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  #24  
Old February 16th 18, 05:54 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
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Default Minimum number of flights for winch sign off?

"Just don’t do winch launches"

What a short-sighted view. The economics of gliding are already keeping new members from joining the sport - and will just get worse in the future. Winch launching is a cost-effective launch method which can effectively launch gliders at a 1/10 of the cost of aerotowing. This is a major factor especially during the training phase where launches and landing are the critical skills for new pilots to learn. With proper training, winch launching should be no more dangerous than aerotowing.