Photo Page 7
The Club (GBSC)
acquired an ancient, single drum, winch in 2009 (in need of a paint job :-) ) from
the Post Mills Soaring Club - but it
runs well. The engine is a sizable V8. Winching is not common in the US but is done extensively in Europe and elsewhere. Many European winches have 4 or more drums so you can get a lot of gliders aloft in a short amount of time. |
The drum holds more than a mile of cable (which was
replaced with
Spectra synthetic rope in 2012). The idea is that you put the winch at one end of the field and the glider at the other, and then the winch reels in the cable at 50 or 60 knots or so (wind dependent) and launches the glider. A typical release altitude is about 1/3 of the cable length. |
Here is a launch shown from the other end of the field. Note that the cable is attached close to the glider's center of gravity. This is important because in the climb, the glider is pitched up 45 degrees. If the cable is attached to the nose, it's impossible to pitch up enough. It's a real rocket shot. Here's a youtube video of one of our early launches. |