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By dievhart
#1461
It's a winch tow with a turn point, you can hear the winch right next to him. It might even be Pat D.'s training operation.
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By PutMeInTheSky
#1480
That's pretty cool. What are the major differences between an aerotow experience and a winch or scooter tow? I mean, I think I understand the altitude limitations, there wouldn't be prop wash to consider, or the fact that you can really screw up the tow plane as well.

Is it a more laminar feel? Is it easier? Is it more difficult? Is it safer? Is it as fast?
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By Naranek
#1537
This is about towing with turn point becaus that's the only kind of towing I've done. With it you get up a lot quicker. I once maxed out my variometer in tow going up more than 10m/s. I think that an average tow to 400m lasts only about 2 minutes. The angle of attach might seem way too big at start, but that's just because the glider isn't going forward but up.

At first you have to pull in a little in case of rope breaking, but after you have some altitude you don't pull in at all, just let it rise in trim and of cource make corrections because of thermals and other bumps in the air. The bad side is that you have to find a thermal relatively quick and you have to start finding it low where they are smaller. Once you get up everything gets easier. I haven't aerotowed, so I can't say much about relative safety or difficulty. It's easy when you know how to do it. Too much tension on the towline makes it harder.