"Mike Borgelt" wrote in message
.. .

And for you guys who operate on nice green grass airfields which allow
things like cable retrieve winches - it don't happen in Oz.

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You have obviously never been to the Long Mynd - I have heard it described
rather unkindly) as " a barely levelled granite hilltop".

The retrieve system ( a small winch pulls the cable back to the launch
point) originated out of necessity many many years ago when the airfield was
much smaller and the winch had to be positioned outside the boundary. The
cable crossed a deep, (approx 15/20 ft) gully at the airfield boundary and
then on up along a slope covered in bracken and heather, any other method of
retrieving the cable was impracticable. However the system was so efficient
in terms of launch rates that it has continued to this day even though the
airfield is now big enough to site the winch within the boundary. There is
of course a small penalty in terms of launch height but this is of little
significance.