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| The Winch | |
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Cross Country Soaring, Inc. has recently acquired a winch! This page contains some images of a "winch clinic" we held May 19-21. While winches are routinely used in much of the world to launch gliders, they are pretty rare in the U.S. with perhaps fewer than a dozen sites nation-wide. Winches are fast, economical, quiet (compared to a tow plane), simpler maintenance, fun and GREEN (one quart of fuel gets a sailplane to 2000AGL). Did I mention fun? Here we are getting ready for another launch. They each take less than a minute from 'initial ground roll' to 'parachute back on the ground'. And what a ride! Here we are set up a few hundred feet off the end of runway 30 with the 330HP winch and 4000 feet of Spectra rope on the drum. Spectra rope is much safer than steel cable. There is virtually no recoil and it is so light that it floats! The atmosphere is a bit more relaxed around the winch when Spectra is being used, but during launch we do step back. | |
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CROSS COUNTRY SOARING, INC.
Lots of help form the workshop crew. |
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Welcome to Cross Country Soaring, Inc.
It's just a big, big kite. |
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Rides
We started the day with introductions and a little classroom theory from Bill Daniels. Bill came out from Colorado to mentor us in flying the glider during a winch launch. Bill has been winching for many years and is a CFIG (instructor). |
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Gift Certificates
Frank Whiteley, also out from Colorado, was our expert winchmeister. He first started winching in England over 20 years ago and is a passionate advocate. Here he gives us the basics before we position the winch. Both Bill and Frank were top notch, with extensive knowledge of the subject, a ton of experience, great attitudes and obvious skill. |
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Instruction
A double fisherman's knot, using a diagram for directions, takes a little concentration. The rope had broken at a previous splice. The knot is supposed to at least get us through the day, according to the documentation, at which time we would splice it properly. Rope breaks should be as rare as with aero-tow (very rare), but when they do occur, they are handled easily by the pilot due to the length of the runway ahead and the altitude so quickly attained. |
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Prices
Staging #1. |
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Scholarship Fund
Locked and loaded. |
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0-60 in about three seconds. What a great feeling. |
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Videos
Just airborne. |
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Pictures at an Exhibition
Already enough speed to begin rotation to about 45 degrees. |
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Directions
37 seconds later the Grob 103 is at 1500AGL. |
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Site Map
The cable back-releases automatically when the winch reduces power at the top of the climb. |
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Contact Us
The parachute is reeled in... |
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Buy Now Page
And dropped with precision. |
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Your Glider Rating
Steve Wheeler's Ask-21 grids next. This is Steve's first winch ride, too. Bill usually demonstrates a few launches before handing the controls over to the student. |
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Time and Cost
Fast start. |
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The Perfect Terrain
The 21 gets a nice high launch! I plan to begin offering this method of launch during designated weekdays. Pilot wishing to obtain a ground-launch endorsement, or anyone at all wishing to experience an amazing ride, will be most welcome. I will post the 'winch days' on "The Daily Schedule". My wife, Kathy, has agreed to drive the winch provided she gets a "Winch Wench" T-shirt. Coming up! There is a link to the schedule on the "Calendar&Links" page below. |
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