Author Archives: Robin May

  Welcome to Peter Brown and Liam Bennett who have recently joined the tug team. Liam has done particularly well, aged 18 and still one of our cadets.

You will be pleased to learn YM is performing very well with her new propeller. Climb parameters 65/70, and descent parameters 100/2100, so very similar to the DR400s. The numbers are placarded and both ASI and Tachometer are now marked … Continued

YM has had a long awaited coat of new paint and completely used up Aidan’s considerable stock of red paint. But very nice and shiny it looks too. We have also invested in a new four blade propeller, an ITP … Continued

Congratulations to Richard Fay who has recently joined the tugging team.

You will be pleased to know that the risk assessment that you carry out before each tow that you do, has been formalised under BGA NCO.SPEC SAILPLANE TOWING, for use when towing with EASA aircraft. To help you remember the risk … Continued

During the winter presentation on the new website, it became obvious that the diagrams illustrating the tug taxi routes were less than clear. Rather than try and improve the diagrams (we will eventually), we thought a more practical approach might … Continued

Now is probably a good time to re-read the advice about icing (Carb Icing under the Aircraft tab). Here’s the summary for Carb Icing: Precautions to take Operate carb heat immediately after a cold engine start. Operate carb heat prior to … Continued

  Some awkward conditions recently have highlighted the need for us all to be more aware of tug take-off performance. One example; SW run on a frosty frozen surface produced quite decent performance but as the day went on the … Continued

Each tug is now equipped with a Fast Find 220 PLB. Let’s hope you never need it but is a very useful piece of kit should the unplanned event of having to use it arises. As part of the D.I. … Continued

A glider pilot should be able to identify the tug he or she is being towed by and hopefully the letters placed on the right flap should allow this. This in turn should facilitate communications where required. We should all … Continued