Jim Rooney <> writes:

"Scooter" Towing is on it's way to Highland Aerosports.

We were all sold on the Blue Sky Scooter Towing method the instant we tried it with Steve Wendt. Adam Elchin, principal here at Highland Aerosports, wanted an electric system (after dealing with too much maintenance on gasoline engines - like the Dragonflies), so he built his "scooter tow system" out of a golf cart motor. He designed the system to approximate a 50cc scooter. We haven't gone full tilt with it yet. Adam's going to continue refining the system over the winter, but it's working quite nicely right now.

In the end, it's the instructional methodology that really makes the difference. After all, a winch is just a winch. The Low/Slow techniques Steve Wendt teaches at Blue Sky Hang Gliding (not far from us) work exceptionally well. Initially, you don't pull students more than ten feet off the ground. Most of the time I barely let them leave the ground, if even at all. Once they're comfortable doing basically flat slope launches, I start picking them up, first just moon walking, then only  five feet.

Once they've gotten comfortable at five feet, I take them to ten. The difference between landing at five feet and ten is significant. Unlike on the training hill where "the top" is seen as a badge of honor and you wind up having to be the bad guy holding them back, with the winch, people are very happy to stay at five feet far longer. They don't want to be pulled higher till they're ready. It's quite refreshing to see this different attitude.

One of the most interesting advantages is the ability to end the flight (or not even start it). On the training hill, once the student starts, they must fly. If something gets a bit off, they must fix it. With the scooter, you don't give them enough to get off the ground until things are happy. If things go wrong, you chop the power and the flight ends.

This keeps people in a comfortable level at all times. The difference in their progress is quite remarkable.

It also makes for an excellent landing skill trainer. Again though, it's the methodology that makes all the difference (Repetition alone doesn't help since repeating the wrong things simply ingrains bad technique). With the winch, we're able to single out and focus attention on various aspects of the landing process and explore different landing techniques.

It's fun to watch the group of people form whenever we bring the winch out. Everyone comes out and has a blast. From students to H5's.

I'm very excited to see this come to Highland Aerosports. I look forward to seeing where this takes us.

Jim gets ready to start the tow.

The student gets ready to launch.

At less than five feet.

Not quite ten feet.

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