Towing a dead plane in the air?

Dav8or

Final Approach
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
5,174
Location
Discovery Bay, CA
Display Name

Display name:
Dave
We've all seen glider ops and we all know that in WWII there were towed gliders that held a whole platoon of soldiers with their gear. This got me to thinking, has anybody ever towed a broken down powered plane to a place to be repaired? For discussion, say a Piper Warrior with a rod sticking out of the block on a road, being towed by another plane of a larger size to a suitable repair station?
 
Never say never, but I surely have not heard of that being done.
 
for starters, where would you attach the cable ?
 
for starters, where would you attach the cable ?


Well, seeing how it has a rod sticking out the side of the crankcase. I would say wrapping the tow line around the prop /crankshaft would work.. It is not like you are trying to not do further damage to the engine..:no:

Personally, I bet it would work but both pilots will be instant test pilots.. It would make a great youtube video too...:rolleyes:
 
Never heard of towing a plane but a helicopter???:D
 

Attachments

  • 18837_108810705799039_4894283_n.jpg
    18837_108810705799039_4894283_n.jpg
    32.2 KB · Views: 173
Of course they've towed "dead" planes as well.
 

Attachments

  • 341px-Chinook_airlifting_an_F-15_(2).jpg
    341px-Chinook_airlifting_an_F-15_(2).jpg
    27.2 KB · Views: 201
Well if it's anything at all like we towed broken down cars in the sticks, you'd wrap a tow strap around the prop and attach that to chain connected to the towing plane's tie down hook.

I can't image what could possibly go wrong.
 
for starters, where would you attach the cable ?

In Alaska they towed a high wing by removing the doors and running a rope from the tow plane to the broken plane through the cabin. The pilot of the dead plane carried an Axe and cut the rope over the airport and deadsticked it in.

Story was told to me by a DAR that before he retired worked in AK for the FAA.
 
In the movie cliffhanger, they had a cable going from one plane to the other to transfer briefcases of money.

Yes, I know thats the movies
 
In Alaska they towed a high wing by removing the doors and running a rope from the tow plane to the broken plane through the cabin. The pilot of the dead plane carried an Axe and cut the rope over the airport and deadsticked it in.

Story was told to me by a DAR that before he retired worked in AK for the FAA.


Anything goes in alaska!
 
In Alaska they towed a high wing by removing the doors and running a rope from the tow plane to the broken plane through the cabin. The pilot of the dead plane carried an Axe and cut the rope over the airport and deadsticked it in.

Story was told to me by a DAR that before he retired worked in AK for the FAA.

Seems like a knife would be easier to use in a cabin than an axe for the purposes of cutting a rope.
 
NASA has towed an F-106 behind a C-141!

110373main_eclipse2_330.jpg
 
i've never seen the pictures or video. I'm sure bob has prints at home and the video is probably on a VHS tape somewhere. This was before smartphones, go pro's, and facebook. bob is about 85 yrs old now so he's not going to be putting it on YouTube anytime soon

Don't know why they used a Gold Wing except maybe to prove a point that it didn't take that much power to get the plane in the air.
 
Yeah -- if you want to do that enough to spend the time and effort to get the approval. I still think it would have been cheaper and easier to fix the engine in situ.

You think replacing an engine with a different engine for an STC was financially better than towing home which took less than an hour?

He didn't want to fix the engine, he wanted to junk it and put on a 470. Do that at home. So, the alternative is to remove the wings, and truck it. Something I have a bit of experience with and it's not fun, interesting, or profitable. The whole thing could have been done with some modest tow tests on the ground(which they did) and then do the deed.
 
Actually, it took almost a year and a half.

Negative. The tow home took less than an hour(as I stated). Dealing with the FAA took the rest of the time.

Having removed and installed wings on several planes, it's not something I'm fond of flying in later. Unless it's the type of plane where wing removal is normal and the designers allowed for it like the EXP versions. Besides, there's no reasoning for it as shown by the link to the guy that did the task. Simple towing engineering models showed it would work, and it worked just as predicted.
 
The story mentioned above is 40 years old. Something tells me that based on liability, I'd seriously doubt that a FSDO will ever again allow that type of operation to take place. Something not addressed in the story was insurance. Most insurance policies will insure a non-airworthy aircraft for flight if a valid ferry permit is obtained. I can't imagine in a million years an insurance carrier being ok with this operation, ferry permit or not.

Edit: the STC was from 1974. The story was three years prior to whenever it was published. I think my insurance issue is still a valid point, and I'm curious if the insurance carriers knew about this "tow".
 
Last edited:
In the movie cliffhanger, they had a cable going from one plane to the other to transfer briefcases of money.

Yes, I know thats the movies

But that stunt was done for real:

The stunt was a filmed from a Learjet with a periscope camera system, a B-25Mitchell bomber with 3 cameras, cameras in the Jet Star and DC-9 and a camera in a helicopter. The stunt was a year in planning, cost one million dollars to rehearse and shoot and was performed near Durango, Colorado in November 1992.

From Anecdotage.com:

Cliffhanger Stunt

During the production of Cliffhanger (1993), famed stunt coordinator Simon Crane was enlisted to perform the greatest one-man aerial stunt in cinema history. His assignment? To exit the tail of a DC-9 at 15,000 feet and slide down a wind-buffeted connecting rope to the open door of a smaller JetStar getaway plane.

"During one rehearsal, flying at 140 knots (any slower and the engines could have stalled), Crane was winched out from the tail of the DC-9, briefly hit a patch of dead air, and was twice slammed into the plane's tail, forcing him to release from the rope and deploy his parachute.

For the actual filming of the stunt high over the Rocky Mountains, that part went off as planned, but when he neared the JetStar, the weighted end of the rope looped around its wing, hindering Crane's ability to hook up with the rescue winch being manned by someone inside the smaller plane. Suspended midair for more than a minute, Crane was growing fatigued in the subzero wind when the pilot chose to steer the plane toward him.

Miraculously, Crane made it inside the hatch, getting the all-important shot, but was immediately yanked back outsilde. As the crew listened to him sliding along the top of the plane, he released, missed being sucked into the roaring engine by about six feet, and blew over the tail into the wild blue yonder. He parachuted down and was picked up by a helicopter — his balls approximately 84 percent bigger than before the stunt."
 
Back
Top