Minimum number of flights for winch sign off?

And to respond to another post about portability of training, that has
got to be related to experience, quality of training, attitude, and
aptitude.

Following initial qualification in Australia, my next experience was in
Colorado when our club acquired a winch.Â* We started off slowly and, as
experience increased, we broadened our use of the winch, using it for
the Women's Soaring Seminar in 1993, IIRC, when we took the winch to an
airport in the mountains (Silverwest, C08).Â* IIRC, at the time the
runway was still dirt, it's since been paved.

Later we took the winch high into Southpark (yes, it's really a place),
where we performed launches at 10,000' MSL.Â* The winch was great fun in
the winter months (when clear of snow) when there wasn't any lift.Â* We'd
simply fly multiple patterns and landings. Eventually the winch fell out
of favor and was put aside, though I hear it's coming back into use.

Other ground launch experience has been a couple of soaring safaris
whereby my then-partner and I took a 1,000' rope and ground launches to
fly straight out to the next destination which was chosen based upon the
current weather.Â* The driver/launcher would take the trailer and follow
along to the next landing spot where we'd spend the night and switch off
the following day.

And finally, there was the Ground Launch Weekend put on by the Las Vegas
Valley Soaring Association at Roach Dry Lake south of Las Vegas, usually
twice per year in April and October.Â* There they use a truck and an
1,800' rope for launching.Â* It has been a great time and great parties
at night.Â* We've attended that gathering three times.

Ground launching is a lot more fun than aero tow and significantly less
expensive.Â* The real advantage to aero tow, IMO, is that the glider can
be taken to the lift.

On 2/13/2018 9:32 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
Way back in 1987, while on business in Alice Springs, NT, Australia, I
visited the Bond Springs gliding club.Â* I flew a Twin Lark (VH-CQA)
off of a twin drum winch with about a mile of single strand wire for
launches.Â* A review of my logbook reveals 6 launches including 2 cable
breaks with an instructor and then I began giving rides to my
co-workers who wanted to see what a glider flight was about.

On 2/13/2018 7:53 AM, Waveguru wrote:
What would be the consensus for the minimum number of flights to get
a ground launch sign off for an experienced glider pilot? How many
cable breaks and at what altitude? Of course it would take more for
some and less for others, but I would think at least 15 launches with
5 cable breaks at various heights?

Boggs


--
Dan, 5J

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 11:51:54 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
And to respond to another post about portability of training, that has
got to be related to experience, quality of training, attitude, and
aptitude.

Agreed. The field and wind make a big difference as well. Training at a big field does not fully prepare you for this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQtkLI24dA&t=2s

I agree that simulated rope breaks hone the drop-nose-reflex for breaking a weak link in turbulence.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:21:00 -0800, son_of_flubber wrote:

Here's another interesting winch site: Edensoaring in the British Lake
District. Its a shortish winch-only site about 2.5km from the closest
soarable part of the Pennines. If the hill is working in a westerly, the
wind is pretty much fully cross-wind and in an easterly the rotor tends
to set up above the field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcCzolzkYQ8

In a westerly launch failures are unusual because you turn 135 degrees
right, INTO the wind for abbreviated downwind and base legs. Why?
Because there are trees along the east (uphill) side of the strip.



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The Eden site is interesting, but I did not post anything about it.

I hear that there is winch launching site on the North Island in New Zealand that routinely does 2000+ winch launches that drop you into rotor. You use the rotor to climb into wave. I'd want to ease into that with a local CFI before soloing.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 13:24:52 -0800, son_of_flubber wrote:

The Eden site is interesting, but I did not post anything about it.

Yep, I know you didn't - and nor has anybody else recently. I've visited
it a couple of times and posted the vid link because its a different
place to fly and a reasonably challenging winch site for me too: on my
last visit I got the mandatory site check ride and a winch failure
despite having been there before, because that was three years previously.

I fly in flat east England, usually winching off a 1300m x 175m grass
runway. We have GR400 Robins as tow planes but I prefer winching.

I hear that there is winch launching site on the North Island in New
Zealand that routinely does 2000+ winch launches that drop you into
rotor. You use the rotor to climb into wave. I'd want to ease into
that with a local CFI before soloing.

Yes, I know where that is, but haven't flown from it. I visited that club
in 2003, before they left Paraparaumu, a multiple use airfield surrounded
by houses and aero-tow only. That was where I flew a PW-5 (my only flight
in one) and had my first flight in a Libelle.


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If things go wrong on the winch, they go wrong really fast. Suggest some refresher training if any of the following change: winch, aircraft, location.. The exact number of flights required to sign off depends on the student and the instructor. Ground school component is really important in winch launch training.