Winch Signals

At 19:00 09 April 2009, Gavin Short wrote:


The radio calls a

'Take up slack (type of glider) (solo if a two seater and only one
pilot)
North/South cable'.

The winch driver then takes the cable in slowly until all slack is taken
up.

When all slack has been taken up:

'All out, All out'

The winch driver give appropriate initial throttle according to
weight/type of glider and wind. When it comes over the crest the winch
diver controls the winch by eyeballing the catenary of the cable. If
too
fast the pilot wags the rudder - yaws. If too slow the pilot puts the
nose down to regain speed.

Any problems the launch point calls ' STOP, STOP, STOP' and the winch
driver immediate cuts the power.

Note take up slack is said once,
'all out' is said twice
and
'STOP' three times.
Even if the engine is noisy or the radio distorted then the difference
is
always clear.


The UK verbal launch signals are said once in my experience but on a
similar vein -it had never occurred to me before but only a couple of
weeks ago it was pointed out to me by Don Irving (Chairman of the BGA
Instructors committee) that the best reason for sticking to them is
similar to Gavin's point:

Take up slack = 3 words
All Out = 2 words
Stop = 1 word

The verbal signals are called by the wing runner to the light signaller.
The winch receives the equivalent light signals (long slow flashes, faster
flashes, constant light)

Nowadays the pilot does not call launch commands. When he has accepted a
cable attachment he is deemed to be ready to launch and the the wing
runner (or a designated other) is responsible for making the calls
properly.

John Galloway