Thoughts on Glider towing...

will_fly_for_bandwith

will_fly_for_bandwith

Well-Known Member
I may have an opportunity to tow gliders for a local club.. One catch.. I need 25 tail wheel hours. At the moment I have 0. I calculate that to get my endorsement and the 25 hours will take $2500. Should I just put that money towards my IR (I have about 200 hr TT at the moment) or do the tow ??
 
will_fly_for_bandwith said:
I may have an opportunity to tow gliders for a local club.. One catch.. I need 25 tail wheel hours. At the moment I have 0. I calculate that to get my endorsement and the 25 hours will take $25000. Should I just put that money towards my IR (I have about 200 ht TT at the moment) or do the tow ??
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Think maybe you have one to many zeros there? ;)
 
The instrument rating would be better for a career pilot, or to go places. Flying without the training wheel on the front will make you a better stick-and-rudder pilot. As will learning to glide, which you inevitably will do if you start towing.

25 Hours of tailwheel does however sound a little low for a Pawnee, what are they towing with? I'd be a little wary with less powerful airplanes. All it takes is for one snotty-nosed 14yo to get high on takeoff...
 
They do use piper Pawnee's there. They have a two seater Pawnee there so I suspect that for a while (50 tows) would be dual. I take your point about the 14 year old kid going too high on the climbout, I'm looking at my 15 yo play baseball on the Wii at the moment and it is freaking me out !!

I'm having a hard time justfying the cost.. I think that I'll do the IR.

If anyone is intrested it is just outside Portland OR
http://flywvsc.googlepages.com/
 
I am going to go the other way and say take the gliding job. If it gets you flying 500 hours a year, then you have won half the battle. It is a quicker step towards building time and you can always do the instrument rating later.
 
will_fly_for_bandwith said:
They do use piper Pawnee's there. They have a two seater Pawnee there so I suspect that for a while (50 tows) would be dual. I take your point about the 14 year old kid going too high on the climbout, I'm looking at my 15 yo play baseball on the Wii at the moment and it is freaking me out !!

I'm having a hard time justfying the cost.. I think that I'll do the IR.

If anyone is intrested it is just outside Portland OR
http://flywvsc.googlepages.com/
Click to expand...


I would be there in a heartbeat..... as I live in Eugene.... but I too don't have any tailwheel experience either. Do you know how much flying they anticipate doing in a month and what type of commitment they are looking for? It just may be worth the investment to get a tailwheel endorsement and whatnot.
 
I just did a glider ride this week in HI... it was freakin awesome! Flying was actually fun and exciting again. That being said the tow pilots were paid $30 for showing for the day and $15 a tow. You do the math on that one, purely from an investment point of view the IR would get you farther and a Commercial is worthless without the Instrument rating.

I just want to fly a glider again.
 
FlyOrDie said:
I just did a glider ride this week in HI... it was freakin awesome! Flying was actually fun and exciting again. That being said the tow pilots were paid $30 for showing for the day and $15 a tow. You do the math on that one, purely from an investment point of view the IR would get you farther and a Commercial is worthless without the Instrument rating.

I just want to fly a glider again.
Click to expand...
Not totally worthless.;)
 
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