Aerotowing in Arkansas

[ingrahal]

It's been a while since I have updated you folks on our efforts here in central Arkansas. Larry Young and I along with Keith Maddison have been trying to raise interest in Aerotowing by establishing a monthly Aerotow with our Little Rock soaring club (F.A.S.T.). The club has a huge sod farm to fly from and so far it is going well. Last month I took my Decathlon and a couple of sailplanes and had my son towing. After he towed me a few times we had one taker fly a sailplane while quite a few others came out to watch. This month I took the same planes plus my 1/4 Scale Cherokee and had a power pilot from one of the local power clubs flying the tow plane all day. I was the only glider pilot this time but flew all three sailplanes multiple times and again we had a few spectators. I feel like we are making progress even though it's baby steps at this point. Sorry I've been so busy running the event that I haven't taken any photos. I'll have to enlist a photographer next time. We'll keep doing these monthly events and see how it goes.

Art

[JimD]

Art,

Good job! That is exactly how it is done!

Once those power guys find out that it is fun to tow, and that they get to fly a lot, you will have them asking how to build their own tow plane. Also, once they see that sailplanes can be successfully aero towed, some will consider building a sailplane for the first time just to get in on the fun. Three guys with Easy Gliders can keep a tow pilot busy and there will be smiles all around. Doesn't have to be expensive...but from there, some will want to go bigger and scale.

Congratulations, and keep up the good work!

[Snatch]

Art, drag a couple of guys to GA next month for the SERA event, JimD is coming down all the way from Cumberland!

[ingrahal]

Thanks for the invite Snatch but I won't be able to make that one. I am going to try to make it to the Horizon, Clover Creek and the Mickey Sullivan events this year though.

[lenb]

Nice work Art,

Take pictures of the tow pilot and the glider pilots and post them here, then tell them where to go to see the pictures. Seeing themselves posted on a forum will also generate interest. Plus they will have access to others here with encouragement.

I feel an aerotow in AR is in the future!!!

[ingrahal]

Great suggestion Len. I'll make pictures a priority next month.

[Asher Carmichael]

Art,
Great to see you guys are pushing ahead. I also agree with you that Len's idea of photo ops just might be a good way to generate further interest and camaraderie. Besides, we all would like to see what you guys are up to as well!

[Xroadie]

That's only one state away from me

Pete

[ingrahal]

I didn't realize you were in St Louis. Only 6 hrs from Searcy where I live and 7 from Little Rock. You are certainly welcome to come fly with us anytime but at this point the participation level just isn't there. If the monthly events get better it might be worth your time. I'll keep everyone posted on our progress.

[tenore]

Here are a few pictures of Art's planes in the air. Proof that my feeble efforts to get him airborne and at altitude were fairly successful. I was a little apprehensive about doing the towing, but Art was very supportive. I did discover I need better eyes, but my perception might improve with some practice.

[tenore]

I don't know what the yellow plane is, but I believe the other three are Art's 1/4 scale Hall Cherokee. Towing that up made my knees quiver.

[lenb]

[QUOTE I did discover I need better eyes, but my perception might improve with some practice.[/QUOTE]


Ahh , now for the secret, its not that you need better eyes, you need bigger planes!!!!


Len

[ingrahal]

Now the truth finally comes out. The reason Len flies an 8 meter plane.....he can't see a 4 meter one!!!

You did a great job H.D. thanks for posting the pics.

[ARUP]

I love that Cherokee! Great job towing, too! I agree with Len... maybe an Arkansas Aerotow is in the future?

[ingrahal]

I just wanted to update this thread since we had another successful event last weekend. We successfully maidened the club DG-808s. It's a 4 m w/s from FlyFly Hobby. There is a build thread in the Scale Sailplanes forum. We not only flew it several times but a club member brought out a Thermik XL that he added a tow release to and flew it several times. Another member has ordered a H9 Valiant to build as a tow plane. So we are making progress. It's still baby steps but they are in the right direction. I'm hoping those that took pics will post them here for all to see.

[lenb]

Hey Art,
Thats great news. You guys are really starting to build!! The Valiant will be a good tug, we have one around here being built up into a tug also.

Thanks for the update and for spearheading the drive.

You da man.

Len

[ingrahal]

Thanks Len, I'm pretty happy with our progress. Everyone involved seems to enjoy themselves so it's a positive experience each time we do it. It will probably be a couple months before we do another one due to the summer heat here. Temps are pushing 100 deg. now and that takes the fun out of anything.

[ingrahal]

Here is a video of our best flight.

A couple more tows.

And some pics.