Sam ?
Realistically nowadays nobody is going to solo after a 1 week gliding course (unless they have fairly significant previous flying experience).The old style Air Cadet courses were to get you solo and be awarded the A+B gliding certificate as quickly as possible.Civilian gliding clubs train you to a more advanced standard including how to stay up there using thermal/ridge/wave lift (depending on gliding club location)
The 'How long to solo' question is impossible to answer as there are too many variables.
My own gliding 'career' started off (like Sam ?) with the Air Cadets,I then had a long gap and eventually joined a civvy club and became a reasonable cross country pilot/glider owner.
Yes the first few months of glider flying will involve a lot of time at the airfield but as you gain hours/experience then it is possible to buy your own glider /or a share in a glider (as a syndicate member).
On a good gliding day you can have a cheap winch launch and then go and fly all day,on a reasonable day in the uk a 6 hour (or more) flight is quite normal,My longest flight in my old logbook is 6.5 hours off a winch launch (in wiltshire) - a 320 kilometre cross country.

It was certainly a long time ago, a Royal Navy Gliding Scholarship at Yeovilton…

And yes, from memory, a week of (very) local flights...

Mr Hogg perchance?

Well, they knew we were used to paying £3/minute, they probably thought we see £2.60 (or whatever it was) as cheap!

The way to make it really cheap is to go back after your winch launch trial lesson. The fee for the trial lesson includes a period of clubmembership, typically 2 or 3 months. If you go back, your winch launch is now circa 8 quid and you are more likely to get a longer flight if weather permits....tho, yes, you do get to push gliders around for the privilege.
if an aerotow is available, take it, the airtime goes up and chances of soaring increase and learning to fly it is fun!
give it a go!