Ground launches and weak links

If you are not an experienced degreed Aero Eng who has done V-N diagrams and perused the above certification requirements(I have) perhaps you should not worry about this as an issue.

I am, I have, and I do worry.

Look, I wish the 2-33's weren't 50 years old. I wish they were great winch gliders and would last forever but none of that is true. Winch launch puts a lot of stress on an airframe. Stress metal enough and it breaks. We seem to keep learning that the hard way. Wishful thinking doesn't help.

This particular old metal glider has a number of red flags right out of the factory - unspecified weak link, dubious Vw speed and no true CG hook among them. After a half century of hard service they need to be treated with respect like the antiques they are.

Do yourselves a favor. The next time you are at the airport take a hard look at your 2-33. Specifically, look on top of the right wing D-tube in the area where the strut attaches. I've seen half a dozen with patched fatigue cracks there - saw one last weekend. Yes, it was being winch launched.

Why the right wing? Go sit in the front cockpit and open the spoiler half way like students are taught to land. Now try to use full left aileron like you were trying to prevent the glider from tipping over onto the right wing. If a student is going to drop a wing, likely it will be the right one because left aileron is blocked by the student's leg which is trapped by the spoiler handle.

If the glider has a "CG hook" grafted onto the right side of the fuselage, get down and carefully look at it. You'll notice it hangs below the skid so it's probably been ground off. So much for Schweizer giving much thought to winch launch.