| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1235.1 | Keep the reports coming... | KAY::FISHER | Stop and smell the balsa. | Thu Aug 02 1990 13:21 | 14 |
| > on when I like to go flying by myself. Any comments from you
> experienced glider guiders ?
Sounds great. Enjoyed your story. Please keep us posted on your
gliding experiences and this ASW.
Nice price! I had a bit of trouble parsing your accent but loved
trying. Did you have any significant damage from the last winch attempt?
If so tell us how you repaired the plastic fuselage.
Bye --+--
Kay R. Fisher |
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| 1235.2 | What's a "start car"? | HPSPWR::WALTER | | Thu Aug 02 1990 18:21 | 19 |
| > Concensus : I'm going to build a start car where to put the plane
> on when I like to go flying by myself. Any comments from you
> experienced glider guiders ?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Do you mean set the glider on a cart
with wheels, attach the tow hook, and let 'er rip? If so, that sounds far more
likely to create problems than a simple hand launch.
Using a winch just takes a little practice, and you'd probably be better off
practicing on a smaller (cheaper) glider. Operating the winch while flying the
plane takes some coordination; it's a little like patting your head while
rubbing your stomach (do they do that in Europe?). But I always find it more
exciting a launch method than a high start, especially when executing a zoom
at the top. And launching out of your hand allows you to "feel" the pressure
as you spool up the winch, so that when you release the plane it climbs at an
optimum rate. With the plane on a cart, I would worry about controlling it at
low speed.
Dave
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| 1235.3 | Translation confusion | KAY::FISHER | Stop and smell the balsa. | Fri Aug 03 1990 09:31 | 17 |
| >> Concensus : I'm going to build a start car where to put the plane
>> on when I like to go flying by myself. Any comments from you
>> experienced glider guiders ?
>
>I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Do you mean set the glider on a cart
>with wheels, attach the tow hook, and let 'er rip? If so, that sounds far more
>likely to create problems than a simple hand launch.
Different minds work in different ways. My interpretation of the above
was building a winch with a car starter? But I only read it about 3 times.
I can see now where you are probably right and I agree - the launch dolly
will probably be more trouble than help.
Bye --+--
Kay R. Fisher |
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| 1235.4 | Hand held launches are safest | ELMAGO::TTOMBAUGH | High Plains Drifter | Fri Aug 03 1990 09:45 | 20 |
| I was confused by the *start cart too, but assumed it was a launch
dolly. Anything that runs on the ground is going to cause more trouble
than it's worth. Learn to hand launch, by practicing conservative
launches with the winch. Keep the nose down a little and don't
try for max. altitude on every launch. You'll be an accomplished
winch user in short order.
The British use an interesting system for launching their sailplanes
with an aerotow. The plane sits on a dolly mounted on top of a single
rail track, about 30 ft. long and 3-4 ft. above the ground. The
tow plane takes up the slack, the glider shoots down the track,
the dolly stops abruptly at the end, and the glider shoots into
the air well above flying speed. I've seen video tape of this and
it works well.
Your ASW-24 sounds like a nice plane. Too bad it would cost >$400
over here.
Terry
|
| 1235.5 | Full Scale ASW24 | USRCV1::BLUMJ | | Mon Aug 06 1990 17:37 | 18 |
| By chance I ran into an old friend of my father's at the local airport
as he was cleaning off his latest sailplane, you guessed it an ASW24.
I first met this fellow 24 years ago when he was flying a K6. Since
then he has owned many different sailplanes including Diamant, Cirrus,
Hp14 and a couple others I don't remember. This guy has been flying
Sailplanes for over 30 years, so I asked him to tell me what its like
flying an ASW24. The fit and finish of this ship are so good that with
tape on the joint between the wings and the fuselage he claims there is
absolutely no noise whatsoever. He claims the drag is so low on this
ship that there is no noticeable difference in the horizon at 60 knots
per hour or 80 knots per hour! The wing and tailfeathers had
turbulators glued to their respective surfaces. The L/D of this ship
is 44-to-1 at 60 knots. It truly was a work of art.
Regards,
Jim
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| 1235.6 | flying ROBBE's ASW24 | KBOMFG::KNOERLE | | Tue Aug 07 1990 09:16 | 61 |
|
FLYING the ROBBE ASW 24
After the past long weekend (Friday & Monday off) I'm able to
report about the flying characteristics of my ASW24. First I have
to appologize for my bad English : what I meant with "start car"
was something with wheels to put my glider on when hi-starting from
the ground. Meanwhile I made approx. 15 high starts by myself and with
your advises I won't build a start dolly (I guess that's what I meant).
After I got used to the launch with winch doing everything by myself and
learning that if the nose will be too much up the plane will fly
horizontal with a tendency towards terra firma (Uffff, 'was real
lucky...) - it's the way to launch ! The ASW24 goes up like on
rails, the rudder efficency is good during the launch. (Otherwise
the plane would have crashed at the first launch, when the tow
was laying in the gras not straight producing too much drag until
it got straightened out). On the top I stopped the winch, a little
down elevator to accelerate and then up - the tow released and the
plane gained several meters on altitude. (is this called zooming ??)
The turns have to be flown with ailerons rudder and elevator to turn
fast. When flying the plane too slow the turns must be wide not to
loose altitude. If it's been flown faster the turns can be
surprizingly (sp ?) short, with a very small radius. When searching
thermals I prefered flying slow though.
On Sunday I went to a slope, the wind not too strong, maybe 10 mph.
(was to less to get the plane soaring in the wind with no forward
motion related to ground). After hand launching I turned parallel to
the slope and it gained altitude imediately. The turn was easy to fly
since I trimmed a little "down" and the plane flew fast. After a
while I was 300 feet high using thermal activity at the edge of a
wood. A steep dive to build up speed was followed by a real impressive
roll with a duration of approx. 5 sec.- No no no, it was NOT a barrel
roll. The roll was straight (with down elevator while inverted of corse)
After thermaling up a sequence of three loops followed without
correction, the plane still was in the same direction.
What I recognized when flying fast after a steep dive is the wistling
noise. I wonder where this is coming from. Maybe the edge of the
cannopy that is a little deeper in the shape of the fuse, or is it
the 1/12 inch thickness of the trailing edge of the wings ? I don't
know.
Terry, the plane (including GRAUPNER Spoilers) would cost $ 234.-
Are you in CXO, I will be there from 13th August till end of August.
\\
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\ \ / \_\
\ \ /LO |
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< \ \-''
'-___-'\ \
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\ \ Holm- und Rippenbruch,
\ \
\\ Bernd
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| 1235.7 | 7 hours south of CXO | ELMAGO::TTOMBAUGH | High Plains Drifter | Tue Aug 07 1990 11:31 | 11 |
| Bernd,
I'm in Albuquerque, N.M. about 730 KM south of CXO, on the same
highway. If you should get a chance to come down on a weekend, we'd
sure like to take you R/C glider flying. Drop me a mail message
or DTN 552-2117 or home phone is (505) 821-0063. Look up Mark Antry
or Ron Watts at CXO, they like to think of themselves as glider
guiders too.
Terry
|
| 1235.8 | Zzzzoooooooommm! | HPSPWR::WALTER | | Tue Aug 07 1990 17:16 | 26 |
| Bernd,
That ASW24 sounds like a nice plane. Any chance you could get a video
of it, or at least some still pictures? We could show it at the DECRCM
meeting.
Regarding the "zoom" launch, what you described is almost a zoom. When
you have about reached the top of the launch, a zoom is executed by
pointing down the nose of the glider and giving full winch power. This
gives the plane enormous speed. You then pull the plane up at the same
time you back off the winch power. You can use the speed to gain more
altitude, or simply to fly fast in a particular direction. When done
properly, the zoom gives you more altitude (or energy) than just
floating off the hook at the top. When done improperly, it gives you
several large glider pieces falling out of the sky at various speeds.
The wing halves usually come down last.
At least that's how I zoom. Someone else may have a different technique.
I would recommend not zooming until you have more experience using a
winch. You also have to consider the strength of the wings, since even
properly executed a zoom puts a great deal of stress on the center of
the wing. At virtually every glider contest I have attended, at least
one person has folded his wings on launch, and it frequently happens
to very experienced pilots.
Dave
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