ASK-21 - is a tail dolly necessary?

[Dave Springford]

My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?

We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail skid.

Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy to turn on the
ground when towing it back to the launch point?

When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
wheel.

Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise

thanks,

Dave Springford

[Christian Ronge]

Hi Dave,

a dolly is not necessary, the empty 21 does sit on the tail and main
wheel. It's easy to ballance on the main wheel with one person pushing
down the nose.
None the less a tail dolly always helps if there are only few people
there for ground handling.

Chirs

[John Smith]

Dave Springford wrote:

> My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
> tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?

It depends on what you call "necessary" and how your operation works. It
definitely makes ground handling easier. For me, it's worth the
(comparatively small amount of) money.

> When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
> wheel.

Tail wheel.

[Peter Thomas]

we have 5 at LGC, they sit lightly on the tail when
empty, push down on the nose or cockpit rim with 1
hand to lift tail

Pete

At 21:00 30 December 2007, Dave Springford wrote:
>My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I
>am wondering if a
>tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?
>
>We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail
>skid.
>
>Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy
>to turn on the
>ground when towing it back to the launch point?
>
>When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel,
>or main and nose
>wheel.
>
>Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise
>
>thanks,
>
>Dave Springford
>

[HL Falbaum]

Hi Dave---

Our club, Mid Georgia Soaring, has 2 K21's , with tail dollies.

If towing out to the launch line is on grass, the tailwheel can slide
sideways without extra wear. If on pavement, it is much easier on the
tailwheel tire if you use a tail dolly. It is certainly easier on the
structure. The tailwheel rests on the ground when the cockpit is not
occupied. If ground transporting, you can move the glider easily with a
driver, wingman and a dolly. Otherwise, you need to stop and maneuver the
fuse to make a turn, or drag the tailwheel sideways.

We have dollies and like them.

--
Hartley Falbaum
Georgia, USA , "KF"



"Dave Springford" > wrote in message
...
> My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
> tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?
>
> We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail skid.
>
> Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy to turn on the
> ground when towing it back to the launch point?
>
> When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
> wheel.
>
> Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise
>
> thanks,
>
> Dave Springford

[Mike Schumann]

Our club has a K-21. We don't use a dolly and don't have a problem. If you
are towing on pavement and make sharp turns (we are on a grass strip), a
dolly might be nice. Otherwise, its absolutely not necessary (I would go as
far as saying that it would be an unnecessary pain in the.....)

Mike Schumann

"Dave Springford" > wrote in message
...
> My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
> tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?
>
> We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail skid.
>
> Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy to turn on the
> ground when towing it back to the launch point?
>
> When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
> wheel.
>
> Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise
>
> thanks,
>
> Dave Springford



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Michael Ash]

Dave Springford > wrote:
> My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
> tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?
>
> We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail skid.
>
> Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy to turn on the
> ground when towing it back to the launch point?
>
> When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
> wheel.
>
> Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise

Just to add to the responses already present, my club has an ASK-21 and a
Twin II and I find them to be essentially identical in ground handling.
(Air too, but that's another subject.) It's certainly possible to manage
without a dolly, but it's much nicer with one. The fact that we don't have
one for our Grob is a small but continuing source of annoyance. It's
particularly handy when maneuvering behind the tow car with a single
person handling the glider.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software

[Cats]

On Dec 30, 8:54*pm, Dave Springford > wrote:
> My club is buying a K-21 for student training and I am wondering if a
> tail dolly is necessary for ground handling?
>
> We plan to get the tail wheel option - not the tail skid.
>
> Does the K21 balance like the Twin Astir so it is easy to turn on the
> ground when towing it back to the launch point?
>
> When empty, does it sit on the main and tail wheel, or main and nose
> wheel.
>
> Anyone with experience operating a K-21 please advise
>
> thanks,
>
> Dave Springford

We have two K21s without tail dollys and don't have any problems. The
CoG when empty is just behind the main wheel, so if one has to go
round a sharp corner it's easy for the person walking the nose to push
down and the wingman to turn the glider. However ours go straight
into their hanger bays. If you had to pack them into a conventional
hanger a tail dolly might be very useul. Our airfield is all grass
and the only place where there is a lot of wear that we have had to do
something about is right outside the hanger, where there is the most
traffic - where the launch point is depends on where the wind is so
that doesn't generate another worn patch. Also, if we had them some
bright spark would inevitably end up trying to put the K21 in the
hanger with the dolly on, leading to an expensive noise at elevator.