http://www.ssa.org • August 2019 • Soaring 9Aerotow Wings-Level is the 8th in a
series of specifically sequenced lessons
designed to take glider-rating candi-
dates from having no flight experience
to making complete flights in a glider,
under benign weather conditions, in
simulation.
If I can manage to get caught up
on producing a corresponding study
guide for each of these lesson-related
articles, the study guide for Aerotow
Wings-Level will be available on the
corresponding lesson page of my web-
site, reachable via any web browser at
https://tinyurl.com/yxnj78xg.
The study guide is published as a
PDF document, allowing most web
browsers to open it directly with a single
left-click on the hyperlink Aerotow_
Wings_Level.pdf in the “Documents”
section of the lesson page.
Lesson Structure Overview
If you have been following this series
of articles, you may have noticed that
each lesson is structured using some
combination of common instructional
elements (e.g., learning objectives, les-
son structure, instructional resources,
illustrated lectures, animated demon-
strations, student performance/cri-
tique sessions, student practice exer-
cises, etc.).
Learning Objectives:
Aerotow Wings-Level
• Knowledge
o An understanding of the aero-
dynamics of formation flight
• Skill
o The ability to maintain proper
position on tow in a wings-level
attitudeLesson Structure: Aerotow Wings-Level
• Demonstration/Lecture – Wings-
Level Aerotow
o Exterior view
o Cockpit view
• Student Performance & Critique
• Student Solo (Independent
Practice)
The rest of this article describes in
greater detail the content and meth-
ods used in each of the instructional
segments outlined above, but before
diving into the weeds, these thoughts.
Note: Aerotowing in Condor is
more difficult than in real life. For
openers, the version of Condor I use
(V1.1.5) employs a 100 ft towrope.
Try that in real life and see how it af-
fects your ability to stay in position on
tow.
Condor also has a much more limit-
ed field of view than your natural field
of view, making detection of tow posi-
tion deviations more challenging.
The upside: If you can learn to stay
on tow in Condor, you will have littletrouble with the maneuver in the real
world. Any number of my past students
and their aircraft-based instructors
will support that assertion. I have had
several simulation-trained students fly
complete, unassisted aerotows on their
first real-life attempt.
Note: I simplify the introduction to
aerotowing by breaking the topic into
two lessons; Aerotow Wings-Level and
Aerotow While Turning. This allows
students to more easily develop the
fundamental skills required to main-
tain position on tow without initially
having to deal with the complications
of doing so while turning.
The same strategy could be used in
aircraft-based flight training by hav-
ing the tow pilot either fly directly and
continuously upwind, or fly a pattern
around the airport comprised of long,
straight legs with the student flying
the tow on the legs and the instructor
making the turns between legs.Demonstration – Wings-Level
Aerotow (Exterior view)
Leveraging the learning laws of Pri-
macy (first impression) and Intensity
(highly visual), I use a Condor Replay
(movie) to introduce the following as-
pects of the aerotow using a naturally-
more-intuitive view of the maneuver
from outside the formation.Aerotow as Formation Flight
Aerotow is a formation flight of two.
The tug flies “lead”; the glider flies “in
trail.” The two aircraft maintain a stat-
ic relative positioning (fly formation)
by matching their airspeeds, altitudes,
and rates of turn.
In a glider aerotow, using a rope en-
sures matching airspeeds. The respon-
sibility for matching altitude and rate
of turn falls to the glider pilot.Proper Positioning
Very early in the demonstration, I
pause the simulation to introduce and
discuss ideal positioning of the glider
on tow, moving the viewing camera
around to provide multiple perspec-
tives of the maneuver (Figures 2-3).Figure 1