Winch Signals

Our club has yet to try winching, though a half-dozen members have
experienced it elsewhere sometime across the last fifty years.

Reading Piggot, I discover the command "All Out" for the beginning of
the launch. Is this the customary command in other places besides
England? Why this? What does it reall mean? At first I took it to mean
"Everyone stand clear" or some such, but apparently it means "Give 'er
the gun" in US slang. Does this Britishism have some colloquial meaning
for them that doesn't exist elsewhere?

Seems to me, such a command would be the same one a glider pilot who has
no wing runner (aero retrieve from a landout) uses on the radio to tell a
tow pilot to begin the launch after the rope is taut. I've heard, "Go,
go, go." which I don't really like but can't say why.

What have you heard? Anyone have any comments to offer?

On Apr 9, 8:15 am, Nyal Williams wrote:
Our club has yet to try winching, though a half-dozen members have
experienced it elsewhere sometime across the last fifty years.

Reading Piggot, I discover the command "All Out" for the beginning of
the launch. Is this the customary command in other places besides
England? Why this? What does it reall mean? At first I took it to mean
"Everyone stand clear" or some such, but apparently it means "Give 'er
the gun" in US slang. Does this Britishism have some colloquial meaning
for them that doesn't exist elsewhere?

Seems to me, such a command would be the same one a glider pilot who has
no wing runner (aero retrieve from a landout) uses on the radio to tell a
tow pilot to begin the launch after the rope is taut. I've heard, "Go,
go, go." which I don't really like but can't say why.

What have you heard? Anyone have any comments to offer?

On Apr 9, 8:15*am, Nyal Williams wrote:
Our club has yet to try winching, though a half-dozen members have
experienced it elsewhere sometime across the last fifty years.

Reading Piggot, I discover the command "All Out" for the beginning of
the launch. *Is this the customary command in other places besides
England? *Why this? *What does it reall mean? *At first I took it to mean
"Everyone stand clear" or some such, but apparently it means "Give 'er
the gun" in US slang. Does this Britishism have some colloquial meaning
for them that doesn't exist elsewhere?

Seems to me, such a command would be the same one a glider pilot who has
no wing runner (aero retrieve from a landout) uses on the radio to tell a
tow pilot to begin the launch after the rope is taut. *I've heard, "Go,
go, go." which I don't really like but can't say why.

What have you heard? *Anyone have any comments to offer?

As an expatriot Brit, "all out" to me means full speed - whether it's
the winch or tow plane.

Webster's New World Dictionary defines all out as "completely,
wholeheartedly"

Mike

In the UK the commands for both aerotows and winch launches are 'Take up
slack' which means slowly take up any excess slack cable, followed by
'All out', which means that all the slack has been taken out and you now
gun the throttle to start the launch.

For winch launching we normally use light signals, which are a slow
flashing white light for take up slack, followed by faster flashes for all
out. Stop is a continuous light.

However you can also use radio, if you can guarantee nobody stomping on a
vital transmission, or as the Germans do, use a fixed land line telephone.
If your winch run is fairly short and flat, you can also use a signalling
bat.

Derek Copeland

At 15:15 09 April 2009, Nyal Williams wrote:
Our club has yet to try winching, though a half-dozen members have
experienced it elsewhere sometime across the last fifty years.

Reading Piggot, I discover the command "All Out" for the beginning of
the launch. Is this the customary command in other places besides
England? Why this? What does it reall mean? At first I took it to
mean
"Everyone stand clear" or some such, but apparently it means "Give
'er
the gun" in US slang. Does this Britishism have some colloquial meaning
for them that doesn't exist elsewhere?

Seems to me, such a command would be the same one a glider pilot who has
no wing runner (aero retrieve from a landout) uses on the radio to tell
a
tow pilot to begin the launch after the rope is taut. I've heard,
"Go,
go, go." which I don't really like but can't say why.

What have you heard? Anyone have any comments to offer?

It's unique, because you want a unique signal for a unique situation.
"All Out" or "Full Power" are phrases that wouldn't be misconstrued.
"NO" on the radio sounds very much like "GO". You should pull the
yellow handle and use "STOP" but in the heat of the moment...
Jim

What was the film about skydiving where someone had a load of laundry
instead of a chute, their friend found out, and wrote NO GO on the
ground, but read upside down it looked like GO ON????

On Apr 10, 3:51*am, JS wrote:
What was the film about skydiving where someone had a load of laundry
instead of a chute, their friend found out, and wrote NO GO on the
ground, but read upside down it looked like GO ON????

A story circulated in NZ around the time of the Mt Erebus crash that
the phrase "take off power please" had opposite meanings in the DC10
manual/procedures than it did in the Boeing 737's Air NZ operated.

On 9 Apr, 21:10, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:51*am, JS wrote:

What was the film about skydiving where someone had a load of laundry
instead of a chute, their friend found out, and wrote NO GO on the
ground, but read upside down it looked like GO ON????

A story circulated in NZ around the time of the Mt Erebus crash that
the phrase "take off power please" had opposite meanings in the DC10
manual/procedures than it did in the Boeing 737's Air NZ operated.

An airliner crashed somewhere in the far east (Taiwan?) after the air
traffic controller departed from standard phraseology with "descend
two five hundred feet"

Ian

An airliner crashed somewhere in the far east (Taiwan?) after the air
traffic controller departed from standard phraseology with "descend
two five hundred feet"


Back in the days when there were flight engineers, during an emergency
the captain ordered "take off power". The FE dutifully pulled the
throttles back - that was not what the captain wanted.

Tony V.

Nyal,

In our club in Germany, if I can remember, there were three commands.

1. Fertig (Ready, the pilot is ready to be launched.)
2. Seil straff (All of the slack is out of the cable)
3. Frei (The glider has cleared the ground)

These commands were relayed to the winch operator via a "field
telephone", the kind where you would turn the little crank to ring the
bell on the other end of the line.

In this club, winch launching was, and probably still is, the primary
way of launching. They do A LOT of winching. I wonder if they have
changed their ways and have different commands now.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
PS: Happy Winching!

Ray,

Mine was the Belgian Air Force club in Cologne. They did it in Flemish or
French and that was in 1954; I don't remember the commands. (Pulling
strings got me, an American GI attached to the Belgian Army I Corps, into
the club.

At 16:16 09 April 2009, rlovinggood wrote:
Nyal,

In our club in Germany, if I can remember, there were three commands.

1. Fertig (Ready, the pilot is ready to be launched.)
2. Seil straff (All of the slack is out of the cable)
3. Frei (The glider has cleared the ground)

These commands were relayed to the winch operator via a "field
telephone", the kind where you would turn the little crank to ring the
bell on the other end of the line.

In this club, winch launching was, and probably still is, the primary
way of launching. They do A LOT of winching. I wonder if they have
changed their ways and have different commands now.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
PS: Happy Winching!