"E. A. Grens" wrote in message
...
JJ -

I, as a power pilot, learned to fly sailplanes on the winch, overseas. I
now only fly aerotow, and am not signed off for ground launch. One thing
I
have not seen mentioned is the qualification of winch operators. Tow
plane
pilots ( I'm not one) have to meet certain standards and be signed off. I
became a winch operator by volunteering out of club spirit (stupidty?). I
was informally instructed by a winch operator who desparately wanted to
escape the exile of the winch. Then I was left to do the job, getting my
flights at the end of the day. They brought me food and drink
(nonalcholic), but no one "qualified" on the winch would come near for
hours. I'm sure I never endangered any aircraft or pilot, but I'm also
sure
that some achieved less than optimal release altitude. There was no
tensionmeter, and throttle control was based on visual evaluation of
aircraft attitude and cable sag.

Many years later I had the chance to observe the operator of a modern
six-reel winch at Terlet. He was an artist at work, and he had the best
equipment.

I think winch launches are safe, as long as you have a cg hook. But, in
any
comparison to aerotow, the increased number of launches necessary to
achieve
sustained flight must be taken into account.

Ed Grens

If it's soarable, one launch should do most days. Most seasons I winch
launched regularly I can count on one hand the number second snaps taken per
season to soar away. Of course, _big wings_ do help, but that's another
thread;^) This season, I only took two aerotows to 2000agl. My other AT
releases were 1200 to 1700agl, that is, at or below winch height and near
enough to the airfield to presume had we been winching, getting away was
pretty likely. For a number of reasons we didn't winch much this season,
but when we did, we soared. This included thermals on New Year's Day and
wave on Feb 1 and thermals each subsequent winch day this season. Looks
like snow for November 1st though. Last Saturday would have been perfect as
lift was 10kts to 12K in a stiff NW breeze. The kind of day we get 2500+agl
on the wire.

Frank Whiteley