On Friday, July 20, 2018 at 2:25:52 PM UTC-7, Craig Funston wrote:
On Friday, July 20, 2018 at 2:14:31 PM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
There are plenty of cheap Cessna 182s in the US.Â* They can be fitted
with a tow hook and are probably less expensive to acquire and maintain
than an ag plane.

On 7/20/2018 10:05 AM, AS wrote:
On Friday, July 20, 2018 at 10:54:13 AM UTC-4, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Friday, July 20, 2018 at 6:07:55 AM UTC-5, AS wrote:
Here is another interesting AKAFLIEG project - this one is out of Stuttgart:
http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/akaflieg...uelle-projekt/
They are developing a 150HP Diesel powered tow-capable motorglider to get gliders with ever increasing MTOWs into the sky.

Uli
'AS'
Maybe the bing translation isn't the greatest, but it is interesting to me that a country that does a significant amount of winch launching is looking to develop a towplane because "the winch can't meet all of our wants" when the country that uses primarily towplanes is heading towards doing more winching because "towplanes are too expensive".

I do like that project, though. Diesel to keep fuel cost and availability. Hopefully water cooled to reduce shock cooling issues. Hoping for big dive brakes to make descents much more rapid with airspeed kept low. With that much glass overhead, I wonder if they are considering some sort of airconditioning? Interesting choice on the airfoil section.

Oh, and my read of the spec sheet says they are looking at 180 HP. Even though in the title of the article, they say 155PS.

Good project, guys! Looking forward to seeing your results!

Steve Leonard

Hi Steve,

your read is mostly correct. The main focus and driver for this project seems to be the contest crowd. Looking at the latest Super-Orchids and their wing-loading, the speed they require to stay on tow comfortable was cited to be up to 140km/h (87mph or 76kts), at which most commonly used tow planes over there have a close to zero climb rate. Not sure if that is correct, though - I am not blessed with one of these gliders ;-)
Anyhow, this Diesel-powered motorglider is supposed to come in two versions - 155HP and 180HP and is optimized for fast climb and descent rates. It will have a constant speed prop and will also feature an over-sized fuel tank to do as many tows as possible between fuel stops.
Your assessment of the winching situation is also correct. It is still the main method of getting gliders airborne over there, however, contests are almost 100% launched using tow planes - at least I haven't heard of any Nationals in Germany where a winch was used to launch the fleet. The costs of aero-towing in the US will go up as well due to rising fuel costs and a dwindling supply of crop-dusters, etc. Should be an interesting project to watch.

Uli
'AS'

--
Dan, 5J

C-182s start to run into problems with heavy gliders (750 to 850 kg) and at higher density altitudes. They are plentiful though and easier to find towpilots who qualify. Differing needs for differing sites.

It looked like the Akaflieg project was aimed at heavy gliders in contest type scenarios. Wilga's work well, but are pretty thirsty. Nothing like towing behind one of those beasts with a short tow rope..

I visited a site 12 months ago which had (if I counted correctly):

- 1x Grob Twin III
- 6x Blanik L13 (unmodified)
- 8x Wilga