"Tony Verhulst" wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:
No winch? Buy or build one.

In the northeast US we have lots of trees and our airport is a
relatively narrow rectangular plot of cleared land surrounded by trees -
lots of trees. In any kind of cross wind, where would the winch rope
land after release? Right!

Actually, the rope would wind up on the winch drum after release since
normal procedure is to wind it all the way in if there is any chance that
letting it fall would cause problems.

A confined runway surrounded by trees isn't a great option for airtow either
unless the tug can always keep the glider in a position to return to the
runway in the event of a premature launch failure. Winch launch has an
advantage here because the glider is always in a position to either land
straight ahead or, if it is too high for that, fly a short pattern.


The glider grass runway is next to the paved runway used by the power
crowd. A paved taxiway leading from the paved rwy to the ramp crosses
the grass runway at midfield. The airport manager would, properly, be
not inclined to permit winch launching across an active taxiway.

There are lots of cases where a winch is not an option.

True. However, there are also lots of places where it is an option. In
fact, many more than most US pilots suppose.

There is a tendency among pilots not familiar with winch launch to think up
all the ways that improper procedures can screw up the operation and little
appreciation of how a well disciplined operation can co-exist with other
traffic. Winch launch operations co-exist with air-tow and power traffic at
many European glider operations. (In response to the preceding point I had
a US pilot blurt, "But Europeans are smarter than we are".) Could be, they
use winches.

Bill Daniels