I second this. My club (Cotswold) has used reverse auto tow, then
Skylaunch. I have flown recently using Supercat. The Skylaunch wins
hand down in both height and reliability/consistency. I also have a
fair amount of experience driving the Skylaunch and know that it is very
flexible and allows good control of light gliders (Ka8), gliders with a
narrow speed range (SHK) and heavy beasts ASH and so on.

LPG also works well in terms of cost and refuelling.

Regards

Robin

In message , Ged McKnight
writes
Sorry guys

But I think you are all looking in the wrong direction
re diesel winch launches......

I have read the previous 40 something posts on this
subject but no one has mentioned the LPG route, gives
both the acceleration of petrol with the cost savings
of diesel.


www.skylaunch.co.uk is a web site of a manufacturer
of a petrol/LPG driven winch of which I can give a
personal recomendation of being the best winch I have
operated over the last 25 years, as I have flown mainly
from winch sites then I consider myself an expert (
ex as in has been and spert as something under pressure)
I also am expecting at least a bottle of single malt
from my 'friends' at skylaunch ;-))

Ged




At 20:30 21 March 2004, Bill Daniels wrote:

'Craig Freeman' wrote in message
So?
Our setup: 222kW (300hp) turbocharged diesel, 6 drums,
1000m of steel
cable. This winch has handled everything including
a 4DM. Even a
slight tailwind and a ASH25 are no real problem.
Samedan, the highest airport in Europe at over 5600ft
MSL, has the
same winch with four drums. No problems at all. It's
heaven compared
to the voluminous petrol monster they had before.

Just wondering if they had yanked out the engine in
the 'voluminous
petrol monster' and replaced it with some diesel engine
would
they have had a 'voluminous diesel monster' or would
it have been
'heaven'? Point is there is much more to consider
than just powerplant
when it comes to judging a machine. Chances are there
are other things
to consider, like drivetrains, drums, to level wind
or not, operator
comfort, control panels, comunications, cooling systems,
maintainence,
portability, availability of parts, ect. ect. ect.

Craig-
BTW these winches use an average of 0.4 litres of
Diesel per launch.

Credit where credit is due.

Craig Freeman has actually built a winch - a damn good
one - all by himself.
He gets my attention.

Bill Daniels






--
Robin Birch