Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Gliding Winch Launch

 
A Ventus 2a glider being launched at Lasham Airfield in UK

Well maybe I'm biased because I know how exhilarating a winch launch can be, but this photo captures a lot of what gliding is about. A sleek fibreglass glider, being launched into an open sky, the pilot's face profiled though a clear canopy, and the wings flexing under a G and a half of acceleration — all this nicely composed within the frame. It could be beaten by an aerial shot of a tight group of gliders in a thermal, but those are really hard to obtain. Photograph by whiteplanes.com, and illustrating gliding. - Solipsist 21:46, 6 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Comment: Photo is by someone else, he is simply friends with the sites owner and got permission.
  • Support. Nice picture, illustrates the article well (I would have had difficulty picturing winch-launching, and I wouldn't have pictured that much acceleration), beautiful colors. Resolution not quite high enough to tell whether the pilot has a mustache, but I don't mind. --Andrew 02:03, May 7, 2005 (UTC)
  • Support. You might see the moustache better if he was flying towards the camera. ;) Mgm|(talk) 20:53, May 7, 2005 (UTC)
  • Support. That'd probably be bad news for the photographer. ^_^ Sango123 00:22, May 8, 2005 (UTC)
Yes, in general the glider can't launch if anyone is in front of it. Every now and again the winch cable breaks and you would have half a mile of wire wipping towards you at ~60 mph. It would probably hurt if that hit you... -- Solipsist 10:09, 8 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Schempp-Hirth Ventus 2b glider being launched at Lasham Airfield in UK.jpg 9 / 0 / 0 --Spangineer 01:37, May 27, 2005 (UTC)