  High resolution spectra of Galactic Black Holes (GBH) reveal the presence of
highly ionised absorbers. In one GBH, accreting close to the Eddington limit
for more than a decade, a powerful accretion disc wind is observed to be
present in softer X-ray states and it has been suggested that it can carry away
enough mass and energy to quench the radio jet. Here we report that these
winds, which may have mass outflow rates of the order of the inner accretion
rate or higher, are an ubiquitous component of the jet-free soft states of all
GBH. We furthermore demonstrate that these winds have an equatorial geometry
with opening angles of few tens of degrees, and so are only observed in sources
in which the disc is inclined at a large angle to the line of sight. The
decrease in Fe XXV / Fe XXVI line ratio with Compton temperature, observed in
the soft state, suggests a link between higher wind ionisation and harder
spectral shapes. Although the physical interaction between the wind, accretion
flow and jet is still not fully understood, the mass flux and power of these
winds, and their presence ubiquitously during the soft X-ray states suggests
they are fundamental components of the accretion phenomenon.
