Aero-towing

Just got back from an awesome experience. I drove to the town of Morton, Wa to try and receive my aero-tow rating. Its an 8 hour drive, but a beautiful one. The highway leading to town is located North of Mt. St. Helen’s and Mt. Adams, but just South of Mt. Rainier. The landscape is stunning.

Glider on the cart

I spent three mornings fighting the weather to get some tows in and every afternoon soaring the local hill; Dog Mountain. Because of the weather, I didn’t think I would achieve my goal for the trip which wasn’t just to get my rating, but to be comfortable pro-towing my T2.

Mike in the tug

By my last day, I had only had three tows on the Falcon and this day the weather was looking worst than any other. Eric was optimistic so he pulled the tug out and I decided to set up the T2. By the time we were ready, the wind had died, but the ceiling was still only about 600′. Good enough.

A local soaring

I got into position and Mike who was managing the cart gave the signal to go. I left the cart and began to follow the tug into the sky. It was awesome. All my anxiety left me and I was enjoying towing the T2 more than the Falcon. I released and headed to the airport to do it all over again.

The next tow went smoothly also, so on my third tow we decided it would be appropriate to try pro-towing. I lifted off the cart and to my surprise enjoyed this style even more. The glider handled great and I towed up into the clouds getting rained on before releasing.

After three very successful tows, conditions changed and we decided it was time to soar Dog. Tom Pierce came out and the four of us flew around for an hour and a half before landing and finishing the day with a nice barbecue.

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