There has been debate in Scotland for several years about the possibility of organising a winch operation and a couple of years ago Sean took the bull by the horns at the SHPF AGM and agreed to lead this.....little did he know how much time it would take!!! Obviously the first thing required is for a group of pilots to be capable of being winch into the air on a line..and since Scotland has many many hills it is not one of the main requirements to fly here, in fact some would say why winching!!
After much badgering and cajoling Sean encouraged a group of pilots to undertake a tow conversion course and also persuaded Jocky Sanderson at the Escape Flight Park in Braithwaite to train the said pilots. The 'trainees' were split into 2 groups with the 1st group scheduled to see Jocky in January - just as the floods hit so they dropped into reserve positions. Sean maintained contact with Jocky and, keeping a careful eye of the weather, identified a suitable slot over the weekend of 27/28 Feb (remember all the flying folk had this week!)
6 pilots arrived at Escape on Saturday morning- Mick and Iain from Aviemore, Jan and Pierre from the Ochils and Sean and me from Wingbeat. Jocky gave an intro to winch launching explaining the his system involved a quad bike with payout winch attached (remember this bit Tommy!!) the basics of winch launching were explained including - keep your feet down until fully airborne, use of the nodding dog to stay 'on line' and how to release by bringing both hands, and brakes down, and 'flicking' the release handle at the top of the climb.
All sounded fairly logical (well to some - I struggled with both brakes down to flick a release handle by the harness seat!!) and we headed out into a the field.
Josh (Jocky's son) gave a demonstration using a reverse launch as Jocky operated the tow - looks ok, all we have to do is 10 launches each. And so it started, tow bridles attached, canopies laid out and instructions given on hand signals for the tow marshall. Iain and Mick took first tows doing 3 or 4 each before the others settled in to the process. Jan was getting psyched up to start and Pierre was checking tow bridles. Sean, IAin. Mick and me managed 6 launches, Jan a couple and Pierre managed 5 after some encouragement to keep running! So by the end of the first day we all had a number of launches with the higher performance wings eaking the last out of the day before it went katabatic. Back to base for a de-brief and heading the the Royal Oak in Braithwaite to watch the England/Ireland 6 Nations Game.
Day 2 saw a return by 9am with the plan for the day to complete the 10 launches on the higher performance wings in the early nil wind conditions and then allow Jan and Pierre the easier launches as the wind picked up slightly to aid lift. The morning system worked like clockwork, Mick and me rotated tow's until we had 4 each, release was now perfected to 'stabilise on line, let go right brake, pull release handle and then quick turn downwind to complete a circuit and land back at launch - turn around was 7 minutes! Iain was next and completed his 10 flights and Sean was starting to prepare before Jocky said time for coffee and an exam - no one mentioned an exam earlier!!!!! There was also some concern about damaging the grass with the constant use of the quad.
Over coffee we all completed the mutli-choice exam and managed to get sufficient right to pass the exam - although there the usual discussion about right and wrong answers after the marking!!! But now a hard decision had to be made - the farm was about to start lambing and we couldn't risk damaging the limited grass that was available for grazing so Jocky decided that we would have to can launches for the rest of the day - after all we rely on the goodwill of farmers to allow use of the fields (did I mention that Jocky doesn't normally conduct tow courses at this time of year - Sean is very persistent!!)
Sean, Iain and Mick decided to join Jocky for a trip to Catbells, Pierre and Jan headed to collect a dog and I wished all well for the afternoon before heading north.
A successful outcome for the weekend - 3 completed tow launch conversions, Sean will head back with the 2nd group to finish his 4 remaining flights as will Pierre who, being a government employee can come back mid week and Jan will continue to practise using mental imagery but I'm sure will complete with Pierre.
And Jocky - all I can do is highly recommend his great approach to training (don't think I 'scared' him too much) and thank Josh and Jocky for their patience over the weekend
