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Old March 12th 09, 10:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bruce Hoult
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Posts: 961
Default motorgliders as towplanes

On Mar 13, 9:09*am, Bruce wrote:
The story behind it is - experienced pilot in getting current again on
Janus forgot the thing has a drogue chute.
On a check flight the Janus is towed up from an airfield (Orient) at
5100" MSL at around 20 centigrade.
As you can see the Samba accelerates slowly - then the drogue chute
deploys. (one bump too many )
Tuggie happens to be enormously experienced CFI - uses his head and
abuses the Rotax a little. Combination manages to make a circuit and the
Janus gets dropped over the threshold.


Nice.

We disable the parachute on our Janus. I'm not even sure why it has
one. The spoilers are about the same as a Duo, PLUS it has a landing
flap setting that is effective enough that you need a fairly steep
approach if you want to use half spoilers as well, PLUS it has one
heck of an effective slip which (unlike the parachute) can be
modulated or used multiple times as desired.