On Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:34:46 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:


Any of the 44xx series has a very good stall profile, especially if
you fatten the thing up: 4415 or even 4418.

give me another name for the NACA 4418 :-)

....well 4417 if you want to pick nits :-) :-)


One of the best training devices is referred to as 'The Object' in a
derisive manner. It consists of the SCHEMATIC of a glider mounted on
a pivot. An engine fitted with a propeller blows on the thing and the
student is required to keep it balanced.

It sounds easy, especially if you're a pilot. Take it from me, it is
damned difficult. But most youngsters master it in only two or three
sessions -- often faster than an experienced pilot.

Nowadays, I wonder if we could afford the gasoline.


sounds awfully like fun doesnt it. the gyrocopters had something
similar that just needed a stiff breeze and you could lift against a
tether to a nearby post. I never proceeded on to fly a benson but that
tethered machine was a lot of fun.
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Whatever its short-comings, I contend that the primary glider is
worthy of consideration for the simple reason that we have run out of
other options.

I see people giving themselves a pat on the back for turning out one
or two pilots at a cost that would beggar the AVERAGE American, when
what we need are literally THOUSANDS of new airmen.

It's ironic that, given how much airmen have given to our nation --
from crop dusting to fighting fires and a thousand chores in between
-- history will show that the one group we've failed to help is
ourselves.

-R.S.Hoover

in australia we are 1 in 738 of the population. we get no end of
nonsense heaped on us as a legacy of the poorly understood aviation
safety culture, where a bolt missing is seen as a heinous crime
needing extensive hand wringing and meaningless investigations.
all coming from people who quite happily speed past each other
separated by a 4 inch wide paint line thinking nothing of the risk.

personally though I would plug for a slightly better glider. the
indonesian airforce used a small number of winch launched schweitzer
2-32 gliders that made an incredible number of launces each flying
day. we looked on with some envy at the use they made of those cute
little yellow gliders towed up off Medan airport in the early 70's.
I've never seen a published design for them though.

if you have a look on www.fsglider.de there are a number of really
cute gliders. (it is a flight simmers page) the DFS Habicht 6m looks a
really cute design.
with some modern building techniques I cant see any of these being
beyond some supported and motivated kids.

---
history will show that we allowed a group of government paid non
flying stooges the world over to hold us to ransom to their 1930's
certification system and allowed them to continually beat us into non
existence. what a stupid lot we are to let it get to this. we need to
phase out government paid aviation safety employees.

Stealth Pilot (who ignores these non pilots and goes flying)