Winch demonstration/training at home gliderport

Kirk,

Sandhill Soaring Club has a similar situation in terms of runway length and winch setup (we use an adjoining field to launch sometimes). Please message me and I can put you in contact with our Chief Flight Instructor who can tell you a bit more about our operation.

Thanks,
Chris Schrader (I mostly fly "CN")

On Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 3:19:20 PM UTC-4, kirk.stant wrote:
St Louis Soaring Association (stlsoar.org) is interested in a winch demonstration and possible training at our home gliderport (H07) in Highland, IL - located 30 miles East of St Louis right off I-70.

We currently aerotow with 2 Pawnees and a Supercub, but are looking at the future sustainability of that method (Cost, Noise, etc) and want to explore other options.

We have a wide but relatively short (2600 x 500 ft) grass airfield, all of it available for winch launches - so launch height would naturally be somewhat limited; however if the decision to go with a winch was made we have the option to extend that to almost 4000' when launching to the North, by locating the winch in a field that we own. That should be enough for some decent height.

Our fleet is almost exclusively glass with CG hooks, K-21s for training.

If anyone has any suggestions, please contact me.

Cheers,

Kirk
66

Some quick answers to above questions:

1. Our club owns the field north of the runway, and the road in question is a farm right-of-way with very limited traffic. It would likely not be a big issue to hold up a launch when a vehicle approaches. On the other hand, when the field is actively being cultivated/harvested, access would be limited. Expensive option would be to convert the north field into a runway, which would solve several problems, but I'm not ready to tackle that mountain yet!

2. We probably do equal launches from both ends - and prefer aerotow launches on 36 for convenience and noise, even accepting a few knots of tailwind (in fact, we usually land our Pawnees downwind on 18 when able as it speeds up ops and is counterintuitively safer (!) when launching on 36). Winch launches on 18 would be limited to a max of 2600' pullout for the foreseeable future. A truck-mounted winch should have no problem launching from the north end of field next to I-70, giving pretty close to 4000'. Glider landings are usually on the center of the grass field (towplanes on the east "marked" landing strip), so staging would take time regardless of launch type. With a club fleet of 4 two-seat trainers (K-21s, G-103, K-13) and 4 single seat (G-102s and Astir CSs), plus 12 private ships, all CG hook equipped, I think we could keep a winch busy pretty easily (thinking of a 2-drum at least).

3. Typical of most US clubs (in my experience, at least) there is very little knowledge at SLSA about winch launching. I'm fortunate to have learned winch launching early on in Germany at a glider club located on Wittmund AB (home of JG-71 Richtofen at the time) in Ka-4, K-7, and solo in K-8s, then more recently took advantage of Karl Striedieck's incredible course at Eagle Field to get my sign off (and get flung onto the ridge in my LS6 behind his monster truck!). Been trying to get others to try it, but they all prefer being dragged around by a Pawnee (mind, you, I'm perfectly happy to do the dragging - l love Pawnees!) and think winches are a dangerous socialist plot of some kind. But seriously, I really think it is the future...possibly the only viable future for affordable and "sustainable" soaring.

Cheers!

One may find that the real estate acquisition for a 4,000' + runway to get a decent winch launch height is more expensive than a Pawnee.

Be careful with trailers from South Carolina as people there don't need to plate them, including glider trailers.

Highway patrols outside SC may not be accommodating, but the Illinois fellow I bought my glider from had been driving around for some years on a SC souvenir plate that the first owner had put on.

On Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 8:00:23 AM UTC-5, wrote:
One may find that the real estate acquisition for a 4,000' + runway to get a decent winch launch height is more expensive than a Pawnee.

Two things: We already own the property, and you don't need a 4000' runway, just 4000' clear for the cable (as long as you only care about launching one way - to the North, in our case). If we wanted 4000' to the south, we would have to extend our runway to the North, enough to move and launch gliders; no impossible but not free.

Kirk