"Bob Johnson" wrote in message
news:_DLmd.1161$3I.654@okepread01...
Reducing the drum size has more effect on torque than I realized. My
spreadsheet shows 953 lb-ft for 48", 242 lb-ft for 36" and only 85 lb-ft
for
24".

What do you think?

Bob


I think Bob's working on something like this.
http://www.lippmann.de/germany/produkte/hoistline.html

The Lippmann folks manufacture Dyneema "plastic" winch cable. They are
claiming a 950 meter (~3100' AGL) winch launch on a 2000 meter (~6500')
runway. They also note 3000 launches at one club without a break.

This puts the total per launch cost (fuel, maint. cable replacement etc...)
at about 1.5 Euro. Now that's cheap flying.

Bill Daniels