Bill Daniels wrote:
I honestly can't tell any difference. I've made turning takeoffs so as to
be able to stage off the side of an active runway where the fuselage at the
start of the roll was 30 degrees to the runway centerline. My Nimbus 2C
with a CG hook just tracks where I want it to.

I have no interest in adding a nose hook. I don't think it's a big deal.

Like all tailwheel gliders I try to hold the tailwheel down hard until I get
some rudder control then I lift the tail and just steer it where I want to
go. I use the ailerons aggressively right from the start to hold the long
wings level.

The CG hook doesn't help, but it doesn't hurt either. There have been many
millions of winch launches with CG hooks with no systemic problem with wing
dropping.

There wouldn't be any with the nose hook, either, since most of the wing
dropping is due to towplane wake which isn't present with a winch, and a
smaller number due to slow acceleration (I'm guessing more winches
provide good acceleration than towplanes).

My experience, and that of many others, is gliders with long wings or
water ballast are less likely to drop a wing, simply because of inertia.

Nose hooks are a proven advantage over CG hooks for aerotow, but not
primarily for wing dropping reasons; of course, the size of the
advantage varies with the glider and the pilot.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA