CCSC President Rolf Hegele is to be commended for soliciting info from
experts and users before bringing an additional winch for winch-to-
pattern training and glider/winch currency to CCSC. Aerotows will
remain the standard tow-to-thermal operation from this smaller
airfield. I wish to thank many of you experts who have, in the past
year, already responded with Andrew Dignan, the outgoing club
President and current VP, and me. From FARs, FAA & SSA Texts, glider/
aircraft operating handbooks, some internet winch detective work, and
your testimony, a small, dedicated group has 1. put together and
tested a safe winch operation at two locations, 2. improved the
reliability of an older single-drum Gehrlein winch, 3. created
operations procedures and constraints, 4. implimented academics and a
winch endorsement and currency training program/syllibus. In less
than half a year of part-time weekday winching we've winched over 300
times and graduated a dozen'ish current/endorsed winch pilots. Two
northern glider clubs are benefitting from a growing group of
"switched-on", current and capable CFIGs and pilots. - Jim Goebel

What follows is from the Dec 2008 CCSC Newsletter entitled "Winch
Flights in Our 2-33’s" by Tom McDonald

Our long planned CCSC winch demo was conducted successfully on
Saturday, November 1. The group flew seven flights, of which I was
personally flying or instructing on six. Tom Rudolf was signed off as
a winch instructor during the demonstration period. The intent of the
demo was to allow the CCSC and SSD boards to evaluate the program for
use at CCSC, and most of the board saw at least some of the flights.
Previously, the board approved the use of the club’s 2-33 aircraft
in winch operations at Waynesville. We’ve got 28 flights so far in
club equipment, including the 7 at the demo. You can watch some of our
flights at www.youtube.com/tjm3. Or, just go to youtube and search
“ccsc winch.”

Winch stats
Three hundred and four launches to date have used a little less
than two cups of fuel per flight. By comparison, John Antrim’s recent
fuel use study for the Pawnees estimated that a 1000 foot release uses
about 1.3 gallons.
The cost is $15 per flight in our ship, $27 in Stewarts. Even with
the higher cost per flight, transportation between the two airports
will still sometimes make renting Cubby’s 2-33 more practical than
using our own.

What you get
A lot of fun
A winch endorsement (or re-currency) in your logbook
Rapid improvement in flying skills
Potential significant cost savings

Student and currency flying
The price issue is important, but not the main thing. Consider
value, or bang for the buck.
Winch-to-pattern will never replace aerotow in our operation. But
if you are a student, winch training is definitely for you. A lot of
training flights are spent developing skills in the traffic pattern
and landing. A winch operation using two gliders can launch eight to
ten flights in an hour. You will get better at everything in a big
hurry through repetition, and cut way down on those expensive
aerotows.
Currency flying uses much the same equation. One instructor told
me that the winch operation is not cost-effective, because the short
flights result in a very high cost per hour. I disagree. I get a lot
out of these short flights, the point of which is precision. I don’t
need to bounce along behind the Pawnee to do this. Also, I’ve had four
winch-to-thermal flights so far, even with our fairly low release
height.
I can afford all the aerotows I need to stay current and enjoy
myself, but then I’m already licensed. If I were learning, taking
multiple flights learning to fly the pattern and land, the cost today
could well be prohibitive. I doubt that I could have underwritten my
son’s flight instruction a few years ago at current prices.
Even if cost were no object, though, the equation of being a much
better pilot at a much lower cost per flight is hard to beat.

Safety issues
Winch launches have potential for problems. I’m not claiming to be
an expert – I’ve got my checkout, plus about 20 flights as an
instructor. I can tell you with authority that you have to know what
you are doing – as Jim puts it, be “switched on.”
I don’t see the risk as unreasonable, especially when compared to
the 200 foot aerotow rope breaks that we routinely do in training at
CCSC. Jim and Gerry are running a very professional operation. I’ve
reviewed the winch safety recommendations published in the SSA
magazine a few months ago, and we are in compliance. The list of e-
mail consultants to this operation now includes Frank Whitely,
considered the U.S. winch authority, and the well known Derek Piggott.
The engine has a lot of power, unlike some earlier winches. It
uses a light rope with a weak link, not a steel cable. The nose-hooked
2-33 glider has benign stall characteristics – important for our short
field operation. In fact, full aft stick on the winch will not result
in a stall. Rope breaks are a possibility, but not unmanageable. I’ve
had the worst case of max pitch, min altitude simulated winch engine
failure as a surprise training event, and found it easy to cope.

Getting started
Jim Goebel and Gordon Penner developed a PowerPoint presentation
covering the academics, now available online.
Taking a demo flight first might make this ground program more
meaningful, since you would have a better frame of reference. Jim
Goebel has an e-mail list of interested pilots. He sends periodic
notices of available dates, and the rest of us let him know if we can
be there. Email Jim at or me at
to get on the list.

The future
Unfortunately, the recent demo was contentious. Six of the board
members approved the demo on the November 1 date via email, with
another member stating only that he would not make the meeting. There
was also approval in advance to set up and begin winch ops prior to
having a quorum of the board present.
On October 31, one member vigorously objected to conducting the
operation without another board vote. Unfortunately, this resulted in
our representatives on the board spending their meeting discussing the
propriety of conducting this long-planned and pre-approved operation
on that day, rather than considering the merits of the operation
itself. Also, none of the board members not already involved with
winching even came out to the flight line, much less took a demo
flight. So, the demo may not have served its stated purpose. There are
also issues with having what amounts to a commercial operation within
the club that will have to be addressed for the long term. I am
hopeful the incoming board will take a fresh look next year.