At 18:51 14 July 2009, tommytoyz wrote:
No this thread is what we in the USA need to focus on - how to get
launched as cheaply as possible - as close to $0.00 as possible. Not
the $40-60 launches. That stops me cold from flying so many times,
even when my pockets are brimming with cash. Something seems wrong
about that.


My opinion is if the commercial operators just refuse, the clubs
should do it themselves, as is mostly done in Europe. For that, a
suitable site is needed, which is the stumbling block as much as the
winch is - if not more so.

In Northern California, one club uses federal land as their site,
managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to operate from. That
would be the preferred way to go in many ways to site a glider
operation that uses winch launches - not an existing airport as that
will almost always be prohibited by the owners.
Tom


The major difference between the UK and the USA is that with the exception
of the Armed Services Gliding Clubs almost no gliding club operates from an
established airport.
In the case of my club, and many others, we own an Ex Mighty Eighth
airfield. Many clubs use greenfield sites that they have developed
themselves so winching for us is easy. We do allow powered aircraft to
operate from our airfield with rules to ensure de-confliction.

Any flattish field will do, at a flat site a run length of 3 times the
proposed cable length is about right. On hill sites the cable length can
be very much shorter.

Find a co-operative farmer and trial it. Even better if you can find a
field at the bottom or top of a hill which has a nice ridge facing the
prevailing wind, normally avoided by normal airport planners, you can
launch into lift for virtually nothing. If you get the right hill you can
even bungey launch off it.