Glider Winch Launch, 0 - 1900ft in 45 seconds

[TheCanine2]

what a beautiful video! thanks for posting

[geoffart]

I've flown with the ATC back, in the vicking, in 93, with whinch launches that I think were similiar to this. I was also lucky enough to fly at Lasham as well, back in 99.

[Fotenks]

that is incredible. They need more of these.

[hbvl]

i´ve allready mad a winchlunch in our ask 21 Rotenburg Wümme / Germany.

high 960 Meters

[Rickenbacker69]

960m!? How long was the winch line? I've seen maybe 300m with a 1000m line...

[cirrusflyboy]

To Rickenbacker69

Winch run was about 1200 metres.

[Cougarfreak2]

@cirrusflyboy 1900ft are about 570m....We've got 1000m line andabout 200-550m

its normal.......

[D0NGI0VANNl]

Oha! Wie lang ist denn eure Startstrecke???

Bei uns würde das mit 1000m Startbahn nicht ganz hinkommen ; )

[francepourmoi]

Nice smooth release there and I'd be happy with that height gain :)

[eeveeman3]

thats one long cable! Whenever I go we get to 600ft - 1000ft and have to use thermals to get higher :(

[05u16hep]

I keep releasing too late and make the back release go pop! launches are so cool tho

[Lindahl]

We do that every launch on my club. Then we pull the yellow handle 3 times just to make sure. I guess its different over different clubs.

[Henrit]

Greetings from EFRY

[ECAaxel]

Did this yesterday at Lasham in a K13. It was great fun

[joelwhitaker]

And we have a lambourghini tractor to tow cables and the winch!!!!

[joelwhitaker]

And i don't have to pay

[joelwhitaker]

at my gliding club/ sqn we use an MVG winch!!!!

Specification:

• 6 drums each with approx. 3000ft of steel cable.

• Turbocharged diesel engine.

• Weighs approximately 8 tons.

• Pneumatic guillotines fitted in case of cable release failure.

• Parachutes fitted to cables to ensure steady descent after release

[pilotwhitus]

at 611 vgs we can launch at 3000 with a good headwind and nylon cables sound very interesting ;)

[shiftnizzle]

wish we had a wincher around here. i have to get my tows the old fashioned way, and believe me, it's not cheap! hence the part where my friend and i sold our glider last year :P

[glamterra]

how much do you think 1 luanch costs?

thanks.

[cirrusflyboy]

For 2009, just over £8.00 at Lasham where we employ professional winch drivers. That's about $11 US at the current exchange rate. Many clubs can do them much more cheaply than that, if they use volunteer club members to drive the winches.

[itzajdmting]

had my first winch launch today, cable broke on second flight! it may not have been an actual break though im told, could of been a winch problem (see why u guys emply pro's! lol) Our winch launches are about £6 i think, and you pay 0.35p per minute of flight

[MichalOMNGB]

in slovakia 1 launch cost 1,7 euro :)

[kristoffersweden]

When I used to glide all we had was a towplane. That was about 9 euros a minute :) I would have loved to try winching though, looks like great fun!

[SirijusS]

That's amazing. In Lithuania 1 launch costs 20 Litas - that's about 5,8 euros

[wackytheshaggy]

hey do you know if this winch is still used at lasham? Or what happend to it cuz today there was only a smaller one. Still managed to get 1300 ft of it and that was due to a lack of wind and skill on my part.

[cirrusflyboy]

We stll have this Tost winch, but we have recently been evaluating a Skylaunch winch, which is physically smaller but equally powerful. Your less high launch was probably due to a lack of headwind and a shorter winch run than normal.

[KvornanTheLafesta]

wackytheshaggy, the TOST was sold to another gliding club, replaced by a smaller Skylaunch which is the one you're talking about.

[cirrusflyboy]

The original audio has been muted by WMG for copyright. What a bunch of miserable meanies! It's not as if I am selling or making any money from this video.

[joannenclayton]

Awesome video!

[jwalsh8]

id love to see how they mounted that camera on the wing.

[randomonia08]

lots of blue tac!! :p

[cirrusflyboy]

Actually it's a purpose made glassfibre and aluminium tube wing camera mount. It is admittedly held in place by gaffer tape!

[6axe1man5]

I love that comment...bit of gaffer tape. At VGS's we have stuff called winch tape...its self vulcanising* so it'll just fix anything, one day it'll be used for surgery for winch injuries. How often do you fly at Lasham? I'm only down the road in Basingstoke, used to be a member but can't afford it at the moment.

[Jjay2k7]

:0 i didn't know you could get to 1900 with winch launch lol i always drop the cable at 1000 ft

[cirrusflyboy]

With no wind you should get a launch height of about 40% of the cable run. Launching into a headwind will improve this. On the evening when this was filmed we had a cable run of about 4000ft launching into an approximately 10 knot headwind. Many of the launches were in excess of 2000ft.

[kakkannon]

*cough* Illegal to take a cable above 2000 ft

*cough*

:)

[cirrusflyboy]

Have a look at the Southern England airmap. You will find that Lasham can launch to 3000ft AGL.

[kakkannon]

ah right yeah, honestly slipped my mind that some can have 3000..

once we get nylon cables at 626 were applying for 3k as well. should be awesome

ill already be qualified for out of circuit solos by then and we're near the cost so i will finally be able to do some proper soaring

[MrTumnus8896]

@cirrusflyboy Highest launch I've had there is 2600 in a 20-25kt wind ;D

[ryan99333]

does it pull g's?

[cirrusflyboy]

As far as the pilots are concerned, most of the launch is at normal 1g. There is a fairly rapid acceleration at the start of the launch and a small amount of extra g as the glider rotates into the climb. It's rather like going up in a lift, where you only feel the changes in g force when the lift starts and stops. Once the lift has reached a constant speed then everything feels normal again.

[stevtomato]

I love winch launch! The thrill, and all, way better than aerotow, but of course, winch launch doesn't always succeed =P

[PickledNo0b]

guess that was done in the evening when the retrieve winch was put away!

[cirrusflyboy]

Correct, but the launch would have been almost as good using the retrieve winch.

[cirrusflyboy]

P.S. We do sometimes use the retrieve winch for the evening groups. This depends on the likely demand for winch launches and the availability of a qualified driver for it. Its use almost doubles the launch rate, compared with a conventional 2 cable and retrieve truck operation.

[PickledNo0b]

true but I do think loosing the retrieve winch can give you +400 ft

[cirrusflyboy]

I carried out some comparison tests when we first acquired the retrieve winch, by comparing the last launch of the day (conventional) with the previous launches (retrieve winch) over a period of several weeks. The average loss of launch height due to the retrieve winch was only about 5%, or 80ft off a 1600ft launch. So nothing like as bad as you claim!

[PickledNo0b]

fair enough, I don't doubt your tests, but personally I can never get over 1600ft with the retrieve winch.

[hangarrat101]

Wish I was there. After 14 flights my best is only 1250 feet. Still awesome fun though!!

[fighterpilot666]

I love winch lauches! Cheap, quick and heaps of fun! Nice winch ;).

[AugustusLarch]

Kate Bush is awesome.

It fits really well with the video.

[nurzoid]

uhh nice whats song ?

[cirrusflyboy]

A Kate Bush track called 'Running up that hill'

[stevtomato]

cool! how is the video taken? =S

[cirrusflyboy]

With a small DV camcorder and a specially made wingtip mount held in place with duct tape.

[stevtomato]

ahh so that's how all of these cool videos are made!

[atreewithnolife]

just awsome !!thanks,from gliderpilot down under

[seaplanecfi]

exterior shots of German sailplane, slight early bit of winch truck

[cirrusflyboy]

It's a German Tost winch mounted on an ex British Army Bedford truck.

[rushspbr]

VERY NICE!