Auto-Towing - why is this not more popular?

On Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 8:08:59 AM UTC-6, wrote:


Sean
7T

Have you ever been on a modern 2-drum winch, Sean? With a trained crew and a good winch driver you can launch 2 gliders every 10 min without the hassle of dealing with 3-4000' of cable. Have you considered what auto-launch is like with a good cross-wind? No real problem with a winch because the cable ends up on the reel - all of it. Ignorance is sometimes bliss, you know.
Herb J7

Exactly. Auto tow will indeed be "dropping the rope all over the place" and, when all the costs are added up, it won't be any cheaper than a winch.

One must concede that auto tow LOOKS simpler and cheaper to novices but after a few weekends actually doing it the realization sets in that a winch is a much better idea. That's why there's a 1000:1 ratio between winch and auto tow operations globally. Pretty much everybody who tries auto tow winds up with a winch.

Back in the early 1960's a bunch of us desert rat glider pilots operating from El Mirage dry lake pushed the auto tow idea to its limit and in the process learned all the hard lessons. Operating a modern winch is a picnic by comparison.