Safety of winch launch vrs. aero tow?

"Mike Borgelt" wrote in message
.. .

And for you guys who operate on nice green grass airfields which allow
things like cable retrieve winches - it don't happen in Oz.

***********
You have obviously never been to the Long Mynd - I have heard it described
rather unkindly) as " a barely levelled granite hilltop".

The retrieve system ( a small winch pulls the cable back to the launch
point) originated out of necessity many many years ago when the airfield was
much smaller and the winch had to be positioned outside the boundary. The
cable crossed a deep, (approx 15/20 ft) gully at the airfield boundary and
then on up along a slope covered in bracken and heather, any other method of
retrieving the cable was impracticable. However the system was so efficient
in terms of launch rates that it has continued to this day even though the
airfield is now big enough to site the winch within the boundary. There is
of course a small penalty in terms of launch height but this is of little
significance.

On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 11:59:17 -0000, "Silent Flyer" ]
wrote:


"Mike Borgelt" wrote in message
.. .

And for you guys who operate on nice green grass airfields which allow
things like cable retrieve winches - it don't happen in Oz.

***********
You have obviously never been to the Long Mynd - I have heard it described
rather unkindly) as " a barely levelled granite hilltop".

Actually I have in 1988.
The surface looked pretty good compared to most Oz airfields. There
are one or two which I've jokingly said you would fail an outlanding
check if you picked the airfield.

I'm sure there are good statistics available for the safety of winch
vs aerotow but nobody has come up with them.

Winching is cheaper for training but has anyone noticed that gliding
is shrinking worldwide? Perhaps the old way of doing business is no
longer successful?

I think we need to realise that gliding is a sport for *pilots*.

First turn a newcomer into a pilot.

There is a wonderful array of small light aircraft and /or
motorgliders available nowadays at very reasonable prices. In Oz a
Pipistrel Sinus costs about the same as a new ASK21 and for the
purposes the K21 would be mostly used for (primary training) the Sinus
might be not quite as good a sailplane but will more than adequately
do the job and lets you teach cross country navigation, outlanding
field selection etc as well as being a not bad two seat bugsmasher.
Combine training in one of these with motivational rides with cross
country pilots in high performance two seat gliders(minimum - Janus,
Duo etc preferably with self launch or turbo to prevent outlandings)
and I think you might have a 21st Century soaring movement that might
have a fighting chance of actually retaining the people that come to
it.

Mike Borgelt