Tow Planes

[Loco Gringo]

I've towed with agtruck, 180, 185, 206; a few compitations with the truck and the pawnee out towed everyone including the bird dog in towes per hour

 

[avbug]

I've towed gliders/banners with the pawnee, sprayed with the pawnee, and dropped with the pawnee. It's an anemic airplane. It's saving grace is that it's an economical ultralow volume airplane for applying chemicals. It does okay towing. It certainly doesn't outperform a husky.

That's an ag husky, of course. It really doesn't outperform an aviatt husky, either.

 

[WateryGrave]

Well I guess since we are discussing glider towing instead of crop dusting in this thread most of us think its more than adequate for that job. But since I've never dusted I'll take your word for it. As far as performance goes I've towed on a regular basis out of a 3000 ft elevation field and 115 degree temperatures and it doesn't miss a beat.

 

[avbug]

Most of my towing (and ag work, for that matter) is restricted to takeoffs and operations at 10,000' density altitude and above.

I believe I meant to say aviatt husky, rather than aviall...aviall would be a parts service.

 

[olypilot]

I own both an Aviat Husky and two Pawnees and for towing sailplanes, it does out perform it, by a wide margin. We just hosted the 15m Nationals here and were using both towplanes for the launch. It was easy to compare them side by side and the Pawnee did a better job. For an all around versitile airplane the Husky of course has it beat. BTW talking about a 235 Pawnee not the 150hp version.

I've towed gliders/banners with the pawnee, sprayed with the pawnee, and dropped with the pawnee. It's an anemic airplane. It's saving grace is that it's an economical ultralow volume airplane for applying chemicals. It does okay towing. It certainly doesn't outperform a husky.

That's an ag husky, of course. It really doesn't outperform an aviatt husky, either.

 

[tuna pimp]

Pawnee pretty much smokes anything else I've ever gotten towed behind.

 

[WateryGrave]

is there an echo in here???

 

[skid]

Out of the very limited types I have towed with an old 180 hp SKyhawk works good with a constant speed prop and Horton STOL. THe older airframes are a bit lighter than the newer 180 hp Hawks.

The Worst is a 150 hp Cessna 150. No wing to speak of and low RPM unless outfitted with a climb prop.

 

[TXDA2000]

We used to have a 260 horse pawnee, it was a brute.

My father used to tow with a 67 Turbo 210. He had more than one guy bail when the gear started heading into the wells.

We also used to tow our 1-26 with a 150 hp Stinson 108. Not a great towplane, but you can kill the engine and thermal with a 1-26 on a decent day.