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Old July 16th 19, 05:59 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Successful Winch Launch Operations from Public UseMunicipal/County Airports

Hi Richard, I own/operate a commercial glider operation (16 years now!) at a Municipal airport in Faribault,MN called Cross Country Soaring, Inc. The majority of our operations are behind a Socata Rallye 235E pulling a pair of Grob 103 Twin IIs and a dozen private owners. We do a fair amount of winching also. A decade ago I bought a 330HP Gehrlein winch and have a mile of 6MM Dyneema on the drum. The trick to operating at a GA airport (in my experience) is to get everyone on board - the local power pilots, the airport manager, FSDO. You can't approach it with, "gliders are one of the seven categories of aircraft and have a right to operate from federally-funded airports blah blah". That argument can be easily toppled at a meeting (that you aren't invited to) where concerns about safety, legit or otherwise, win the day. Instead, write up a "Winch Operations Manual" which covers every step of a winch launch. It should absolutely reek with courtesy towards power traffic, professionalism, and clear radio communication. Once your local FSDO signs off (yup - send them a copy), the airport manager can relax and most local power pilots think it looks cool as hell. :-) The hard part is playing second fiddle while winching. E.G. radio: "Glider holding for inbound traffic (ten miles out)". Or, "Winch retrieve car, clearing the active for Warrior on downwind (doing it's 10th touch-and-go)". That's hard. But, it's the price. Also, take the local power guys up on a launch or two. No charge.. It will be the best money you ever spent. The main goal is to appear professional and courteous to the more...er...rigid pilots out there. Good luck!