Winching - Reverse Auto Tow

During the 1960's and early 1970's the Dansville (NY) Soaring Club primarily used the car-pulley system as described above by Steve. The anchor was in the grass adjacent to the runway and midfield. The cars drove on the runway to avoid tearing up the grass. The system worked very well at a cost of $1 per tow and tow rope wear was reasonable, although rope breaks were quite common. Having a Chrysler dealer as a club member who provided old and large V8 junk cars, with excellent cooling systems, was essential to the fiscal viability of the car-pully operation. About 9" high runway lights were installed in the early 1970's which required addition of thin tube tripods that covered each light to allow the rope to slip over the light rather than tearing up the light. Later the runway lights were replaced with ones that are about 2ft high which made car-pulley launches not viable.