Winch launch - most efficient and affordable way to launch a glider 🚀  

That's the only exciting thing about it, pulling around 3G for a sustained length of time.

We don't have a cuz at our feeld(

@@deang5622your doing smth wrong when u pull 3gs on a winch launch lmao

The strongest part is the acceleration on the ground. It pulls like an aircraft carrier catapult

We launch our RC gliders this way all time, have used ths method Many years, just watch your up angel and winch line tension , to much can damage or worse to wing.

This is the kind of thing you can see in almost every German country flying club. There are 218 airfields in Germany with winch takeoff capability.

took a screenshot) hope will go there when time is right

A component of the cable force pulls the plane forward, this speed is used by the airplane to climb.

Where do you land tho?

​@@tripled1600 on the airfield you just launched from, obviously. You fly a couple of minutes and then join the pattern for landing

For me it has always been more like 5 - 7 minutes, but I guess it does depend on the length of the airfield.

No, it was a helicopter.

Jetpack

I think with a drone 🐝

With a drone 👍

​@@SteFlySieht ganz schön nah aus zum Leitwerk 🙄.. Aber schon cool 👍.. So ein Video hätte ich gern wenn ich mit dem Fox 🦊 starte.... Schöne Grüße aus LOIH.. Vorarlberg.

@@alexandertheissl808kann ja auch ne mavic 2 zoom gewesen sein :) Mich überrascht das die Drohne bei 80-100kmh mithalten kann. Das geht dann eher Richtung inspire und deren Nachfolger

ja auch krass dass die die steigrate schafft@@SharinerLPHD

Fly his glider

If someone invented motorbikes today, they wouldn't be allowed on the roads either 😅 Or of someone invented alcohol and it became popular with the kids, insta-ban 😂

Mit einer FPV - Drone.

@@alexandertheissl808 ja aber wie das rechtlich ist, eigentlich soll man ja während des flugbetriebes nicht mot der drohne fliegen

This is the safest plane ever built. Why should it crash?

I meant I want to see what it would look like to crash in one of those

fpv drohne

No, the plane is getting more forward speed from the cable pulling it, and converting that into height with the wings. If it was stalling it would not generate enough lift to keep going up.

No it's safer than launching behind an airplane. There can be moments behind an airplane you are low but very far along the runway, so if the cable breaks then, you do not have enough altitude to turn around and land, but you also do not have enough runway left to land. With winch launching, you get high quicker, so you can always either land straight if you are low and not far, or do a circle around and land.

@@kedrednaelI disagree, it’s not about cable breaking it’s about the pilot stalling and snap rolling. It does happen. When things go sideways ways it can be dangerous. There is a reason you don’t see a lot of it.

@@judd_s5643 I think that is a question of how the winch launch is being thought. In Zeeland (NL) we just didn't start super steep. But when I visited in Germany they just seemed to pull earlier and quite hard, getting steep earlier, making it more dangerous. That being said, I googled a bit and overall statistics agree with you that winch launch is more dangerous than towing. For the reasons you said.

But a much higher investment compared to e.g. a LS3 ;)

Yes absolutely, but you glider costs more than 250k 😃

I paid $160k CAD ($120k USD) fully equipped in 2017 (demonstrator built in 2015) including taxes and shipping to Canada. Have put 521 hours in 233 FES launches on it in our short gliding seasons. I'm retired and keep it hangared at our municipal airport about 10 minutes away ready to go during the season. I open the hangar, push it out, taxi just short of our paved runway, remove the wing dolly, taxi to position on the runway and take off. Usually use less than 35% of the 4.2kwh battery per flight at an average cost of about 15 cents/kwh. Not needing any launch equipment or crew allows me to go up any day that looks promising. I have it registered as a "Basic Ultralight" so can do maintenance myself with negligible paperwork. So far the batteries have very little loss of capacity, maybe 20% at most. A new battery with 32% more rated capacity would cost 7250 euro including VAT but I don't expect to need one for a few years yet 😁

@@jimpike7445 The prices 7 years ago were crazy low. You would make a fortune selling your plane (but i wouldn't recommend :) ) - a new DG 1001 FES basic cost around 264k including VAT - delivery time 2030 and you have to accept rising prices up to 5% per year or cancel your order. Also used gliders went so unbelivable expensive... Keep the plane forever. How are thermals in Canada? Which glider we are talking about?

@@SharinerLPHD I'm in Ontario right next to Georgian Bay so often have to use some battery to get away from lake effect. Not the best soaring. The prairies and Rockies would be much better. My Silent2 is very comparable to the Mini Lak FES, 13.5m, 40:1 glide. A bigger glider such as the Lak 17 would need a wing removed to fit in my hangar so would require help and would have to be certified with probably double the cost and paperwork. Basing at a municipal airport with paved runway allows me to start gliding about a month earlier than the glider clubs with their grass strips. The thermal conditions in that early season were surprisingly good but I have to dress very warmly as the temperature at altitude gets below -10C.

Aero.

Auto tow also exists where a car races down the runway pulling the glider up like no a winch ​@deang5622

I can't wait to try my first auto tow

@@TheSoaringChannel Aero tow is still the best. It's longer, climbs to a higher altitude and requires more skill and coordination.

​@@deang5622 but it's way more expensive

No this is real. But flying a drone so close to the plane like this is crazy

and why do you think so?

I don't think so. Look at the town and the road. I think they are higher than they would be for a rc model. But the camera angle with the drone is crazy.