Worst winch launch I've seen was when I was as a student as the wingtip holder for another student who started with the back roller (Spornkuller) on a Ka-6. As the plane took off I saw that roller! Luckily nothing bad happened but I was frightened. 😱
Did a lot of winch launch’s at RAF Bicester, UK., in 1989. And on rainy or cloudy days, we would launch, hit 700 feet and release, run the pattern, and land. Wash, rinse, and repeat six or seven times a day to get time and experience. The winch launches were so cheap that we didn’t care and only spent about $30 all day and gliders, and instructors, were free. It was fun as we all helped each other and made many friends.
I flew with a club that used cars and a 1200' rope to launch and I also have hundreds of flights that were just around the pattern like you mentioned. What it taught me is to be sensitive to lift and to successfully climb out from low altitudes, and I'm a better pilot for it. What I don't get is all of the glider pilots these days that commit to land when they've still got 700' of altitude in an efficient airplane and can cover considerable distance before they must land. You've got to use that distance looking for lift to turn it into a nice flight.
I fly with an RAF club right now in the UK and spend typically £30 a day for about 4 launches. Instructors are free and it's honestly a fantastic experience being around and working with others/gliders all day.
@CapnCrusty I don't know what kind of glider you were flying in.... in a 2-32 at 700 feet I better be over the fence or I'm not going to make the numbers..... Nothing worse than knowing you aren't going to clear the fence and the cows are on their way to do a thorough investigation. Nothing smears up a canopy like cow tongues....
I worked for a glider port at the foot of a mountain. Free rental and instructors. We paid 8 bucks for gas for the tow plane to go to 5500 feet. Look for thermals and end up at the top of the hill at 2500 if you couldn't find anything. One tow one landing and we could stay up for hours. For 8 bucks.
The worst winch launch? - I suspect a friend of mine would dispute that. Having had a rather slow launch from an 1800ft long hill-top runway he put the nose down hard and released only to have the over-size drogue take the cable over the top of the port wing. His attempt to shed the cable was thwarted by the outer aileron gap leaving him with cable & drogue attached to the port wingtip. Despite full right rudder he completed a 180 degree left turn and arrived at the hill face about half way up. The front of the fus was destroyed but, thanks to pulling his feet up at the last moment, didn't include his legs. He still uses a fragment of the wreck for a key-ring as a souvenir of the incident.
Wow... With that kind of sink, you probably had excellent lift very near by... Very efficient collection of # of flights - no time wasted. Up, up, and away!!! Great video!
Been winch launching as well as aerotowing for 56 years. Got 1800 ft off last winch launch. If you're properly trained and fly properly there shouldn't be a problem. And YES do watch wind direction changes especially near the coast. Happy and safe gliding! John. FAI/BGA 51417.
That wasn't the worst. Winch launch. That honour goes to a friend of mine. He had been launching gliders all morning. I was operating the tractor cable retreive. About lunch time he asked me to get a relief for him so he could go to the toilet and have some lunch. I asked and the duty pilot tried to ignore the question. 2 more tows later I let him know it wasn't going to happen soon. The next launch......To fast too fast the glider signaled. Then too slow to slow. Then too fast fast untill at about 400 ft the glider got off and completed a circuit and landing. " I think the winch driver wants to be relieved" says the instructor from the back seat....... He was relieved and the duty pilot was given an ear bashing for leaving people stranded for to long on the winch....
In my mind: "Mayday, mayday, mayday, I've lost all engine power, going down, going down! Have to land immediately..." 😆 At the last flights of the day I did that a lot. Instead to pull the planes with the car to the hangar: going up on the winch and coming down fast as possible and rolling directly to the hangar... 😬
As a past winch operator, I think you had a very good winch, no cable break at a critical height, no sudden tail wind and no stupid maneuver while on winch. . . On one occasion, we had a sudden tail wind. The pilot started radioing "more power, more power", And I'm saying, "I'm giving it all she's got captain!". If you are on a winch flying straight and level at about 30ft above ground.... DISCONNECT and land before you run out of runway - you have a tailwind. This plonker knew that but insisted on trying to fly until he went right over the winch machine (and the slack auto disconnected). BUT!!! the cable came spiraling down haphazardly RIGHT NEXT TO MY PARKED CAR!!! Wow that was close. . . When you launch - ALWAYS look out left and right and check your alignment. One plonker pulled to his right (like a water skier leaning out of the wake). He created so much tension on the cable that when I killed the power to auto disconnect, his trajectory kept full tension. As the winch operator I had no ability to disconnect him. My right hand reached for the guillotine handle and my left hand on the radio button with me screaming, "TURN LEFT". As he turned left it created slack and the cable auto disconnected. . . Now my turn: I get to launch in a glider I have never flown before (a single Astir). As I rotate into the climb, my body slides back (the straps were higher than my shoulder). My feet leave the peddles and I can no longer reach the release knob through the climb. YIKES!!!. As the glider rotates horizontal my body slides back into position. All's good. I ended up making a small roped extension to the release knob for future launches. . . Oh and the BEST WINCH LAUNCH EVER !!! I had been training and training rope breaks on winch launches. They had been doing surprise breaks at various positions to see what I would do. The training was now firmly imprinted in my head.... SOOOOooo I come in one day looking forward to fly. I was a poor student so I had no money to waste. I climb in and we launch. At a critical moment... BANG!!!. I'm like stick down!, pull release 3 times, assess situation, it's tight but I can land with the remaining runway, full spoilers .... LAND! Literally wheel comes to a stop just off the edge of the runway. I'm thinking "F$#K I literally can't afford another launch and these plonkers decided to do another test on me." I radio in, "was that another rope break test?", they respond, "NO.".... I'm like... FFFFFFFUUUU..... My CFI then radios in, "That was a very good rope break decision and landing, well done." . And that is why it is so important to train and make sure that what would be a dangerous situation is nothing but a procedure!! . Happy flying guys!
My worst launch was at Kent in a Swallow. Nobody (especially myself ) noticed the sea breeze had come through between launches and I was then taking off downwind! Every time I tried to get into a climb the speed vanished. After a couple of climb attempts I released and just managed to stop beside the winch in what was left of the airfield.Always check the wind sock if you are within reach of the sea breeze.
Had my old man winching me once - got to 200ft and the winch stuttered, so lowered the nose ready to pull off, and then it picked up again so pulled back, same at 400ft and 600ft - at which point I pulled off and did an abbreviated circuit. Somebody had forgot to fill the fuel tank that morning....... Had similar 2 minute launches with heavy sink - all part of the game.........nothing to write home about.........
Yep. That is gliding rightout.. You cannot see lift, nor downdraft, you see only clouds. Landing without a scratch: prefect. Take a second cable and try again...
Apart from releasing under load, there was nothing wrong with that launch whatsoever. The bit that needs improvement is the section between top of launch and base leg. Strong sink = strong lift, somewhere. So pull your finger out, fly crossword at a sensible speed and get into better air.
Haha, what was bad about this winch launch? Airbreaks were locked and didn't get out, no cable break, no damage, pilot alive.... All indicators of a perfect flight. 😂🤣
I have seen autorotating helicopters with better glide ratio. And that's saying something, considering autorotating helicopters only decend mariginally slower than a free falling brick.
Wow. I assume you checked when this happened. I know I've hit unusually strong and long pockets of sink, and my hand instinctively reaches for the spoiler handle. I did notice that you sped up a bit in that sink, so kudos for that. Well, it's good to get a sufficient number of circuits and landings to keep current. Thanks for sharing.
Dont be a baby. I once belonged to a club on the coast of Kent, UK. The winch launches were lucky to reach 1000ft and 1200ft was considered a really good one. Once the inshore wind started in late morning, all lift was killed so most flights were 3-5 minutes. I remember in the last few flights before going solo being told to enter a tight spiral descent straight from the 1000ft launch then at 700 being told to come out of the spiral, work out which way I was pointed and join the circuit and land :-)
Worst winch launch I ever had was when the instrument panel fell onto my lap ,half way up the launch , in 1978 in a K6 , landed ok though.
Ach du lieber Gott!!! That would be exciting.
@@divyajnana it was!
Worst winch launch I've seen was when I was as a student as the wingtip holder for another student who started with the back roller (Spornkuller) on a Ka-6. As the plane took off I saw that roller! Luckily nothing bad happened but I was frightened. 😱
Did a lot of winch launch’s at RAF Bicester, UK., in 1989. And on rainy or cloudy days, we would launch, hit 700 feet and release, run the pattern, and land. Wash, rinse, and repeat six or seven times a day to get time and experience. The winch launches were so cheap that we didn’t care and only spent about $30 all day and gliders, and instructors, were free. It was fun as we all helped each other and made many friends.
I flew with a club that used cars and a 1200' rope to launch and I also have hundreds of flights that were just around the pattern like you mentioned. What it taught me is to be sensitive to lift and to successfully climb out from low altitudes, and I'm a better pilot for it. What I don't get is all of the glider pilots these days that commit to land when they've still got 700' of altitude in an efficient airplane and can cover considerable distance before they must land. You've got to use that distance looking for lift to turn it into a nice flight.
I fly with an RAF club right now in the UK and spend typically £30 a day for about 4 launches. Instructors are free and it's honestly a fantastic experience being around and working with others/gliders all day.
@CapnCrusty I don't know what kind of glider you were flying in.... in a 2-32 at 700 feet I better be over the fence or I'm not going to make the numbers.....
Nothing worse than knowing you aren't going to clear the fence and the cows are on their way to do a thorough investigation.
Nothing smears up a canopy like cow tongues....
I worked for a glider port at the foot of a mountain. Free rental and instructors.
We paid 8 bucks for gas for the tow plane to go to 5500 feet.
Look for thermals and end up at the top of the hill at 2500 if you couldn't find anything.
One tow one landing and we could stay up for hours. For 8 bucks.
That would have been when Kally (the girl with the big eyes) was around.
The worst winch launch? - I suspect a friend of mine would dispute that. Having had a rather slow launch from an 1800ft long hill-top runway he put the nose down hard and released only to have the over-size drogue take the cable over the top of the port wing. His attempt to shed the cable was thwarted by the outer aileron gap leaving him with cable & drogue attached to the port wingtip. Despite full right rudder he completed a 180 degree left turn and arrived at the hill face about half way up. The front of the fus was destroyed but, thanks to pulling his feet up at the last moment, didn't include his legs. He still uses a fragment of the wreck for a key-ring as a souvenir of the incident.
Wow... With that kind of sink, you probably had excellent lift very near by... Very efficient collection of # of flights - no time wasted. Up, up, and away!!! Great video!
Been winch launching as well as aerotowing for 56 years.
Got 1800 ft off last winch launch.
If you're properly trained and fly properly there shouldn't be a problem.
And YES do watch wind direction changes especially near the coast.
Happy and safe gliding!
John. FAI/BGA 51417.
Up at Camphill we'd call that the clenched fist. I'm very jealous of all that wide, flat space to land in!
Love Camphill
Wow what massive long & wide airfields you have there 😲
We glide from an 800m narrow grass strip with trees either side !!!!!!
Perfectly fine winch launch. You just got unlucky with the sink after!
That wasn't the worst. Winch launch. That honour goes to a friend of mine. He had been launching gliders all morning. I was operating the tractor cable retreive. About lunch time he asked me to get a relief for him so he could go to the toilet and have some lunch. I asked and the duty pilot tried to ignore the question. 2 more tows later I let him know it wasn't going to happen soon.
The next launch......To fast too fast the glider signaled. Then too slow to slow. Then too fast fast untill at about 400 ft the glider got off and completed a circuit and landing.
" I think the winch driver wants to be relieved" says the instructor from the back seat....... He was relieved and the duty pilot was given an ear bashing for leaving people stranded for to long on the winch....
1000ft is higher than our normal winch launch. we always get 280/300meters
1000 feet is 305 meters..?
@@Tjita1 yes which is more thatn 300. also he said 1000ft is a bad launch for him. well its a good launch for us
Eh, my worst winch launch took exactly 20 seconds of terror, as it got me to 30 meters AGL and quite an up tilt, when the rope broke. FUN!
In my mind: "Mayday, mayday, mayday, I've lost all engine power, going down, going down! Have to land immediately..." 😆
At the last flights of the day I did that a lot. Instead to pull the planes with the car to the hangar: going up on the winch and coming down fast as possible and rolling directly to the hangar... 😬
It's like the earth was a giant magnet sucking you down. Bumpy landing, ALWAYS blame the field. Quick video, but fun, thanks.
When I will shake with controll as you, my instructor will kick me in my ass ... Let that glider to fly and fly smoothly man ....
Thats the standard max alt at my airfield lol
As a past winch operator, I think you had a very good winch, no cable break at a critical height, no sudden tail wind and no stupid maneuver while on winch.
.
.
On one occasion, we had a sudden tail wind. The pilot started radioing "more power, more power", And I'm saying, "I'm giving it all she's got captain!". If you are on a winch flying straight and level at about 30ft above ground.... DISCONNECT and land before you run out of runway - you have a tailwind. This plonker knew that but insisted on trying to fly until he went right over the winch machine (and the slack auto disconnected). BUT!!! the cable came spiraling down haphazardly RIGHT NEXT TO MY PARKED CAR!!! Wow that was close.
.
.
When you launch - ALWAYS look out left and right and check your alignment. One plonker pulled to his right (like a water skier leaning out of the wake). He created so much tension on the cable that when I killed the power to auto disconnect, his trajectory kept full tension. As the winch operator I had no ability to disconnect him. My right hand reached for the guillotine handle and my left hand on the radio button with me screaming, "TURN LEFT". As he turned left it created slack and the cable auto disconnected.
.
.
Now my turn: I get to launch in a glider I have never flown before (a single Astir). As I rotate into the climb, my body slides back (the straps were higher than my shoulder). My feet leave the peddles and I can no longer reach the release knob through the climb. YIKES!!!. As the glider rotates horizontal my body slides back into position. All's good. I ended up making a small roped extension to the release knob for future launches.
.
.
Oh and the BEST WINCH LAUNCH EVER !!! I had been training and training rope breaks on winch launches. They had been doing surprise breaks at various positions to see what I would do. The training was now firmly imprinted in my head.... SOOOOooo I come in one day looking forward to fly. I was a poor student so I had no money to waste. I climb in and we launch. At a critical moment... BANG!!!. I'm like stick down!, pull release 3 times, assess situation, it's tight but I can land with the remaining runway, full spoilers .... LAND! Literally wheel comes to a stop just off the edge of the runway. I'm thinking "F$#K I literally can't afford another launch and these plonkers decided to do another test on me." I radio in, "was that another rope break test?", they respond, "NO.".... I'm like... FFFFFFFUUUU..... My CFI then radios in, "That was a very good rope break decision and landing, well done."
.
And that is why it is so important to train and make sure that what would be a dangerous situation is nothing but a procedure!!
.
Happy flying guys!
nice stories, thanks for sharing! :)
Rope break test in a single seated glider?
My worst launch was at Kent in a Swallow. Nobody (especially myself ) noticed the sea breeze had come through between launches and I was then taking off downwind! Every time I tried to get into a climb the speed vanished. After a couple of climb attempts I released and just managed to stop beside the winch in what was left of the airfield.Always check the wind sock if you are within reach of the sea breeze.
the worst winchlaunch is the one you dont survive
Another logbook entry
I used to get this 😂
Had my old man winching me once - got to 200ft and the winch stuttered, so lowered the nose ready to pull off, and then it picked up again so pulled back, same at 400ft and 600ft - at which point I pulled off and did an abbreviated circuit. Somebody had forgot to fill the fuel tank that morning....... Had similar 2 minute launches with heavy sink - all part of the game.........nothing to write home about.........
The tow didn’t look bad. The sink made it low and short but you get to try again. It looked fun and good practice.
winch!
Yep. That is gliding rightout.. You cannot see lift, nor downdraft, you see only clouds. Landing without a scratch: prefect.
Take a second cable and try again...
Greeted the instrument panel once in a K8.
Rope brake while you are still rollin' on the ground - try to beat that 😀
Just for personal information, what type of mobile app do you use on the phone for soaring and crosscountry flights please ?
may be lk8000...
Well handled
At first I thought 900ft thats alright, until the vario dropped... 😅
Well, we are used to way less on normal days. Sometimes 200 meters is a lot for us. Still manage whole circuit.
Shorter flight time than a 3-inch drone.
There was nothing wrong with the winch launch, you just had bad luck that you got pulled through a sink area🥴, happy flights!!🤩👍
Lahey got me 🤣
What app do you use on your phone?😁
Just consider yourself a sink magnet... I excel at that myself. :)
Apart from releasing under load, there was nothing wrong with that launch whatsoever. The bit that needs improvement is the section between top of launch and base leg. Strong sink = strong lift, somewhere. So pull your finger out, fly crossword at a sensible speed and get into better air.
We've all been there before haha
Pages of 2 to 3minute winch launches
Haha, what was bad about this winch launch? Airbreaks were locked and didn't get out, no cable break, no damage, pilot alive.... All indicators of a perfect flight. 😂🤣
I have seen autorotating helicopters with better glide ratio. And that's saying something, considering autorotating helicopters only decend mariginally slower than a free falling brick.
This is the best day of my life
shut up
Nice, I'd still log 0.2
Did he take off w airbrakes open ?
on my airfield its normal to get to only 250m with a dg1000 on winch
Lmao
IDK.. man, looks like you are spoiled if you think that was the worst ;=P
Dont tell me your LX100 is the altimeter :D
Click bait title
That was quite the sink. Did your spoilers pop open?
Airbrakes were closed, just a surprising amount of sink!
Wow. I assume you checked when this happened. I know I've hit unusually strong and long pockets of sink, and my hand instinctively reaches for the spoiler handle. I did notice that you sped up a bit in that sink, so kudos for that. Well, it's good to get a sufficient number of circuits and landings to keep current. Thanks for sharing.
Bei uns ist das ne gute runde
Maybe evacuate your bowels before the flight to bring down your all up weight?
Hopefully the next tow was at a discount
winch
Far from worst.
Dont be a baby. I once belonged to a club on the coast of Kent, UK. The winch launches were lucky to reach 1000ft and 1200ft was considered a really good one. Once the inshore wind started in late morning, all lift was killed so most flights were 3-5 minutes. I remember in the last few flights before going solo being told to enter a tight spiral descent straight from the 1000ft launch then at 700 being told to come out of the spiral, work out which way I was pointed and join the circuit and land :-)
Ah yes, no doubt you also had to walk uphill both ways to school as a child
@@JamesAlexanderGliding How did you guess? ;-)