Winching (European tips for US clubs)

Yes, safety is very important, but it's not a black art. If a student pilot
can be taught winch launch in 20 or so flights, a rated pilot can be taught
in less. There's no reason that a good pilot shouldn't be able to
concentrate on a launch for 30 - 40- seconds. The envelope is narrow but
not extremely so. Don't overstate the case.

Bill Daniels


"Dan G" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Aug 15, 11:21 pm, Chris Reed wrote:
A number of the current threads talk about winching in the US. As this
is fairly new to the US, and old hat in Europe, it might be useful for
European readers to offer tips to US clubs who are thinking of trying it.

My tip would to be concentrate on safety. It is of utmost importance
that a glider can also recover from a launch failure no matter when
during the launch it occurs. That sounds simple but in reality it's
quite complex: it mandates that the glider is flown in a very precise
and quite narrow envelope during the launch, particularly the first
part, and what you actually do in the event of a failure is totally
dependent on the layout of the airfield and wind speed and direction.
You need very experienced people to teach you what to do.

The BGA has produced excellent safety advice, read it he

http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/doc...hlaunching.pdf

However, if you don't follow that advice, this is what happens:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources...54%2008-07.pdf


Dan

On Aug 16, 3:45 am, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
The envelope is narrow but
not extremely so. Don't overstate the case.

An awful lot of people used to get killed in the UK winch launching,
and it did have an accident rate several times higher than aerotowing
(I believe the exact number was three times as many killed per winch
launch as there were per aerotow launch). Then the BGA instigated a
Safety Initiative in 2005, and since then I believe there's only been
one death - the one I linked to above, where the pilot ignored BGA
advice and paid the price.

Winching is perfectly safe - I don't launch any other way - but it
demands respect. The last thing winching in the US needs is an
accident. If you're starting a winch operation from an experience base
of zero, you need to thoroughly plan how you're going to get the
training and advice required, because it isn't trivial and is very
different to aerotow.


Dan

On 16 Aug, 03:45, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
Yes, safety is very important, but it's not a black art. If a student pilot
can be taught winch launch in 20 or so flights, a rated pilot can be taught
in less. There's no reason that a good pilot shouldn't be able to
concentrate on a launch for 30 - 40- seconds. The envelope is narrow but
not extremely so. Don't overstate the case.

Bill Daniels

Agree with the basics Bill but in practice its teaching all the
things that can go wrong that usually takes another 100 or more
launches. Correcting launch problems needs to become automatic, quick,
decisive and 'right first time' to make winching safe.

Ian

On Aug 16, 4:36 pm, nimbusgb wrote:
On 16 Aug, 03:45, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

Yes, safety is very important, but it's not a black art. If a student pilot
can be taught winch launch in 20 or so flights, a rated pilot can be taught
in less. There's no reason that a good pilot shouldn't be able to
concentrate on a launch for 30 - 40- seconds. The envelope is narrow but
not extremely so. Don't overstate the case.

Bill Daniels

Agree with the basics Bill but in practice its teaching all the
things that can go wrong that usually takes another 100 or more
launches. Correcting launch problems needs to become automatic, quick,
decisive and 'right first time' to make winching safe.

True, but is is any different for aerotows?

I have limited experience, so I have to rely on articles like
http://www.eglider.org/newsarticles/preventinglaunchingaccidents.htm

tom gardner

"nimbusgb" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 16 Aug, 03:45, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
Yes, safety is very important, but it's not a black art. If a student
pilot
can be taught winch launch in 20 or so flights, a rated pilot can be
taught
in less. There's no reason that a good pilot shouldn't be able to
concentrate on a launch for 30 - 40- seconds. The envelope is narrow but
not extremely so. Don't overstate the case.

Bill Daniels

Agree with the basics Bill but in practice its teaching all the
things that can go wrong that usually takes another 100 or more
launches. Correcting launch problems needs to become automatic, quick,
decisive and 'right first time' to make winching safe.

Ian

Yes, there are a million things that can go wrong but the pilot's response
is pretty much the same for all of them.

1. Fly the glider.
2. If anything feels funny, release.
3. Nose down ASAP but don't dive into the ground.
4. Wait for safe airspeed before doing anything else.
5. Land straight ahead if possible, or if too high, fly a tight 360 pattern.

The BGA winch safety poster is a very good start and we do use it. But note
that it is just a poster and not a 400 page manual on how to fly a winch
launch safely. That alone suggests that the safety issue in not that
complicated.

We appreciate the UK involvement but there are very significant differences
between the situation in the US and the UK which must be addressed. In the
US every pilot was trained in aero tow which introduces a few unique
problems. For one, US pilots are unaccustomed to monitoring airspeed during
ground roll and lift off - the tug pilot does that for them. They must be
taught to check for safe airspeed before entering the climb on a winch
launch. For another, most aero tow trained pilots will try to continue a
takeoff roll even if a wing touches the ground. On winch launch, they MUST
release if a wingtip touches.

Look, RAS is NOT the place to discuss flight instruction. That should be
one-to-one with a winch qualified flight instructor.

Bill Daniels

On Aug 16, 5:23 pm, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

Yes, there are a million things that can go wrong but the pilot's response
is pretty much the same for all of them.

1. Fly the glider.
2. If anything feels funny, release.
3. Nose down ASAP but don't dive into the ground.
4. Wait for safe airspeed before doing anything else.
5. Land straight ahead if possible, or if too high, fly a tight 360 pattern.

I would add

6. During the 360, keep looking over the nose to monitor & maintain
the glider's attitude and speed. Don't bother looking anywhere else.
At that height, there's little chance of recovering from a stall or
spin.


Dan