On Monday, 20 April 2020 10:15:05 UTC+1, Dave Walsh wrote:
At 21:53 19 April 2020, wrote:
On Sunday, April 19, 2020 at 11:00:52 AM UTC-7,
wrote:
On Friday, April 17, 2020 at 5:53:55 PM UTC-5, AS wrote:
On Friday, April 17, 2020 at 2:15:37 PM UTC-4, Nick
Kennedy wrote:
New people always ask about release altitudes. The
more relevant
question is the rate of launches. We learn to fly and gain
proficiency
through repetition, we gain altitude in thermals. Ever ask the
guy doing
pattern work in a 172 how high he got?

For most licensed pilots I think the release height is very
important.
If you go to all the trouble to get ready to go soaring,
you want to
get high enough to have a good chance to get away.
Nick
T

I beg to differ! Last weekend, one of our guys encountered
a rope break
at 1,000ft (an old splice let go) and not only did he have the
audacity to
climb away, he also went XC! He broke all the rules commonly
known to be
associated with winching!

I recall way back in history that, given enough wind, the pilot
would be winched to the maximum height then the winch driver
would very slowly let out cable with the glider still attached. With
the cable fully out the winch driver then applied power and a
"second" climb followed. Never witnessed this but was told it
happened in the UK back in the '60s. Anyone remember hearing
this tale? Wouldn't be difficult to get 3000'+ on a decent sized
airfield.


Uli
'AS'

Uli, you can do the same from an aero-tow, just go ask our
club tow
pilots. Sometimes I get questions from them like "Why are you
still hangin'
on, what's wrong with you - at 1,600'.



We used to do kiting regularly in the 1960s with T-21's and two lightweight pilots, took about 20 minutes to get to 3,400' which was the highest I ever got. Rules were very different then.