On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 6:18:02 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Looking to get "professional" advice in setting up a winch operation for our small glider operation. Who would you consider the top four experts/consultants in the US, and why?

What qualifications would a winching expert/consultant hold? This is obviously a debatable point, but here's my guesstimate for starters.

1.A mastery of winching theory, principles, and numbers, a through understanding of all of the different opinions about how to launch safely, a well thought out position on how to winch safely, and the ability to communicate that (in English) to novices and non-technical people.

2.A hands-on track record of safe winch launches, say 5000-10000 launches in the last 5 years.

3.Experience operating five different winches of various designs and situations.

4.Lead responsibility for setting up (and operating)winch operations at five different sites within the last 10 years.

I'd guess that there are people in the world that have this level of expertise (and more).