On Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:13:10 -0800 (PST), JohnDeRosa
wrote:
.... text deleted
Excuse me for appearing stupid, but I was under the impression that
you needed a CG hook to winch launch and that a Schweizer hook was
especially bad to use because when the tow cable is approaches 90
degrees to the release arm, the bale (name? thing the pilot actually
moves during a release) is under so much load that it cannot be pulled
aft. I'd like to know more. Thanks, John

I can't speak to winch launching, but in the 70's our club (auto tow
only) did tens of thousands of auto tows (with no problems) on
Schweizer tow hooks.

Our 2-33 was equipped with both a "forward" hook (not really a nose
hook in today's sense) and an aft "cg" hook. Our 2-22 and 1-26's had
only the standard Schweizer forward hook.

The 2-33 with the cg hook could get a couple of hundred feet more
height than the other ships, but other than that there was no
difference.

To be fair however, on auto tow, there is actually not much load on
the rope at the top of a normal launch. Unlike the winch, the line is
not being pulled in.

Bob