Responses interspersed.

"Dan G" wrote in message
oups.com...

We set the trim well forwards to give approach speed in the event of a
launch failure (I am not going to stop doing that, but hypothetically
where would you put the trim for best launch height?), and for K21s
winch drivers are briefed to give full throttle the whole way up (winch
is c.300bhp).

Same as always. Set the trim for zero stick force. It has no effect
whatever on release height.


I've also heard several pilots be admonished by instructors recently
for "not pulling back" after somewhat low launches. Surely pulling back
increases the lift the aircraft is producing, and therefore gives more
height? If the airspeed is well below placard max winch speed, I would
have thought it would not result in enough force to break the link.

I sounds like your winch may reach redline RPM just as the glider rotates
into the climb. If the pilot doesn't rotate quickly enough, the winch
driver will have to throttle down to save the engine.

Pilots trained on aero tow will often resist pitching up into the climb and
need to be admonished that this is not an aero tow and they need to climb.
As they climb the engine RPM will diminish. I'm not saying pull hard, just
pitch up smoothly to control airspeed.

The very best height is achieved by flying the glider at just over the best
L/D angle of attack. Pulling up harder and flying at a greater AOA will
actually reduce height achieved. To repeat, fly the selected airspeed. You
may improve things slightly by using an AOA indicator. Strings work fine.


BTW we do, without fail, use the correct weak links (and not doubled-up
or anything stupid either). That said, we do break weak links with some
regularity.

Whew! Thanks for that.


Suggestion: Get a copy of a good glider flight simulator like Condor and
practice lauches on a computer. There's a lot to learn with a good sim.
I
use Condor as an "animated white board" when I teach winch ground school.

Heh, I have Condor but find it much harder to fly than "real life",
probably as my comp is rather weedy so it's a bit jerky. Thanks for the
suggestion though!

It is harder than real life - but it's good training.

Bill Daniels