"Del C" wrote in message ...
At 15:01 13 July 2009, Wayne Paul wrote:
After watching this thread deteriorate, it reminds me why I stopped =
participating in the WinchDesign Yahoo news group. The discussions =
became personal, agressive, angry, and absent of civility.

I really wish this thread would change its' tone, or move back to the =
WinchDesign group.

I started this thread off trying to promote winch launching as a safe,
environmentally friendly and low cost means of launching gliders. Most
gliding clubs in Germany, Holland, the UK and the Eastern European
countries do the majority of their launches this way.

The problem is Bill Daniels. I have no idea what his true agenda is: Maybe
to build up a US winch building empire? However the BGA winching advisor,
who knows everything there is to know about winch launching, has also
given up posting on the Winch Design Group in disgust.

Derek Copeland

I concur that the US needs an economical way to launch sailplanes. As elsewhere in the world, a good winch seems to be the answer.

I don't have a ground-launch endorsement in my log book; however, I hope to get the training in the near future.

In order for the endorsement to have any value, I will need to install a CG hook on my HP-14 and travel to a facility with a winch. There are a couple of auto/truck ground launching operation less then 300 mile; however, I will have the travel about 700 mile to use a winch. This should give you some sense of the US lack of winch launch accessibility.

I can remember asking a simple naive question on the WinchDesign group and being attacted by two Europeans who thought I was taking sides in a long standing argument. I was new to the group and didn't realize I was expected to read every posting on the News Group so as to be enlightened both technically and politically before being allowed to speak. As I watched I realized that emotion was driving the threads and engineering had almost vanished in the background. So... I left.

With sadness, I see the same thing happening here. I do not have the background to take sides; however, I see that the same emotionally charged cast of characters have simply moved their fight from the Yahoo News Group to here. It is sad, because in the name of enlightening the US soaring community to the value of using a good winch system, they are planting seed of doubt as to whether any winch can really be considered safe.

I just wish for all concerned that this thread would die.