On one level I think this is an interesting idea. The concept of a low
level launch and climb away on FES is one that I've
heard others raise, but always in relation to aerotow.

The norm in a winch launch is to gently transition to a 45 degree climb in
a way which ensures you can always recover to a safe attitude and
subsequent landing. This transition typically happens at 30' - 100'. In
principle, if there was enough demand, I think it would be possible to
develop a lower powered winch, and a shallower climb to release, but from a
safety perspective, you would need to be able to ensure that if the FES did
not start, you could always land safely. Given the likely release height,
this would need a long enough run to land ahead safely from any failure.
The dynamic would be very site specific.

While any 'lower powered winch' might be slightly cheaper than one which
could launch to higher heights, most of the engineering would be very
similar, and my guess is not much cheaper. The days of low cost, self help
winches have largely gone in Europe, with the reality being that while
these were cheap(ish) to build, they could be quite dangerous. The modern
equivalent are much, much safer to operate (ground operations and flying
wise) but expensive. IIt;s an interse think for most US operations with
limited winch experience, the learning curve for even the most modern kit
would be steep.

Also factor in that most high performance gliders will want to get airborne
fully ballasted. This increases the likelihood of a launch failure, and
might make a safe landing from a failure much more interesting. I have
thousands of winch launches, and train others to recover from failures, but
always choose to fly my ballasted Ventus from aerotow. It's just about the
risk balance.

It's an interesting idea, and is certainly possible in my view, but I don't
really think it's commercially viable option where there is no existing
infrastructure. At our club, with all of the winch launching
infrastructure in place, the small number of FES equipped gliders choose to
go to the top of the winch launch (we would charge the same anyway). Lower
launches would save some fuel, but mixing lower launched with higher ones
would be a pain, and save no time.

Overall, I think a low level aerotow might be a much better option.


While winch launching is very common in Europe,

At 05:38 04 March 2020, Paul Remde wrote:
Hi,

This is just a thought... =20

I=E2=80=99ve recently been extremely interested in the FES (Front
Electric
=
Sustainer) sailplanes. They are becoming quite popular. Even very
high-pe=
rformance racing sailplanes like the Ventus 3 are being sold with FES
syste=
ms installed.

I am the U.S. dealer for DG/LS and they offer the LS8e neo with FES and
the=
new DG-1001e neo with FES prototype will fly very soon. It will be the
fi=
rst 2-seat sailplane with FES. I would love to trade my DG-1000S in for
a
=
DG-1001e neo with FES, but so far my DG-1000S co-owners aren't ready for
th=
at upgrade.

I'm not very experienced with winches and certainly not an expert on such
m=
atters, but I think there may be a nice market for a very small electric
wi=
nch designed to get an FES-equipped sailplane just up to 100 feet
=E2=80=93=
high enough to use the FES to climb to the first thermal. Even
self-launc=
h capable FES sailplanes would benefit from a small winch because they
woul=
d save much more of the sailplane's battery for use later in the flight -
s=
ince the initial takeoff roll requires a lot of power.

You can see an interesting video showing an FES-equipped sailplane taking
a=
n autotow to about 100 feet he=20
https://youtu.be/pTeNKM2cXQk=20

I would think that an electric winch could get a glider to 100 feet quite
e=
asily and be quite small and relatively inexpensive. The rope needed
would=
be much less, and the drum could be much smaller =E2=80=93 I imagine.

A "level ground bungee launch" to 100 feet would be another interesting
opt=
ion. But I would think that would have risks from by the bungee snapping
o=
r coming loose and hurting someone.=20

Any thoughts...? I'm just dreaming about the future of gliding...

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.