On Thursday, June 20, 2013 8:00:14 PM UTC-6, Papa3 wrote:
Disregard... looks like the whole setup was non-standard, so a lot of the usual rules of thumb go out the door. I hadn't noticed the very short rope for example...

With the increased interest in ground launch, I do think it's useful to revisit some of the old rules of thumb that used to be well known. Sure, we need the SOP and manuals (which are still out there), but it seems to me that it's good to review the underlying physics every now and then.



I would suggest reading George Moores papers on winch launch. George has taken the whole subject of ground launch into the 21st century with a very deep and detailed mathematical analysis. His fresh view of the subject is very welcome. His papers can be read in the files section of the Yahoo group winchengineer and winchdesign.

If you'd like to take a look at my training materials, they can be downloaded as PDF's.

Winch pilot training guide: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...20Rev%2017.pdf

Winch training slide show: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...20Training.pdf

Airfield operations: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...operations.pdf