cwyckham
Line Up and Wait
I went down to the local glider club today to sign up. I haven't flown a glider in a year. I used to fly a Schweizer 2-33 (an antique) at van Sant in PA using aero tow launches. Here they have all new ships. I was flying in a PW6, and they're getting a duo discus x this month as well. They also have a couple of PW5s and Astirs. I couldn't believe the quality of their fleet. Oh yeah, and they have their own airport, a massive 3000' long field that you can land about 5 gliders on side by side.
They also have a winch...
Holy cow, that thing is amazing. 0-60 knots in about 2 seconds. I make that to be about 1.5g not including the pitch-up, and I'm estimating conservatively. By the time you're 50' off the ground you're pitched at about 30 to 45 degrees nose up. It felt like being shot out of a cannon. You're at 1000' AGL in about 10 seconds. And all for about $10 per launch. I suppose a catapult launch off a carrier must be more g's, but there's no 45 degree pitch up while you're at it.
I can't wait to learn how to actually fly a winch launch. I could barely take in what was going on the first couple of times.
Chris
They also have a winch...
Holy cow, that thing is amazing. 0-60 knots in about 2 seconds. I make that to be about 1.5g not including the pitch-up, and I'm estimating conservatively. By the time you're 50' off the ground you're pitched at about 30 to 45 degrees nose up. It felt like being shot out of a cannon. You're at 1000' AGL in about 10 seconds. And all for about $10 per launch. I suppose a catapult launch off a carrier must be more g's, but there's no 45 degree pitch up while you're at it.
I can't wait to learn how to actually fly a winch launch. I could barely take in what was going on the first couple of times.
Chris