Amazing Winching Weekend in Utah

On Tuesday, 6 October 2015 05:13:08 UTC+2, wrote:
In a nutshell, we had a fun and safe weekend flying $3,500 worth of aero tows for only $100 in fuel and $100 in rope reserves while putting big smiles on lots of faces.

It's good to see that more people are finding the value of winch launching.
Three years ago I did nearly all my training up to solo status using winch launches (around 60 flights) for under $250 USD ($3.70 USD per launch).

The only gripe I have with winch launching is that the gliders I have looked at so far are not supposed to be winch launched with water ballast on board which limits the usefulness of the winch on booming days.

At 05:50 07 October 2015, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Bruno what height AGL are you achieving on the winch launchs?

Hi All,

Sounds like you are having some fun.

Obviously I am sure you are aware we do loads of winch launching
here in the UK.

I am equally sure you are aware, but there is some excellent advice
on safe winch launching on the BGA website as there have been a
few accidents over the years.

By the way love your videos Bruno.

Cheers

Graham

At 05:50 07 October 2015, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Bruno what height AGL are you achieving on the winch launchs?

Hi All,

Sounds like you are having some fun.

Obviously I am sure you are aware we do loads of winch launching
here in the UK.

I am equally sure you are aware, but there is some excellent advice
on safe winch launching on the BGA website as there have been a
few accidents over the years.

By the way love your videos Bruno.

Cheers

Graham

Thanks Bruno, I'd bring my own glider with CG release and I've been
ground launching periodically since about 1987.

Dan

On 10/6/2015 10:36 PM, wrote:
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 9:54:10 AM UTC-6, Dan Marotta wrote:
Do you accept visiting pilots (SSA members) and their own ships?



This question is for both Nephi and Steamboat.



Dan

Hi Dan, we are meeting as a board of the club this winter to work on bylaws changes that will hopefully allow visiting pilots to enjoy getting trained / checked out on our winch and maybe even get access to our gliders. Not quite sure how that can be structured but we are planning on working on it.

Bruno - B4

--
Dan, 5J

I trained in Australia (Bond Springs) and, with about a mile of cable,
we typically got about 2,500' AGL.

On 10/6/2015 11:50 PM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Bruno what height AGL are you achieving on the winch launchs?

--
Dan, 5J

On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 12:26:10 AM UTC-6, Surge wrote:

The only gripe I have with winch launching is that the gliders I have looked at so far are not supposed to be winch launched with water ballast on board which limits the usefulness of the winch on booming days.

Which gliders are those?

On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 10:56:08 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 12:26:10 AM UTC-6, Surge wrote:

The only gripe I have with winch launching is that the gliders I have looked at so far are not supposed to be winch launched with water ballast on board which limits the usefulness of the winch on booming days.

Which gliders are those?

Just went through my LS8-18 manual, no restrictions regarding winch tow with water except for min speed to be above 120 km/h or 65 knots, 74 mph. Winch launching with at least partial water is very common in Europe.

On Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 5:09:52 AM UTC+11, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 10:56:08 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 12:26:10 AM UTC-6, Surge wrote:

The only gripe I have with winch launching is that the gliders I have looked at so far are not supposed to be winch launched with water ballast on board which limits the usefulness of the winch on booming days.

Which gliders are those?

Just went through my LS8-18 manual, no restrictions regarding winch tow with water except for min speed to be above 120 km/h or 65 knots, 74 mph. Winch launching with at least partial water is very common in Europe.

I have done a lot of winch launches over the years none with water as unless it is a big field my issue is can I still land ahead and stop with the extra weight if the cable breaks.

Its great for winter flying and training though. I have also come across aero tow pilots who have had little experience thermalling below 1500 feet agl where a winch trained pilot is happy at 800 feet agl.

On Monday, October 5, 2015 at 9:13:08 PM UTC-6, wrote:
The Utah Soaring Association (USA) held a winch training camp at Nephi this last weekend with our newly purchased and rebuilt winch. We invited Karl Striedieck and his brother Walter to come and train 4 of our cfig's over the course of 2.5 days. We ended up with 4 club cfig's who are now winch launch endorsed and who can help teach the rest of our club members how to safely fly a winch launch. We also got 3 club members fully trained on driving the winch and who can now also teach others to become drivers. Another 4 club members got a chance to drive the winch under supervision. We really only went half days if you take out all the time standing around chatting and still flew 78 launches!

The coolest part, other than getting to rocket up into the sky at crazy velocities, was that during the weekend we were able to introduce winch launching to 15 other club members who had never experienced it (or even seen it in person) before. They each got to experience a launch or two and we think we hooked many of them into wanting to get their own winch training and endorsement. Everyone I talked to left very impressed and willing to participate in winching in the future.

We proved winches can be a FAST way to launch a LOT of gliders or the same glider many times at a fraction of the cost! With a RZR side by side running the line back to the glider, we were able to get consistent 6 minute times from one launch to the next using one Twin Astir and 4,000' of rope! Yes, 10 launches an hour! On the last day we were also able to demonstrate that you can do the whole operation with only a winch driver and a wing runner (yours truly for most of the day) safely and effectively. I would run the wing and immediately jump in the golf cart as the glider was climbing and start down the side of the runway to retrieve the rope once it was dropped. With the slower golf cart, we were still getting 9-10 minute turn-arounds (6 launches an hour)! When we plan for contest tows we plan on 12-15 minute tows, so again, winches can be very efficient both in not needing extra personnel and time between launches. Of course a few more bodies are nice but not necessary.

Karl and Walter were amazing instructors and were very gracious with their time and sharing of their knowledge. Thank you guys for helping get us become more winch launch self-sufficient.

We also must thank and acknowledge Bill Daniels for all his help getting us started with winching earlier in the season. Without his advice and huge amount of help, we would have never taken the leap of faith to purchase an old warn out winch and almost completely overhaul or replace every component. Bill spent countless hours helping us to get to the point where we can really start going now as a club. Thanks Bill!

Here is a quick 15 second video of one of our launches:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206694768880766

In a nutshell, we had a fun and safe weekend flying $3,500 worth of aero tows for only $100 in fuel and $100 in rope reserves while putting big smiles on lots of faces.

Bruno - B4

Great to see that another club has embraced winching. Just flew today of our winch and had a great late fall day in Steamboat. We also have reduced our winch operation to just two people. The pilot and the winch operator.

A pair of saw horses act like the perfect wing runner. They never get distracted, always hold the wing level and never walk in front of the glider at the wrong time.

What kind of gains do you get from your winch? We typically get anywhere from 1300 to 1600' AGL, but our runway is only .8 miles or 4200' long.

Roberto

On Wednesday, 7 October 2015 17:56:08 UTC+2, wrote:
On Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at 12:26:10 AM UTC-6, Surge wrote:

The only gripe I have with winch launching is that the gliders I have looked at so far are not supposed to be winch launched with water ballast on board which limits the usefulness of the winch on booming days.

Which gliders are those?

With the ASW-19B and ASW-20 winch tows with water ballast are only recommended with more than 10 knots headwind.
I could swear I also saw a no ballast limitation on the Nimbus 2 but now I can't find it so I must be wrong.