Glider Ride

Brian.. welcome to soaring, you can also track soaring events on
rec.aviation.soaring news group.

www.ssa.org

BT


"Brian Sponcil" wrote in message
...
As a favor to our local A&P (he was also paying me) I drove down to
Florida to pick up a glider tail section from Barry Aviation
(http://www.barryaviation.com/). The nice folks there decided that
after a 20+ hour drive I definitely needed to go soaring.

In ten years of flying planes I've gotten into the habit of only going
up when I have a destination in mind. Maybe I was just tired of driving
but flying that glider brought back all of the thrill and satisfaction
of floating in the air for its own sake.

If you haven't done it, I'd put it on your list of things to try, if for
no other reason than to experience how quiet flying can actually be.

I think I might try an ultralight next....


-Brian
Iowa City, IA
N33431

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 11:40:50 -0500, Brian Sponcil wrote:
If you haven't done it, I'd put it on your list of things to try, if for
no other reason than to experience how quiet flying can actually be.

I had my first winch-launch solo last Saturday (I already have a glider
rating, but aero tow only until I joined the Andreas Glider Club).

I stayed up for half an hour from a launch which only got me to 1200 feet.
The winch gives you only about 2 minutes to find something that's working.
I only had to come down as the glider was needed for the next person.

I still felt satisfied from that flight the next day. In fact, I still
have a feeling of satisfaction about it now! There's not much that beats
soaring for pure joy of flying.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Montblack" wrote:

Any photos out there of a glider winch launcher? Is it a vehicle launching
thingy or a Wright Brothers kind of contraption?

They vary a lot. Most use a vehicle engine to turn from one
to six (or more) drums with a cable on each. They'll have a
protected operator's cage on the frame. There are diesel,
LP gas, gasoline and electric winches. I've seen converted
vehicles with the drum on the back and trailer versions.

Here's a link that shows a typical modern 2-drum model:

http://www.wolds-gliding.org/launfacl.htm

Note the glider climb angle.
Todd Pattist
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)
___
Make a commitment to learn something from every flight.
Share what you learn.

Montblack wrote:

Any photos out there of a glider winch launcher? Is it a vehicle launching
thingy or a Wright Brothers kind of contraption?

There are many different kind of winches, from low-end homebuilt diesel
winches to commercial high-tech electro winches. The most complete
overview I know is
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/index.html

And then there's the ever funny movie
http://www.motorflug.de/movies/glider.mpg
which shows a winch in action. (Caution: 11 MB, but worth every bit.)

Stefan

(Stefan wrote)
There are many different kind of winches, from low-end homebuilt diesel
winches to commercial high-tech electro winches. The most complete
overview I know is
http://www.skylaunch.de/album/index.html

And then there's the ever funny movie
http://www.motorflug.de/movies/glider.mpg
which shows a winch in action. (Caution: 11 MB, but worth every bit.)

Leave it to the Germans to come up with a myriad of mechanized solutions
:-)

I'm loading the movie now
("I like to watch." Mmm...DSL)

--
Montblack

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 15:13:35 -0500, Montblack
wrote:
Any photos out there of a glider winch launcher? Is it a vehicle launching
thingy or a Wright Brothers kind of contraption?

The Wright Brothers kind of contraption is a tow plane :-)

The winch at the Andreas club is on the back of an old 7 ton truck.
The winch machinery itself consists of a Jaguar XJ6 4.2 litre straight
six engine, transmission and final drive, which turns a drum of steel
cable. The winch operator sits in a cage, and has all the Jaguar
controls (switches, gas pedal, brake) and additionally has a handle which
operates a cable cutting guillotine should the cable need to be cut.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"