Mike,

Whils I agree that the initial winch launch acceleration
is faster than an aerotow, this is the wrong attitude.
Carried out properly it should not be a shot out of
a cannon. It is a simple safe and reliable alternative
way to get airborne.

If its cheap thrills you want go to Disney Land.
If it is gliding thrills then learn the proper way
to do aerobatics

Dave Martin

t 06:42 12 February 2006, Mike Schumann wrote:
My main interest in winch launching is not saving money
(even though that is
a major advantage), but the thrill of getting launched
like you were being
shot out of canon. Instead of a boring tow, the launch
itself is the
highlight of the ride.

Mike Schumann

'Eric Greenwell' wrote in message
...
Mike Schumann wrote:
If you really want to generate interest, you should
do some winch launch
demonstrations.

My observation is airplane pilots, which covers most
of EAA folks, are not
looking for more labor-intensive ways to go flying.
Even a towplane and a
tow pilot seems like one more pilot and aircraft than
they are interested
in. For airplane oriented pilots, the cost of glider
flying is not the
$dollars, but the time involved in doing it. So, how
does winch launching
attract this demographic?

--
Change 'netto' to 'net' to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State USA

www.motorglider.org - Download 'A Guide to Self-launching
Sailplane
Operation'