On Thursday we drove a few hours up the road from Manquin, Virginia, to Ridgely, Maryland and Highland Aerorsports. Jim Rooney knew that I wanted to check out the Highland Aerosports' golf cart "scooter" tow operation that Jim was running. I've published Jim's earlier reports and couldn't wait to try it out.

http://ozreport.com/1191350971

http://ozreport.com/1191444371

This "scooter" golf cart towing system is made up completely from golf cart parts. Adam Elchin just went to the local golf cart dealer and purchased used parts.

After setting up camp I headed out to the air strip at 6:30 PM and with a nice south wind it looked like electric golf cart towing would be a breeze. I borrowed JD's Wills Wing Falcon 3 195 and grabbed a Blue Sky training harness (they are used every where). Jim offered to tow me high, as I wanted to fly back and land where I landed, so I said why not. Here's what it looks like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC7SChM1F0g

Now Jim has you start running, instead of pulling you with the tow. He keeps up with you keeping the rope out in front of you, but he's not going to start pulling you until you are running fast enough to get the glider off your shoulders and the straps tight.

You've got to keep the attitude of the glider a bit higher (relative to the horizon) than you would if there was an actual slope in front of you. You actually keep it at the same angle relative to the actual slope (none) that you have in front of you that you would have on a hill side.

Jim tensions the rope and you say, "Clear," and start running. Jim has a small lever on the golf cart, and he just moves it a small amount to tension the rope, then just a little more to keep the rope tight as you run.

There are no hiccups or non linear relationship between the throttle position and the pulling power. The control is absolutely smooth. Double the movement of the lever, double the power. This makes it very easy to keep the pilot low to the ground for low and slow instruction. This is the smoothest system I've seen.

After four high tows, I got a chance to run the throttle/lever myself. It was as easy as pie. Just tension the line, then keep the rope tight as the pilot runs, then as the glider comes up, add power and get the pilot off the ground. Go to full power to get them high. Keep it on low power to keep them low.

Jim knew it, but he didn't tell me that the belt on the pulley was wearing out. When I pulled Jim up, he pushed way out and when I went to full power the belt started slipping and coming apart. I backed off on the power and Jim released. Otherwise it was no dramas towing Jim up high.

With the rough belt we were still able to tow JD low and slow. This was his first foot launch in five years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDtH4outg2g

JD loved golf cart towing. He couldn't believe how much nicer it was than learning on the training hill. He had read about scooter towing in the Oz Report, but was blown away by it when he actually tried it. Jim was helping him with his landings.

More pictures of the setup here: http://ozreport.com/images/HighlandAerosportsGolfCarttow/