"Malcolm Austin" wrote in message
...
Your comments fit in my own experience at a fairly small club I've spent
most of my time at.

With around 60 members there are only about 8 to 10 who are "cleared" for
the winch. Instructors do not winch unless it's a special occasion or a
really quiet
day. There really isn't enough of them to waste on the winch anyway!

Still, isn't it a good idea for an instructor to master the winch if only to
teach it better from the other end of the wire?


Putting someone on the winch for a full day has/is resulting in loosing
these people to other activities (i.e. not gliding). The other problem
with such a low
number of trained people is that the winch duty comes around every 4
weeks. And also what
happens is that if you turn up to fly and the duty man isn't there, you
end up on the
winch all day again. If you've gone to fly and end up working, it's
extremely
demotivating.


Part of the problem is some winches are really uncomfortable to operate. To
get winch drivers, make the winch driver seat the most comfortable one on
the airfield. Enclose the cab, add heating and air conditioning or whatever
creature comforts desired.

Bill Daniels