"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

"Alistair Wright" wrote in message
...

That's nuthin'. Some time back in the 60s I had a 'payout' launch in an
Olympia 463 to 2800ft in a 40kt wind. I did a vertical circuit afterwards
as turning down wind didn't seem a good idea.

I guess nobody else wants to sound dumb, so I guess I will have to
ask; what the hell is a vertical circuit? I guess you mean no circuit at
all?

When you touched down, was your groundspeed more or less than zero?

Vaughn
After release I slowed down to 38kts and was blown slowly backwards over the
launch point. When I judged I was far enough back I descended at about 70Kts
and landed with full brake. I think the trip took about 7 minutes and I
never turned. I think flying downwind in a gale like that would have made
getting the pattern right impossible. I guess the upper air speed was in
excess of 60kts. The airfield I was flying from was small and surrounded by
housing (Meir -- Stoke on Trent) so getting it wrong would not have been too
good.

Alistair Wright