Aerotow on the South Downs

After I had completed my aerotow endorsement with FlyLight back in November, to say I was a little apprehensive about embarking on this activity again was an understatement! The night before the Southern Aerotow Group email banter confirmed the first aerotow session of the year, so in the morning, I loaded the car and headed to Plumpton in East Sussex.

I didn’t really know where I was headed but had a vague idea where the airfield was. With some luck and random navigation I ended up at the barn that housed the tug and aerotow launch trolley.

The first challenge was getting to the airfield. It involved a slippery muddy off-road track that led from the farm, up a hill into a field. Most cars are not designed for this and after several grounded out and got stuck, I decided to carry my glider rather than risk damage to the car.

Ozzie, the chief aerotow coach had broken his hand, so his presence was to train other pilots. There were plenty of trainees and they all looked apprehensive about the activity. After two demonstration tows, training began, some of which resulted in lockouts [the first that I had witnessed] and some interesting un-intentional acrobatic manoeuvres!

Eventually it was my turn to be aero-towed. Positioned on the launch trolley and ready to go, I was a little concerned about a mild tail wind that had developed. Aircraft are supposed to launch into wind! I decided to wait for the wind to drop a little, it did, but it was still tail when I called 'All Out'.

The trainees had been surprised, and to a certain extent, were not prepared for the initial acceleration of the tug. Much to the credit of FlyLight and my earlier training with them, this was expected and I quickly lifted off the launch trolley and into the sky. I was towing with my Kock release that had prematurely released several times during my aerotow training. I was concerned this would happen again, more so with the difficult landing options directly ahead of me! At 500 feet I began to relax and concentrated on keeping the tug in the correct position. Horizontal position wasn't a problem, but my height above the tug was a challenge as I found it difficult not to climb above it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the tug pilot waved me off and I released. I glanced at my vario and it read an altitude of 1,958 feet QFE and I yelped out a childish 'Woo Hoo'. To be almost 2,000 feet above the South Downs was a real experience and the views were simply amazing!

I then boated around the sky when my vario started to beep and I responded with a gentle 360. This continued until I was now at 2,200 feet QFE. As I looked down I could see another hang glider speeding to my position - I had marked a blue thermal with my orbits of it that had invited others to join me! It wasn't long before I lost it and realised I was a long way from the tow field. VG on, toes pointed, I started to glide upwind back to the tow field. Some minutes later I arrived with plenty of height and landed [it wasn’t my best; a severe wind gradient caught me out!].

After I touched down and parked my glider, I started to help out with launching and training. Before I knew it, it was my turn to launch again.

Back on the trolley, things had started to feel more familiar and I was determined to do a better job of maintaining the correct vertical position behind the tug. The wind had now swung around so that I would be launching into wind. The launch went well and even though my vertical position behind the tug still oscillated and I experienced high bar pressure, I did a far better job and maintained correct position. It wasn't perfect, but an improvement but my arms hurt, I didn’t recall it being this hard with FlyLight! I decided that I would increase the VG on my next tow!

Once released with the tug headed off on its downward journey, I boated around the sky and soaked up the amazing scenery beneath me! I didn’t concentrate on the flying as much as perhaps I should have, I just admired the view! This was probably a factor in why I didn't connect with any significant lift. After a brief search in the local vicinity, I gave up, turned tail and headed back to the airfield.

For my final landing, I started my approach too high and over shot the top of the hill. As I flew down the slope in ground effect, I had to aggressively flare, floating me higher than I would have liked. I expected the worst so held the flare and parachuted to the ground landing heavily on my feet. As I turned tail to return to the airfield I noticed another pilot embarked on the same landing technique. Unfortunately his flare was a little earlier than my own and I watched him float up, drop a wing, and thump down into the ground. End result, one bent upright!