OT WWII Memoirs (was SAFE Winch Launching ...)

Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the "launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites. You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.

At 04:45 01 August 2009, Derek Copeland wrote:
At 18:00 31 July 2009, Jim White wrote:
At 13:15 31 July 2009, Del C wrote:
Yesterday, launching into a moderate headwind at Lasham on a Skylaunch
winch, we were getting better than 2000ft launches from a 1200 metre
run
in K13 and K21 training gliders. The best launch in a K21 was 2500ft.

This was using 4.5mm stranded steel cable, so we might have got a
couple
of hundred feet higher using lightweight synthetic cables.

There were no cable or weak link breaks, frightening incidents, or
launch
failures of any sort, despite rather gusty conditions.

Derek Copeland

Good grief Del, give it up. I am sure the yanks are as bored of this
thread as we are.

Just because you can't winch launch at Booker Gliding Club because of
all
the helicopters and light aircraft you share Wycombe Air Park with...!

I'm only trying to convert the Colonials (and Booker pilots) to the
true
faith. Why don't you move a few miles and fly at Bicester or Lasham
where
they do winch launch? Bicester is almost the perfect winch launching
site,
being approximately circular so that they can always launch into wind.

Del C

Chris Rollings wrote:
Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the "launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites. You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.

Related background conversation snipped...

This stat doesn't surprise me a bit. IMHO, the key word is the "You"
beginning the ending sentence...and the implications "one" draws from it.

Aerotow/winching are completely different models, both in capital
exposure and launch pricing...not to mention fun/currency/etc.

Having logged only aerotows since ~1972, I find I'm averaging a skoshe
over 2 hours and 20 minutes per launch over 1133 tows. Pretty darned
good for an instructor, huh? (If only I were one...)

There's no doubt in my mind my per-launch flight-average would be
considerably lower had I exclusively winched, both for the reason
implicit in Chris' post, and, because there's no doubt in my mind I'd've
taken considerable snaps those days I rigged, and never aerotowed
because I thought it was dead and didn't want to spend the big (U.S.)
bux for an aerotow. How one prices their winch launches *will* have an
effect on their launch clientele's spending behaviors.

What my per-winch-launch cost might've been I'll never know...

Winching is Great Phun. I can remember one winter gaining several
thousand feet, from a 900' snap, near sunset, in a Schweizer Dragmaster
(aka 2-33). No way would I even have been out at the airfield on a day
like that had we not been winching.

Regards,
Bob - seeks to use stats wisely - W.

On Aug 2, 12:30*am, Chris Rollings wrote:
Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the "launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. *The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites. *You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.

At 04:45 01 August 2009, Derek Copeland wrote:



At 18:00 31 July 2009, Jim White wrote:
At 13:15 31 July 2009, Del C wrote:
Yesterday, launching into a moderate headwind at Lasham on a Skylaunch
winch, we were getting better than 2000ft launches from a 1200 metre
run
in K13 and K21 training gliders. The best launch in a K21 was 2500ft.

This was using 4.5mm stranded steel cable, so we might have got a
couple
of hundred feet higher using lightweight synthetic cables.

There were no cable or weak link breaks, frightening incidents, or
launch
failures of any sort, despite rather gusty conditions.

Derek Copeland *

Good grief Del, give it up. I am sure the yanks are as bored of this
thread as we are.

Just because you can't winch launch at Booker Gliding Club because of
all
the helicopters and light aircraft you share Wycombe Air Park with...!

I'm only trying to convert the Colonials (and Booker pilots) to the
true
faith. Why don't you move a few miles and fly at Bicester or Lasham
where
they do winch launch? Bicester is almost the perfect winch launching
site,
being approximately circular so that they can always launch into wind.

Del C

On Aug 2, 12:30*am, Chris Rollings wrote:
Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the "launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. *The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites. *You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.


"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

At 06:30 02 August 2009, Chris Rollings wrote:
Some years ago, using the published statistics, I calculated the
"launch
cost per hour flown", for the major and some smaller clubs. The best
value ones were Talgarth, Aboyne and Booker, all aerotow only sites.
You
average more minutes per £ from an aerotow than from a winch launch.


A slightly unfair comparison, when you consider that two of the above
mentioned sites have ridges and wave to aid long flights and when winch
launching is used mostly for training flights.

Derek Copeland