In the old days at Bacchus M. Brett Iggulden tells me when the old autotow car broke down they would go to Essendon Airport and hire from Avis a tank model Fairlane, go to hardware store and buy 3 bags of cement and flog the crap out of the fairlane for the weekend and return to AVIS Sunday night. Great heights with power.
I have done a bit over the years and it is great if have a good strip with a bit of tar. In the old days RAAF Williamtown was great - you would start slowing down with 2000ft to go on runway!! Were you having a fixed pulley on ground or mech advantage with pulley on back of ute? In the old days of wire it would be a series of bearings round the edge of a big circular plate (no momentum) Prob not necessary for rope except spinning pulley may burn rope. Good on you Ian McPhee Box 657 Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia Tel +61(0)2 66847642 mob +61(0)428847642 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.mrsoaring.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Derry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "aus-soaring" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 11:12 PM Subject: [Aus-soaring] Simplest Winch > Dear Winchers/Australian Soarers ! > A couple of weeks ago a group of us launched a Blanik using the simplest > winch system available - a car rope and pulleys. We were able to achieve > 1400 feet on an almost nil wind day from 1500 metres of runway. We used > a 4 litre Nissan Patrol diesel and a 3 to 1 pully arrangement, ie for > every 1 foot the car travelled the glider was pulled in 3 feet. > > We aim to use a longer strip once we have established a permanent > operation and will therefore get more height. > > The pulley system has a number of advantages over a normal winch, the > main one being that it is possible to use the vehicle you arrive at the > site in (a modern 6 cylinder car has also been tested and is more than > adequate for the job). These are: > -commonly available > -incredibly reliable > -the airflow from the moving vehicle cools the engine > -maintenance is done off location > -usually airconditioned > -easy to operate and train someone > -more controllable tension > -mobile (ie the car you arrive at the site in is licenced and easy to > take cross country) > -as soon as the launch is finnished the rope is back at the launch point > ready for the next glider if you use a single pulley > -using a multiple pulley arrangement it is possible to wind the rope in > 200 km per hour or more if you wish > -tractors can be used if you wish to operate from a farm > -launching using car propelled launches has a better safety record than > winches > > Anyone else care to share similar experiences ? > > Michael Derry > Western Australia > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring > _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
