Hi Ron, we did some reflex launching at Bacchus a while back (10-15 years?) and it was good fun. We used aerotow rope, approx 1000 feet if my memory is correct - the stretch meant that you could actually get (slightly) greater altitude than that. I can't remember the car speed as it took off down the runway, but 60-70kph sound familiar. You'll just have to try that one. The speed was certainly a lot less than people think it needs to be.
The really exciting part is after you leave the ground and due to the reduction in drag the rope starts to shrink (un-stretch) which gives you the same feeling as a cable break or loss of power with a winch lanch. If you keep the nose down the rope continues to shrink and you have a major problem, so the solution is to trust in some greater being and just keep pulling back and hope that the rope really hasn't broken - not a good feeling and goes against all of your training. If you pull back the rope (eventually) goes tight again and you have a lovely launch. We did it for a while but then fear took over and we resorted to normal auto tow, with heights achieved not much less than the reflex. Terry On Wed, Nov 25th, 2009 at 12:07 AM, Ron Sanders <[email protected]> wrote: > Does anybody remember the old "reflex launch" I am not sure if it > was > ever legal but at Cunderdin I can remember sitting in a Kooka and > upon > the ready advice the car took off straight down the runway at full > bore with no uptake of the slack or anything---the shock was > absorbed > by a flexible (nylon??) rope section which somewhat later after its > rapid extension would give back all that energy after which you then > did a "normal" auto tow. I am after approximate lengths of rope and > stretch part that people might have used in those days if anyone > remembers. > > Might do it again for a laugh one day!!!!!! > > Ron > _______________________________________________ > 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
