Have questions about Skylaunch winches? Find the answers in our glider winch frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Other than the traditional application, which is to launch glider safely and effectively, winches are also commonly used in other special projects requiring moving an object in a reliable and repeatable way at a required speed and tension.
Gliding and sailplane clubs are our most common customer. Winching applications vary widely to include motion picture, special effects, UAVs and drones, aerostats, crash testing, parachute training systems, military applications and more.
Broadly, gliders and sailplanes serve much the same purpose.
‘Glider’ refers to any aircraft designed for unpowered flight and is commonly used in the UK.
‘Sailplane’ is a glider designed specifically for sustained flight using natural atmospheric lift like thermals, ridge lift, or wave lift. You’ll hear it more widely in the US.
For every winch enquiry, Skylaunch will work closely with each customer to ensure the specification is correct to suit the application including:
We work very closely with each customer to advise on the best product for their winching applications.
As all of our winches are built to the customer’s specifications and requirements, so customers contact us with their needs and we work with them to produce exactly what they require.
Skylaunch winches are the safest in the gliding industry. We are constantly evolving the designs and equipment to improve safety and make operation simple and easy.
Any gliding or powered aviation activity has risks, but driving your car to the airfield is probably a higher risk.
With our equipment and proper training, winch launching can be operated very safely.
Using synthetic cables like Dyneema has also significantly reduced risks, rather than using steel cables. This is because synthetic cables are braided (steel are twisted) and so do not store energy through stretch and springback. Also they are much lighter and much safer to handle.
For the parachutes, ropes and connections from the winch cable to the glider we can also reduce nearly all of the metal parts. So if after a launch this falling rope etc could land somewhere with unintended consequences then this much reduces any risks.
Our winches have all moving parts guarded and we can include safety interlocks on all the opening panels.
We include engine start safety interlock, drum selected warnings, colour coded ergonomic controls etc.
Launch safety is enhanced with throttle control guides, which are calibrated for each glider and also there is a preset for head wind component.
A throttle damper regulates acceleration rate.
Our eye level pressure gauge gives a cable tension reading to optimise the launch heights and significantly reduce the risk of weak link breaks.
Access for entry and exit of the winch and cabin layout is safe and easy for winch drivers.
Using our trailer option ensures the winch is at a low level which is better for cable safety, as well as cab access.
Skylaunch winches have sufficient power and speed to give high launches to the largest twin seat fibreglass gliders, even in zero wind, but also has the precise power control to safely launch vintage (oldtimer) gliders.
Glider air speed is easily and precisely controlled using the Skylaunch unique preset control system, with cable tension meter to optimise each glider. This allows the glider type and head wind speed to be selected before the launch to give the correct amount of glider air speed for each glider launched.
The Skylaunch Operators’ Manual has full listings of data and setting positions for all glider types, so operators can ‘launch by numbers’. Request our Throttle Guide Setting Chart from the Downloads page.
Engine – Skylaunch’s most popular models use the new GM V8 engines (Propane / gasoline). These are designed for high power duty cycles and have proven to be best for performance, reliability and low operational costs.
Transmission – A heavy duty automatic unit, specially-calibrated for glider launching is fitted.
The gear changes are not noticeable to the glider and perform the best acceleration / speed control characteristics. Cooler unit with electric fan is fitted ensures long life.
Final Drive – The whole system is designed and manufactured by Skylaunch (from all new components) specifically for long life and ease of operation with standard metric bearings, seals, fasteners and high grade steels throughout.
Drum selection using hardened, spline couplings ensures trouble free changeover with no maintenance required. Efficient Lockheed disc braking system, with automatic cable tow-out brakes, gives long life and very easy servicing.
Emissions – Propane produces much cleaner emissions than gasoline or diesel fuel. Propane (being in a gas) gives a much smoother power delivery.
Maintenance – Due to its clean burning characteristics, maintenance is considerably reduced and engine life extended (proven to be beyond diesel engine life). Also the fuel system is much simpler with NO pump, governor or engine management required and therefore it proves to be very reliable. The simple propane carburettor fitted has only one moving part.
Cost – Propane is usually purchased without any highway tax (as industrial or off highway fuel) so it can be up to three times cheaper than petrol and is often a similar price to agricultural diesel.
Future – Electric-powered winches will become more popular than engine-powered models, but the the purchase costs will be higher. Luckily in some countries clubs can receive grants and funding to help with this.
Skylaunch have been manufacturing electric winches since 2011 and supplies winches using our standard mechanical components in combination with heavy duty industrial electrical systems.
Plug-in models – These winches have a large AGM battery pack as a ‘capacitor’ to store energy for launching, with a three-phase power supply in the airfield which then recharges these batteries between launches.
Cordless models – These winches have a large lithium battery pack to store enough energy to launch gliders for one or two days without charging, then when the winch is stored after launching it is plugged into the club’s three-phase supply for charging.
Customers – Currently there are more than 175 Skylaunch winches in use at civilian and military airfields around the world, all with great success. Skylaunch supplies winches and components to more than 45 countries worldwide.
Improvements – Due to improved reliability, ease of operation, manoeuvrability, reduction in ‘set-up’ time and cable handling problems, launches per annum usually increase by 10%-20%. Also with the Skylaunch power system and simplicity of control, launch heights are typically increased by approximately 200 ft / 60 m compared to other winches.
Reputation – We invite those who are interested to contact existing Skylaunch customers to ask them about their experience with our winches. We can supply contact details if needed.
Life of the winch is virtually indefinite because if an engine or transmission is worn after 25 years it can be rebuilt.
Our oldest Skylaunch winch is 35 years old, still in use every day and there are no plans to replace it.
We have winches which have made over 150,000 launches and still using the original engines/final drives etc. These are mainly using propane, as engine wear and emissions are less than when using gasoline fuel.
A very few 20+ year old Skylaunch winches have sold when a club has shut down for almost the same price they cost 20 years ago, so they really hold their asset value and are very sought after.
Electric Evo is the all-electric version of our glider launching winches.
Electric winches have many benefits but are more expensive and complex than our most popular 8.2 litre General Motors V8 winches, powered by propane or petrol.
An electric launch will use approx. 1kwh of electric. (with 1000m cable length to glider).
The only reason electric winches are selling in Europe is because some clubs are receiving large amounts of funding to ‘go green’. With a cordless lithium winch they can use solar panels on the hanger roof to charge the winch during the week days.
For everyone else, unless you can find substantial funding, the best environmental compromise is propane. Installing a bulk propane tank for refuelling at an airfield is normally quite straightforward in many countries.
Some benefits of propane are below –
UNO winches are manufactured as a one drum winch only. Normally these are for special purpose applications. They cannot be upgraded to two drum winches.
EVO winches are usually installed with two drums, but can specially be delivered with a single drum with an option for a later upgrade to a two drum design.
Max is a design only manufactured as a four drum.
We have two variants of our EVO winches called standard and premium. Standard is the open cab version and premium has closed cab and more equipment.
We have spent the last 35 years revising and improving the designs to reduce the risk of these errors as much as possible, but like with automobiles, parts can be damaged or broken.
We do find occasional damage to the drum select linkage from severe abuse of the lever or damage to the launch cable from poor driving technique.
We supply all the winches with full training. We also offer refresher training courses. Speak to us about arranging training for your club or organisation.
We know our winches are the leading winches for glider launching and other applications.
The phrase often said to us when we deliver a glider winch is “it is like going up on rails” and we have used this phrase for many years.
Customers are always impressed with the ergonomic ease of operation, performance, maintenance, access to the cab and all areas of the winch, general design etc.
The performance from the winch usually adds approximately 200ft / 60m to glider launch release heights when we deliver a new winch compared to their existing old winch.
We have a list of customer comments, please ask for a copy.
The earlier models (Skylaunch 1 & 2) had quite a narrow cab and customers would comment it is ‘compact’ for two people if training new drivers. The Skylaunch 3 and current EVO models were designed with a wider cab to make it more comfortable for two people.
Special purpose winches are either our glider winches we modify, or specially designed models manufactured specifically for certain special (non-gliding) winching applications.
These are normally for applications when any high cable tension and pull is required, which could be used for aerostats, drones, glider launching, military applications, film and TV SFX and many others.
Special winches are for non-gliding applications, for example UAV and drone launching, aerostats, film work, or any special purpose applications.
These can include winching, launching or pulling for military or civilian customers:
Also for TV and films including special effects (SFX) we have winched:
Skylaunch winches have been used on films including James Bond, Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious.
Sometimes we use one of the two winch drums to make a straight cable pull in.
Often, we use both drums by connecting one cable to the front of the item and the other drum to the rear but after it has been threaded around one or more return pulleys.
This gives the facility that the item can be slowed and stopped, then the opposite drum can be selected so the item can be wound back and reset and this can happen all very quickly. Similar to a cable car principle.
Occasionally, we have used winches in stock which are normally refurbished or re-engineered once sold to a customer.
A used, fully re-engineered winch is typically 30% cheaper than a new one.
We also sometimes sell used winches ‘as they are’ to customers that want to take on a refurbishment/upgrade project themselves.
We often have one or two used Tost winches in stock awaiting re-engineering, as these winches normally require extensive work before being re-sold to customers.
Used Skylaunch winches are only available very rarely, maybe if a club closed down or merged with another club, so we do not normally have any stock of used Skylaunch winches.
All our winches are usually manufactured to order to the exact specification of each customer, but please always contact us if you need a winch, as we may have something to suit your needs.
Tost winches ceased production and support of parts many years ago, so Skylaunch does offer parts, spares and upgrades, and full re-engineering for these often very old winches to help customers keep these winches operating.
Each Tost winch we support seems to be different, as they were made from old recycled lorry axles and old car engines and transmissions.
There are many other points too but in summary besides the age of these Tost winches, they were made from many old parts, to launch gliders which were much lighter and slower than today’s models.
Skylaunch will continue to support Tost winches as there are still many in use today, but we would recommend our re-engineering conversion to bring them modern standards of operator and launch safety.
A competitor may offer a winch at a lower price than our products, but that is for a reason.
A low-quality product is normally cheaper, but most customers want their winch to last many years in service so this is proven to be a false economy over the service life.
There are only a few winching products we do not offer at the moment, for example hang glider and paraglider winches.
This is due to current workload of all the other winches we manufacture, but we hope to develop a winch for these applications as soon as we can.
Skylaunch offers on-site servicing, maintenance and repairs, for all its winches and for non-Skylaunch winches too.
We can visit any winch around the world but travel costs may not be justified, so our winches are designed to be simple enough that customers can maintain and repair them at their discretion.
Typically Skylaunch’s annual winch service in the UK costs £500-£1,000 depending on age, service interval and if any other spares or upgrades are required, travelling distance, overnight accommodation etc.
New models and winches up to 15 years old: No modifications or adjustments are required for 4mm-10mm synthetic cables to be used. Interchangeable aluminium pulleys / rollers are available if hardened steel ones have been fitted originally.
Winches more than 15 years old: Later type pulley / roller box and other upgrades are available for older Skylaunch models.
Yes, Skylaunch has large stocks of parts and consumables for our winches and can manufacture parts for all other types and club-made winches as required.
This includes old Tost winches, German-manufactured winches which ceased being in production many years ago but are still in use at gliding clubs. If the parts are in stock, we can usually dispatch parts within one to two days.
Skylaunch only supplies our winches with full training. We can train driving, maintenance, airfield layout and operation, pilot training etc.
For an existing experienced winch launching site we normally only train the winch drivers, which takes one to two days unless many drivers require training.
For new airfields or airfields with no winching experience then we can train everyone, which normally takes five to seven days, assuming glider pilots only need conversion to winch launching.
Operation – Skylaunch winches feature simple design and ergonomic control layouts. Existing winch drivers can normally learn to operate a Skylaunch within six launches. Selectable power control guides and colour coded controls ensure operators easily / safely produce accurate, high launches, with a cable tension gauge to optimise each glider. Throttle damper assists controlling glider acceleration rate.
Maintenance – With very few daily checks, this gives easy and rapid setup time. Service intervals are normally every 6,000 launches. Servicing requires only a basic mechanical knowledge. The body panels are designed for quick and easy access to all areas and the low level of the winch improves safety and maintenance access.
Design – The narrow cable drums and length of the winch means our winches do NOT require cable ‘paying-on’ (level-wind) gear. Also the engineering does NOT require pneumatic, hydraulic or complex electrical systems. Logical design ensures a low maintenance and driver-friendly winch. The chassis design allows major mechanical units to be removed quickly from the winch as complete assemblies if required.
Winch drivers and ground/launch point – Skylaunch are very experienced in creating new, safe winching operations at air fields around the world, this includes ground crew and winch drivers.
All winches are supplied with comprehensive and wide-ranging on-site training.
Glider pilot training – We also supply highly-qualified instructors for training pilots at airfields new to winching, if required.
We will contact you with some questions to ensure we know your exact requirements (for example frequency of launches per day and year, ASL of airfield, airfield terrain and convex or concave surface, Max / Min operating temperatures, etc).
This would then give us all the information to supply a detailed quotation with everything you require, including delivery, training etc.
Yes, we supply and ship winches, components, parts etc to almost any country worldwide, unless restricted due to war etc.
We have agents in several countries, but please contact us directly and we will reply or if applicable we’ll ask our agent to contact you.
Skylaunch prides itself in giving excellent customer service, support and advice to all prospects and customers. We also have a large range of winch parts in stock at all times.
Skylaunch winches are designed by professional winch drivers with extensive winch driving experience.
Our team has launched more than half a million gliders and that experience is reflected in the Skylaunch designs of simplicity, reliability, safe glider launching, with ease of operation and maintenance.
We have been manufacturing these winches for 35 years, developing them all the time to produce the world’s leading glider and special project winches. We also supply parts and spares from our large stocks.
We offer upgrades, refurbishments, maintenance (on site or at Skylaunch HQ) and support to all our customers worldwide. This service extends to 45 countries so far and counting.
We exhibit at the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, Germany every year. This is the biggest sport aviation show in Europe, with one hall dedicated just to gliding.
We normally also exhibit at the SSA Convention in the USA (Soaring Society of America) every two years.
These events are very useful to show visitors we are here to help and to promote our products and innovations in design.
At the Aero show we meet visitors from many different countries (not just Europe) who can be military, civilian or from government organisations.
As always talking face to face with potential customers and catching up with existing customers is very useful.
Skylaunch is a long established (30+ years), dedicated glider winch manufacturer. New winch manufacture and club winch re-engineering is not just a job, it’s our passion! Please ask our customers.
Skylaunch employs around 10 staff.
It is best way to contact us is to email us or use our request a quote form please with a description of what you require, then we will reply to you to start discussing any details.
Often it is beneficial to discuss details by phone or WhatsApp etc (depending on language), as the more we know then the better we can supply exactly what you need at the best price.
You’ve read our glider winch FAQs but still have questions? Contact us for a chat about uses, safety and anything else about glider winches and special purpose winches.
