Rear View Mirror for Glider Towing
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2023 8:44 am
Hi,
my name is Stefan Henkel and I'm a member of the Aero-Club Rhein-Nahe close to Wiesbaden, Germany. In this club we use a Maule MT7-235 mainly for glider towing with a Cp. Tost system with an electrical winch.
After the towing operation we easily can control the correct rope retraction by a sensor indication light in the cockpit, this system is highly reliable.
However we also need to control during the towing flight operation the line alignment, movement and position of the glider in order to interrupt the rope connection immediately if any uncertainty in the flight behavior will appear in order to avoid a fatal situation.
Usually towing planes have a rear view mirror (RVM) close to the pilot's eyes on the top of the plane to have a quite wide angle overview to the rear. Also some have a mirror mounted on the wing struts, mostly focussed on the tail to control the correct rope retraction after towing (what we don't need necessarily due to the sensor indication), but sometimes also to control the complete rear situation, however with some compromise on the visual range due the the distance from the eyes.
I "googled" some samples from European owners and will contact them, but I also want to ask if anybody in this forum has experience about where to get an appropriate mirror and where and how to mount it to the plane ....
Thanks for any support if possible
my name is Stefan Henkel and I'm a member of the Aero-Club Rhein-Nahe close to Wiesbaden, Germany. In this club we use a Maule MT7-235 mainly for glider towing with a Cp. Tost system with an electrical winch.
After the towing operation we easily can control the correct rope retraction by a sensor indication light in the cockpit, this system is highly reliable.
However we also need to control during the towing flight operation the line alignment, movement and position of the glider in order to interrupt the rope connection immediately if any uncertainty in the flight behavior will appear in order to avoid a fatal situation.
Usually towing planes have a rear view mirror (RVM) close to the pilot's eyes on the top of the plane to have a quite wide angle overview to the rear. Also some have a mirror mounted on the wing struts, mostly focussed on the tail to control the correct rope retraction after towing (what we don't need necessarily due to the sensor indication), but sometimes also to control the complete rear situation, however with some compromise on the visual range due the the distance from the eyes.
I "googled" some samples from European owners and will contact them, but I also want to ask if anybody in this forum has experience about where to get an appropriate mirror and where and how to mount it to the plane ....
Thanks for any support if possible