Safety of winch launch vrs. aero tow?

"JJ Sinclair" wrote in message
...
Gary,
I suspect you are considering winch launching for your club and I would
think
the biggest problem would be in getting club members, "Up to Speed" on
winch
operations.

In way of illustrating my point, allow me to tell a little story about a
local
soaring operation that is no longer in business. This outfit advertised,
get
your "Aero-Tow Only" restriction, removed from your glider licence. Come
to XXX
Soaring and we will check you out in about an hour, or so. This outfit had
a
2-33 with only a nose tow hook (mistake no. 1) They didn't use radios
(mistake
no. 2) The flight examiner weighed a good 300 lb. + your average student
at 200
lb. = 500 lb's in the 2-33 (mistake no. 3)

I was going to take the course, but had to wait for the student in front
of me
to get his check-out. The signal for "Start the launch" was, level the
wings
and flash the lights in the car located near the right wing tip. It went
something like this:

1. Level the wings & flash the lights------------Glider rolled about 10
feet
and stopped. winch operator stalled the winch.

2. Level the wings & flash the lights---------- Cable went, but glider
didn't
move. In the last attempt, wheel had rolled over cable and caused a
reverse
release.

3.Level the wings & flash the lights---------------Glider went about 100
feet
and stopped. Cable had "Kinked" in previous 2 attempts and then broke at a
kink.

-------------30 minute delay while Nico-Press & sleves are found and cable
is
spliced. With 3 attempts and no success, student is having second thoughts
and
opens canopy and starts to climb out. Instructor tells him, everything
will be
fine, this time, Get back in here.

4. Level the wings & flash the lights------------ Glider takes off, to the
wild
applause of all those assembled. Glider only gets 400 feet due to nose tow
hook
location. Glider makes a 90 right and a 180 left, lands and rolls right up
to
the starting point.

Attempts 5, 6 & 7 come off without a hitch and the Flight Examiner is
called
out (300 lbs)

Level the wings & flash the lights-------------- Glider takes off, but
only
gets 300 feet, makes a modified 90/180 and plunks it down hard, way down
the
runway.

I took this opportunity to silently disappear and my licence still reads,
Aero-Tow Only.
JJ Sinclair

What JJ experienced is, unfortunately, an all too common experience in the
USA.

A bunch of guys, (it's usually guys) get together and decide to winch launch
gliders. ("How hard can it be?" "We can teach ourselves...") They start
with poor equipment, a bad site, no experience or training and proceed to
scare themselves badly...or worse.

They then decide that the problem is winch launch (It doesn't work, low
releases, lots of hassles, etc..) and then go back to air tow.

I've flown tugs and driven winches - I'll take winches for fun. I've flown
lots of air tow and been scared on plenty of occasions. I've flown lots of
winch launches and rarely had one go wrong. If anybody wants a winch
experienced CFI-G for a week of winch training, email me. I might be
available.

BTW, How about some of our British and European friends with lots of winch
experience jumping in here?

Bill Daniels