I only reported what DG had said on the return email .
The ASH25 was only projected to be a product run
of 25-30 gliders and they still proceeded.
A dedicated ride machine at a reasonable price was
the concept tossed around ,that is why a tube and fabric
fuse was touted attached to a production set of wings
that are able to carry the load, the DG 500/505 being used
for the Stemme and others was a natural suggestion.
I don't think the market is huge but I can think of 3 tourist spots
here in NZ that would make use of such an aircraft.
A self launching version would be an ideal but I have often
looked at tourist spots where I could do this with the idea of
an operation but back of the envelope calcs show ride price
would be too high.
Motor durability and lifespan is a big issue for a commercial
operation
The only economic way would be to winch launch but with its
problems of more staff plus land required plus difficulty with
other aviation operators re the dropping cables.

gary

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:%mmpd.459727$D%.420868@attbi_s51...
Just some 'back of the envelope' calculations for a '2+2' seating glider.
(No controls in the back seats.)

Start with the need for 600 Kg cockpit payload. Assume that the best
composite materials and construction techniques are used. That would
suggest a GW of 1000 Kg. Further assume a 25 meter span and 30 Kg/sq. M
wing loading. That yields a wing area of 33.3 Sq. Meters and an aspect
ratio of 18.75. That gives good spar depth to carry the weight.

With retractable gear, flaps and winglets that would suggest ~45:1 L/D and
a
min sink of about .55 M/Sec. If flown with a cockpit load of 300 Kg the
min
sink would be less.

This is easily within the state-of-the-art. Every commercial ride
operator
in the world would want one and so would some wealthy individuals and
clubs.
Say, maybe a market for 300+ gliders?

Bill Daniels

"goneill" wrote in message
...
The idea of a joyride machine with multiple places was discussed
at our club a year back and some design ideas tossed around ,
the concensus was something like the DG505 wings attached to a
light tube and fabric fuse with either a triangle seat pattern or a
4 seater star pattern.
This concept was emailed to the owner of DG and the answer came back
that DG had discussed this very idea for a limited production run
but the engineering loads on the fuselage wing junction were very
high and would take a lot of redesigning to get it to work and secondly
the DG505 wingset were simply not strong enough to take those loads.
A Nimbus4D or an ASH25 wingset maybe?
gary
"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:wy0pd.141192$HA.53129@attbi_s01...
I recall a recent discussion about the desirability of a 4-place glider
for
the ride business. The subject came up after stuffing two not so
smallish
people into the back seat of a 2-32 and sending them on a ride over the
Rockies.

The majority view was that the probability of one of the three paying
passengers getting airsick and ruining it for the other two was just
too
high. I'm not too sure about that. A 4-place, 25 meter span ride
glider
might be a money maker.

Bill Daniels

"Bert Willing" wrote in
message ...
Urban legend ?

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"cernauta" a écrit dans le message
de
news: ...
(Nyal Williams) wrote:

A friend keeps insisting that a 4-place glider was built at one
time.
Can anyone verify, identify, or point to a picture?

Somebody built a 4 place glider with twin fuselages. It was based on
Blanik parts. A center section, two outside wings, two fuselages and
tails.
I believe it was built by a German Blanik repair station.

Aldo Cernezzi