I was thinking that the winch driver would see the glider airspeed via
telemetry and thus control it precisely and the pilot would control the
tension with a panel mounted meter. That way the pilot gets the right
airspeed and precisely loads the glider and cable to whatever value he feels
comfortable with up to the breaking strength of the weak link.

Bill,

Actually, I did this last year. I took an old radio control transmitter,
mounted it in a small box, and put one control potentiometer on a thumb wheel
mounted to a hand grip. In the winch, I have the receiver with a servo mounted
to the window in front of me. The servo has a long orange stick attached.

If the pilot wants to go faster, he thumbs forward, which moves the servo and
flag up. If slower, then down. If good, then horizontal.

Haven't tried it yet, but it was a fun project!


Jim Vincent
CFIG
N483SZ
illspam