I had a Hornet kite on me one time the winch driver saw it and gave it to
the winch.

The trim went to full back as I rotated as the aircraft has the stupidest
spring loaded trim system in the world for winch launching DANGER !

Does the PW5 have the same trim system says the guy was Asian so most of
them are light weights to add to his C of G problems.

Mal

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:dy6sd.186163$HA.103320@attbi_s01...

"Andre Volant" wrote in message
om...
http://www.glidingmagazine.com/NewsArticle.asp?id=1371
http://www.glidingmagazine.com/
Correct "CG" release was used, which on PW5 is offsett forward of the
CG.

As is supposed to be the case.

I was told that the nose hook is not allowed for winch towing of PW5.
That's what manual sais, but who knows why?

Because winching with a nose hook causes a glider to porpoise.

Which other gliders are not allowed to be winched by the nose?

Any glider with a CG hook. Many gliders are equipped with ONLY a CG hook.

I was told that PW5 has front and rear ballast weights, how
complicated is it?

Probably not complicated at all.

Who is resposible for checking weight and ballance, if for example
student pilot has 3 hours (40 flights X 5min) of flight experience?

There was nothing in the Gliding Magazine story about this level of
experience. However, 40 flights and 3:20 of instruction should have been
plenty for a rated pilot to make the transition to winch launch.

The pilot in command is always responsible for weight and balance.

This post and the Gliding Magazine story seems to suggest that there is
something wrong with the use of a CG hook. In fact, there is a great deal
wrong with NOT using a CG hook for winch launch.

A very FEW older gliders exhibit a behavior where the nose will pitch up
uncontrollably if the winch acceleration is too strong. These gliders
usually have high CG's, low CG hooks and small tail surfaces and/or all
moving tails that limit down elevator authority. Good winch drivers know
about them and reduce acceleration accordingly. I don't know if the
PeeWee
exhibits these characteristics - since it is a modern design, I doubt that
it does.

The usual cause for accidents of this type is a pilot who starts a climb
before the glider achieves a safe airspeed. This can be compounded in
modern gliders which often require NO back pressure to enter the climb.
If
the pilot in under the impression that a strong pull on the stick is
required to enter the climb, problems of this sort may result.

We need to wait the results of the investigation. Rushing to blame the
glider design is almost always the wrong thing to do.

Bill Daniels