Winch Launching

flyingmr2 wrote:

if you have a 10k runway available,. you could get launched into
space! Well, not quite, but it would sure seem high compared to a
regular 2k launch.

Just be sure to publish a NOTAM. Nobody expects a winch rope above, say,
3000 feet AGL.

On Jan 5, 9:11 am, John Smith wrote:
flyingmr2 wrote:
if you have a 10k runway available,. you could get launched into
space! Well, not quite, but it would sure seem high compared to a
regular 2k launch.

Just be sure to publish a NOTAM. Nobody expects a winch rope above, say,
3000 feet AGL.

Lets say, just for argument, that a rope below 1500' AGL would not
deserve a NOTAM but that over 1500' it would. So how long would the
rope be above 1500' on a 3000' launch? My educated guess is that
would be 15 - 20 seconds.

Would a rope the the 1500 - 3000 foot band for 20 seconds every 10
minutes warrant a NOTAM? A typical light plane at cruise travels
about 4000 feet in 20 seconds. Couldn't you just scan the airspace
visually out to three miles before starting the launch? It's really
quiet at a winch start line so you would probably hear an approaching
aircraft. The thing is that winch ropes just aren't in the sky very
long.

Obviously, there are situations that would require a NOTAM but that's
not the case everywhere.

bildan wrote:

Lets say, just for argument, that a rope below 1500' AGL would not
deserve a NOTAM but that over 1500' it would. So how long would the
rope be above 1500' on a 3000' launch? My educated guess is that
would be 15 - 20 seconds.

15 to 20 seconds are plenty enough for disaster. But I didn't mean it
literally. (Albeit, the 5000 feet launch in the linked YouTube clip did
require a NOTAM.) Anyway, I didn't mean it literally, but just wanted to
point out that a long rope will interfere with power traffic. This is
solvable, of course, if you have a plan and everybody cooperates. But
you definitely do need a plan.