I want to thank Don and Stefan and others from Europe and the UK for
stepping in here.

I am fighting a lonely battle to convince my fellow USA pilots that winch
launch is a perfectly normal way to launch gliders and not some invention of
the devil. Those few US pilots who have experienced a winch launch have
most likely done so using horrendously inadequate equipment that would not
have been allowed to operate in your countries. There is no standard
training manuals so each instructor makes up their own. The results range
from hilarious to deadly.

With oil prices exceeding $60US/barrel in the last few days, and aviation
fuel prices heading into uncharted territory, the viability of our 'air tow
only' soaring operations comes into question. If oil prices continue on to
$100/barrel, as the world bank and many investment houses predict, the US
soaring community is in for some rough times if we don't quickly adopt a
more fuel efficient launch method.

To quickly shift to winch launch means that we will have to adopt the best
practices of other countries who have developed winch launch to a high level
of performance and safety.

I appreciate your continued inputs.

Bill Daniels