On Friday, December 9, 2016 at 8:45:05 AM UTC-7, Don Johnstone wrote:
At 08:24 09 December 2016, Pete Smith wrote:
No, the position changes subtly.

On my cirrus and N2 it is at the lower left of the stick box quadrant,
o
the
N3 in question and later gliders it is in the upper left.

Please read the accident report and its conclusions.

The accident described in the report was not so much of an issue
when Earlier ASW,17, 18,19,20 were designed and built. Same applied
to SH.
The accident is directly related to more powerful winches. The same
situation would develop with less powerful winches but it took much
much longer. There was more of a ground run to recognise the wing
on the ground and the acceleration was much less which meant that
when it went wrong it went wrong much slower with more time to
react. Not so with a modern powerful winch, when the problem occurs
it goes wrong very quickly, probably too quickly for any chance for a
meaningful reaction. What is described has always happened from time
to time, the only difference is that it did not start killing people until

the winches got powerful.

Muddled thinking, Don.

All winches have throttles so they produce no more power than the winch operator chooses. If the winch seems too powerful, you're problem is with the winch operator, not the winch.

Did "powerful" winches cause a wing drop and subsequent ground loop? Highly unlikely. The problem is far more likely to be with pilot training and general winch operations.

Wings go down on winch launch for three main reasons.

One, excessively slow acceleration allows a wing drop before the pilot gains aileron control - same as with aero tow. The difference is with a CG hook an ensuing ground loop is going to be more violent. It's much safer to get the glider up to aileron control airspeed in the minimum time.

Two, with a fast accelerating winch, should the pilot begin the ground roll with aileron input, they will take effect suddenly forcing a wing tip to the ground before the pilot can react - consciously centering the stick before the launch starts is critical. Avoiding over-controlling ailerons is equally important.

Three, wing "runners" sometimes mishandle the situation. If they are accustomed to aero tow, they will be surprised how quickly the tip must be released.