Auto Tow Information

The Mynd "triangle" is made of light alloy now, and there have been a series
of detail small improvements to the gear generally. No parachute is used
when the retrieve winch is in use.

The Mynd winchmaster (Colin Knox) has now built a new retrieve winch, so
there are now two in use at the Mynd (not at the same time!). He has used
an entirely different principle to engage drive when the retrieve starts.

Of much more general interest, Skylaunch have built their second retrieve
winch (the first is of course at the Mynd). They have demonstrated it at
Lasham, and their Chief Flying Instructor has sent the following message to
their Yahoo One List:

"Following a successful midweek retrieve winch trial at Lasham a month
ago we are planning to have a weekend trial and evaluation of the new
system. The planned date for the trial is 10/11th September."

I had always supposed that such a system could not work at an airfield such
as Lasham, obviously I was completely wrong.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
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"Mike Lindsay" wrote in message
...


In article .com,
Frank Whiteley writes

Single drum turn around time is similar to autotow. If you retrieve
your rope at 15mph, it will take 5+minutes to get the rope back to the
launch point on a 6000ft run and another minute to get the tow car back
to the other end. Then the launch take up and launch you are talking
10 minute cycles or 6 launches per hour. If you're flying one Blanik,
or 5-6 gliders in a small club, this is fine. With parafil, we ran 4-6
minute cycle times.


Frank, have you ever been to the Midland GC site at the Long Mynd?

The scheme they use is to have a single drum winch, which launches the
glider and a much smaller one which retrieve the cable.

The two cables attach to 2 corners of a triangular piece of iron,
another cable with the launching rings and parachute goes to the
remaining corner. This system has been in use for at least 45 years, and
is the most efficient way I've seen of getting launched. But it wouldn't
work too well on an aerodrome site.

I've not timed it, but it was VERY quick, much quicker than

Mike Lindsay