I would be interested in knowing the AUW of you glider and the average altitude you achieve with a high start as I tried this with an Easy Cub which is a standard airframe with a wing span of 54 " and AUW of around 800 gms ,with my limited experience I got a feeling yesterday that a heavier and larger plane should do better than the easy cub as it was far smaller and lighter than the kind of plane this bungee was designed for.
Hence knowing your glider details will help a great deal.
sai
Ok, i will weigh my 2M glider and post the AUW here later. However how did you assume that a heavier plane would do better than a lighter one ? In my opinion the lighter the plane the better ( in any scenario, including Hi-Starts) . With a heavy plane, you would not gain altitude as much as you would gain with the same, lighter airplane. Of course having a large wingspan would help in gaining altitude. I use my 2M glider and been very happy with this way of launching.
Sai sir,
Just a few word of caution for you and anyone else who is planning to use the high start technique.
1. Be very carefull of the stake driven in the ground when the bungee is stretched out. If the strake is not driven in proper or the earth is soft the stake can hurtle towards the person stretching the bungee with potentially fatal results.
2. High starts have the capability to rip off the wings of light models under full velocity
3. The ring should be tempered steel and not spoke material as this may deform and open up during stretch
4. The hook apart from being right angled also needsto be curved down a bit down at the rear (open end) this helps in the hook sliding off when the stretch is gone and glider is moving forward. All those who have been in tow line gliders would already know this.
Very very well said. #1 could be disastrous ! I will add to this to ensure that the hook is placed at the CG, and the plane released carefully with a bit of forward velocity (run a few steps and release ) to ensure it does not stall at the time of release.