Almost perfect payout winch launch.

Just a few notes on Gary's Payout winch System.

I have done Winch Launches, Auto Tows and have had the privilege of launching with Gary's payout winch.

It has been a few years since I have launched with it, and it appears Gary has perfected the technique and winch some since I have used it. He has been using the system for quite a few years now. He was using an electric rewinder and less payout at the start of the tow when I did it. But he may have modified the technique from what I am going to describe.

From the glider end when I was towing with it seems like a normal Auto Tow to start with, However once nearing the top of the climb for the rope he had payed out, he would start paying out more rope. This was easy to determine from the glider end and we just lowered the nose to maintain airspeed while he payed out more rope. He would then increase the tension and we would go back into a steep climb.

I was doing it on a very long dry lake, but was getting 2200 feet or more on a tow. I am sure we could have gone higher if we wanted to. It is a bit different in that it is a stepped climb, as opposed to the constant climb you get with an auto tow or winch launch, but still very easy do.

Some advantages of the system are that...
it probably cost 1/10 what a winch would cost
It is entirely portable, no equipment is left on the field or needs to be setup
It retrieves the rope and resets almost as quickly as you can return to the staging area.

I am sure he has a guillotine in the system, I probably wouldn't have towed with it if he didn't.

Since I haven't used it on a shorter runway, I can't comment on how it compares to an auto tow for launch height.

The initial climb is identical to an auto tow and will get the glider high enough for a 180 or even a 360 degree turn back to the runway typically before he starts paying out line.

Thanks Gary, I enjoyed towing behind your system, Perhaps will do it again someday.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

I replaced the electric retrieve motor with a 6hp Honda. The electric just didn't have enough poop to pull the chute back well. We've been using this payout winch for years now, and it works very well. It is simple and safe.. We are continuing to improve our technique tho. We used to start with the brake set, and accelerate the truck and glider together. But we changed that to accelerating the truck with the brake off, and the line paying out, and after the truck is up to speed, we then set the brake to the proper tension. This worked much better. The glider gets up to flying speed, and off the ground, much quicker, and therefor has control sooner, and gets higher.
The payout winch has several advantages over a conventional winch or auto tow in that when the glider hits lift, the line simply pays out faster. We almost never have any rope breaks because the tension on the brake is never supposed to be set above the breaking strength of the weak link.

It's too bad that some people, that have no idea what we are doing, immediately label it as bad and dangerous. It must be nice to be such a know it all, eh? I figured that it would bring out some of the idiots here when I posted the video. It's just so easy to be a dick online these days, isn't it?

Boggs

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 8:53:23 AM UTC-6, Waveguru wrote:
I replaced the electric retrieve motor with a 6hp Honda. The electric just didn't have enough poop to pull the chute back well. We've been using this payout winch for years now, and it works very well. It is simple and safe. We are continuing to improve our technique tho. We used to start with the brake set, and accelerate the truck and glider together. But we changed that to accelerating the truck with the brake off, and the line paying out, and after the truck is up to speed, we then set the brake to the proper tension. This worked much better. The glider gets up to flying speed, and off the ground, much quicker, and therefor has control sooner, and gets higher.

The payout winch has several advantages over a conventional winch or auto tow in that when the glider hits lift, the line simply pays out faster. We almost never have any rope breaks because the tension on the brake is never supposed to be set above the breaking strength of the weak link.



It's too bad that some people, that have no idea what we are doing, immediately label it as bad and dangerous. It must be nice to be such a know it all, eh? I figured that it would bring out some of the idiots here when I posted the video. It's just so easy to be a dick online these days, isn't it?



Boggs

Gary,

How are you measuring rope tension?

How are you measuring rope tension?

All we have is a pressure gauge on the hydraulics of the disc brake.
A tentiometer would be better, but we are trying to KISS.

Boggs