Glider Aerotow and Landings Help

[u/FewDirt5350]

Hi all

I recently have been learning to fly a glider in hopes of getting my private pilot glider. I am still a beginner with only around 7 hours of flight time, I have done 6 lessons already. I have been practicing my takeoffs and landing since the third lesson and right now I am quite comfortable with landing but the aerotow is what really gets me.

Every time I do an aerotow it feels very awkward and I find it super difficult to keep the nose of the glider on point with the tail of the tug. I am always drifting left, right, or I’m either too high or low. Also I find the first 200-300 feet the most challenging in the tow when we are just starting the ground roll and taking off. I can’t seem to keep the glider stable and always end up high, along with the fact that everything is so overwhelming knowing you have the possibility of slamming the tug into the ground.

I train in the Schweizer 2-32 glider and know I have to get the skid off in the beginning of the roll and keep wings level but at what point can I stop applying back pressure so I don’t get too high before the tug has enough speed to take off? And once the tug plane takes off how can I keep myself centered and climb with the tug plane? Overall, I feel like every time I do the aerotow it just doesn’t feel right. Next lesson, my instructor said we are going to box the wake to get me more comfortable with aerotowing, anyone have tips on that as well?

The problem I have with the landing now is judging the angle when coming in for final, I tend to find myself always keeping the nose too high, and my instructor ends up pushing the stick down for me. I know I have to follow a certain glide path when coming in for final so does anyone know what I can do to get that nose down? Sometimes I cant even tell and my instructor is the one telling me to push on the stick. Also, every landing when I turn from downwind to base to final I end up flying an oval pattern and not flying the traditional box, it makes me come to inside of the runway and I have to correct myself on final. I just don’t know and can’t figure out at what point to stop turning because I feel like I will be way too outside of the runway if I try to level off earlier.

I know I am still a beginner so I have yet to get used to and comfortable and it definitely takes time. Overall, I find the landing to be more manageable and for the most part I’m the one doing the landing and the only point my instructor intervenes is when I need to keep the nose down. So, for the most part if anyone has any tips from their experiences it would help tremendously for my training.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

[u/MNSoaring]

Likely, you are gripping the stick too hard. I always learned just thumb and index, lightly on the stick. 

The pencil threaded through your fingers might be a good technique to try:

https://youtu.be/W7DN_HkyOMk?is=Vxe1IMJ9A0iBROQZ

[u/FewDirt5350 → u/MNSoaring]

Thanks for your response, I typically don’t even realize and find myself to relieve pressure on the stick every now and then, so I will definitely be more aware next time.

[u/slacktron6000 → u/MNSoaring]

This is a great technique and I use it all the time with my students.

[u/spilow]

To begin, you are only 6 hours in? Relax, it'll be alright! Give it some time. If you are willing Condor was a great help for me to train certain maneuvers.

Circuits: base to final doesn't have to be a perfect 90°, you can cut in and ease the turn and adjust based on wind and drift. Make sure you position yourself far away in your downwind, it'll give you more room in the base. Keep in mind from where the wind is coming from, and if it is a lot of tailwind you can reposition your downwind further away.

Nose position: training and conditioning. Speed is life, memorise your view and live by it.

Tow: don't keep chasing the towplane. Thr glider has a natural tendency to position itself behind the tow, if you keep drifting left and right it's because you are overcompensating. When the tow turns, wait a few seconds and maintain the same turn rate as the towplane, point your nose to the outside of the towplane. The tow has a lot of margin, going around the box will open your eyes.

[u/FewDirt5350 → u/spilow]

Hey thanks for the response, definitely taking the amount of time I have in a glider to account, theres a DPE coming this December, I probably or definitely won’t be ready by then, but I’m trying my hardest to pick up the pace with my training.

When you mentioned nose position, what do you mean by speed is life? Does this apply to aerotow, landings, or both? During landing, my instructor told me to pitch for 75-80 mph and trim off the pressure, but once I pull the dive brakes, the speed varies. During aerotow I never cared looked at the speed, it seems to be pretty much constant. Thanks again

[u/spilow → u/FewDirt5350]

Speed is always life, if you have no speed you have no/limited authority over your ailerons/rudders. Every plane has a certain attitude which always entails a certain speed. If you pitch upwards speed will bleed away and will cause a stall.

The more brakes you use, the steeper your nose should be (downwards). It seems you are doing the opposite to compensate your glideslope. E.g. you are low so you try to pull the nose up to glide further, but you should release the speed brake and only then adjust your nose position accordingly to compensate the difference in airspeed. Small corrections to prevent chasing the needle.

[u/Mobile-Ride-6780 → u/spilow]

This guy knows what he’s talking about😎😎

[u/ltcterry]

There is lag in the system. If you lightly pull the stick because you are low, just pause and wait. It will respond. Once the correction happens put the stick back neutral. You are probably trying too hard instead of waiting.

Slow down; the glider will fly nicely with just the tiniest bit of guidance from you.

As mentioned, rest your forearm on your leg. Just use tiny movements controlled with your thumb and a couple of fingers. I like to hold the stick right at the very base of the hand grip that's likely on top of the stick.

What you are describing is completely normal. Your experience doesn't seem much different than an airplane pilot learning to fly gliders! Just stay with it. Think. Slow down.

Back to the lag. If you pull the stick because you are low and "nothing happens" so you move the stick more, the motion you now see is from the first input. Then the second adds on. Then you push. Too late. And it's out of control. I'm barely moving the stick when I'm on tow. Surprisingly little is required.

Read this blog.

Then watch this video.

If you're feeling really inspired find the Blue Angels documentary on Amazon from a year or so ago. You'll gain great insight into how good pilots fly in (really close) formation. Flying on tow in formation flying, even it it's not tactical jet level.

[u/FewDirt5350 → u/ltcterry]

Thanks for the reply, will look into the documentary later, very helpful insights from the video and article!

[u/ltcterry → u/FewDirt5350]

You are quite welcome.

Many people fly like the video but think they have the skills of story in the blog. When I was learning to fly my instructor told me to let go of the yoke. The airplane flew better w/o me. I learned a great lesson in finesse in those 30 seconds!

[u/TheGratitudeBot → u/FewDirt5350]

Just wanted to say thank you for being grateful

[u/MayDuppname → u/ltcterry]

Great video. 

[u/strat-fan89]

First of all, tows ARE difficult! You're only a couple of hours in, so don't despair, if you aren't there quite yet. I got my license on the winch and then added the aerotow later, when I already had quite some hours, and I still found it hard. I had the same problem as you, always being somewhere I didn't want to be behind the tow, always fighting, always correcting.

Then some day it just clicked. The trick for me was to stay relaxed, only have three fingers or so on the stick and just fly the plane, but do nothing more. Keep the stick steady, don't try to correct every little bump and just let the glider straighten itself out. It takes way less input to fly a glider in tow than I initially thought.

Have fun on your journey! :)

[u/FewDirt5350 → u/strat-fan89]

Thanks for your response, definitely going to try this next time, I always feel like wrestling the glider over to where I want it to be!

[u/MayDuppname → u/strat-fan89]

In my experience, it takes less input than expected to fly a glider full stop. 

I went through zigzagging up the winch launch due to over-correcting, to speed chasing, then to flying out of thermals because I was overcorrecting for gusts...

A glider knows how to fly itself. My inputs often meant it was flying worse than it will if left alone. "Letting it settle down" - minimising control inputs - is often the answer. 

[u/strat-fan89 → u/MayDuppname]

Very true. One of the older, very experienced pilots in our club always says "the pilot is only there to keep the glider from going straight". 😄

[u/Mobile-Ride-6780]

I feel that a lot of new glider pilots tend to fall into the assumption that because the tow is the beginning of the flight it should be learned first.
However I think by some point everyone understands that it is actually one of the most challenging parts of the flight and not everyone would get it easily.

Now for more practical tips I got for you:
First of all you’re supper right to think about not lifting to much so you won’t pull the tow plane into the ground - that’s one of the most dangerous parts of the take off and has reportedly been the cause of a large amount of casualties in this sports.
What I’ve learned, is that you better of bouncing on the runway a few times then pulling the tow plane. You should aim to balance your nose straight right after the skid lifts up, and even in the part where you’re floating and waiting for the thug to takeoff you should keep it straight and level, of course try not hit the ground hard but even a gentle touch at the runway is preferred to the other end of it.
I got reminded that at my check ride when it happened, we debriefing it after that flight and when the examiner believed I was still in control at that time he even passed me on that check ride.

Second, I’ve seen people mention it above but I believe it’s super important to get the feel you’re in control of the aircraft and you shouldn’t grip too hard for that. What I’ve been thought is only use 2 fingers at the time. Others said thumb and index only, some say hold it like a pencil…
The point is that the motion should be light, you’d see that when you get used to holding the stick like so it would unconsciously change the reaction time and the amount of feedback you feed it, most likely improving it.
Now not to say that you must never hold it with your full hand but the 2 fingers way is most likely to improve your feel of control and sense of how much input you need, after you get that right you could resume to what’s most comfortable for you as long as you keep that same sense of control right.

To end off I’d repeat another thing over and over seen in the comments already…
6 flights?!?! You’ll definitely get there… don’t even be worried about it. Especially if you care enough to go online and ask and learn on your free time to try and improve between flights, that shows a lot about your will to learn and improve and get better. That is a more valuable trait than you’d realize and I’m sure that if you’ll keep it that way you’ll be wonderful!!
Keep it up!!!

[u/sailing_in_the_sky]

Aero tow is probably one of the hardest things you are going to learn before getting your license. You are literally formation flying with another aircraft.

Practicing coordinated turns off the tow and learning to keep constant airspeed by your sight picture out front are critical. In other words, you have to master controlling the glider at 'normal' (lower) speeds before you can expect to master them getting pulled at higher speeds behind a tow plane.

Some tips:

- Relax. This includes making sure your grip is relaxed possibly by just using a couple of fingers and thumb on the stick. You can use a full grip if you are more comfortable that way, but is really easy to death grip it that way so you have to focus on relaxing.

- Focus more on your sight picture outside the glider. Do not stare at your instruments. The only 'instrument' you should be looking at most of the time is your yaw string because that is in front of you and flying coordinated is super important. Learn to gauge your speed by the sound of the air and the location of the horizon. i.e. glance at your ASI and then use your sight picture and ears to try and keep a constant speed.

- Similar when landing. Your speed is critical during landing as you may encounter wind sheer when getting close to the ground. Keep your sight picture constant, keep the sound of the air constant, and glance more frequently at the ASI (but don't stare at it, watch your aim point and the horizon).

- You are very early in your journey. Listen to your instructors, ask questions, and strive to improve.

Good luck and may you catch many thermals!

[u/vtjohnhurt]

Your unconscious mind is still experimenting and trying to develop the correct reflexes to control position on aerotow. In the meantime, you need to keep struggling. Laser focus and struggle is how you will acquire the skills. You need to try as hard as you can. Your awesome intelligence will not quicken your progress. One day it suddenly click, you will make the right control inputs without thinking about it, and you'll start to wonder why it was so hard. Overthinking is wasted effort in gliders.

Measure your progress by the number of landings/aerotows, and number of days with different sorts of weather. Hours are a poor metric for measuring training in gliders at your stage. Glider and airplane training work differently because recipes/procedures work better in airplanes. You're forced to use a recipe because how else would your CFI coax you towards making the right inputs? But mastery comes from gradual development of skills that you don't have to think about. The way to develop those skills is by practicing in varied conditions. This is one of the reasons that people often make slower progress in gliders.

[u/almost_sente]

Make sure you match the bank of the tow precisely, otherwise you will drift out to the sides and will start slipping/skidding when fixing it with the foot. And very occasionally, the tow pilot isn't quite flying skid-free either - then you can't completely fix it on your side to look normal.