On Sun, 15 Mar 2020 15:32:10 -0700, Marton KSz wrote:

A weak point of L-33s (aside from the abrupt stall characteristics) is
the weak (spar-less) outer wings. A common faith of these gliders is
digging the wingtip into the ground. Holding wings level is therefore
mandatory until full stop.

An interesting quirk can be the misalignment of the airbrakes: If they
extend way too much, laminar airflow can reestablish through the gap
between the top of the wing surface and the bottom of the perforated
airbrake plates, giving the impression that the glider actually flies
slightly better with fully extended airbrakes. I observed this only on
one example so far but it was noticeable; probably can be easily fixed
by adjusting the airbrake stop.

Overall the L33 is a great glider, good climber and fun to fly. Perfect
for local soaring. Got my silver distance in it, but could easily have
flown barn doors on that day.

It would be interesting to compare with the SZD Junior as a first solo
singe seater.

BTW, thinking of rigging, we had a private Pilatus B-4 on our field
several years ago, Its owner liked it, but it was one of the harder
glider on the field to scare up a rigging crew for. This was due to two
things:

- There was an absolute prohibition on lowering the wings below rigged
dihedral because this would bend the underwing root fairings.

- mating the wing attachment lugs with the corresponding fuselage
fittings. These parts had SwissWatch-like tolerances so there was a lot
of time spent holding each wing at the right position to avoid bending
the fairing while jiggling it until the lower pins pins went in. The
upper pins were easy after that.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org