Rear View Mirror for Glider Towing

[D-EFOG]

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

[Pattiprof]

Hi,
I have a Maule M7 235 with the Tost system as well.
I currently do not tow anything because i use the plane just to do mountain flights. I took out my big RVM to have less drag…. If you want once i am back home in Italy i can send you the exact position where it was installed on the strut.
For the time being i can send these pics i took before dismounting it.

Let me know if this helps.
Ciao
Federico.

[D-EFOG]

Hi Federico,

thanks for response and the pictures!

Did you ever have a chance to check the rear view quality during flight as e.g. view angle and vibration (before you removed it) ?

Do you know if the bracket was bought from a supplier or is "Do-it-yourself" ?

Ciao, Stefan

[PCH]

I've towed gliders with a M-4. After not having much luck with mirrors, I mounted a rear facing camera blue toothed to the ipad on my panel. Just make sure that you don't end up with any time delay on what you are seeing on your screen.

[D-EFOG]

Thanks PCH,

camera we tried as well, but we have trouble with the brightness and pic resolution ...

[krautman67]

Hallo Stephan,

Eine gute Frage!

We have been towing with our M5 for 45 years. This aircraft was ordered with a tow hook and mirror, we are glider pilots in our family also.
The Maule dealer simply installed an automotive mirror on the left door back in 1976. It worked fine. I had to adjust the angle of the mirror upwards slightly and brace it with a small tube to dampen the vibration (photo) due to my brother and I being taller than our father. It was a flat non-convex mirror. The view through the tail and glider in tow was good, you only had to look around for the glider if the student flying it was in their first few flights and hanging by their shoulder harness.

I recently removed the mirror. I did a few updates to the M5, including a the new door latch system and a left swing-out window. The mirror was mounted to the bottom frame of the window, directly in the path of opening the window. I have not yet re-installed the mirror, but it will end up below the window frame, as close as possible to the pilots eye. Like you indicate, this is a must for proper field of view. Mounting the mirror to the wing strut is not an option.

I will fabricate a plate to mount the mirror and share with you. It is surprisingly difficult to find ANY kind of suitable mirror. None available for aviation use, and very few found in automotive vendors.

Carl


Photo:
[url=https://postimg.cc/zLLHCVPf][img]https://i.postimg.cc/zLLHCVPf/72-C7219- ... BFF7-C.jpg[/img][/url]

[D-EFOG]

Hi Carl,

this is a very interesting variant. Thanks for the detaills!

A little challenge for your new door design with swing window, same as for us ...

Vielen Dank erstmal!

regards, Stefan