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Old July 31st 09, 02:15 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Del C[_2_]
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Posts: 53
Default SAFE Winch Launching

Yesterday, launching into a moderate headwind at Lasham on a Skylaunch
winch, we were getting better than 2000ft launches from a 1200 metre run
in K13 and K21 training gliders. The best launch in a K21 was 2500ft.

This was using 4.5mm stranded steel cable, so we might have got a couple
of hundred feet higher using lightweight synthetic cables.

There were no cable or weak link breaks, frightening incidents, or launch
failures of any sort, despite rather gusty conditions.

Derek Copeland