(Vince C) wrote in message . com...
The Peterson Javelin was built mostly out of metal and domed rivets.
The company carried out tests on the rivet shapes and reckoned there
was no difference between flush and domed. Furthemore they obtained
thier own 'cheap' rivets which they had FAI approved which saved them
a fortune.

The report can be found on the SSA website under the articles on
flight tests of various gliders.

Of course this relates to the 'then' technology, 'now' may be
completely different


And as a result the Javelin was a medium-performance glider, with no
laminar flow over the wing. The design goal was low cost, not
performance (which explains the identical tail control surfaces and
spoiler roll control.

An interesting glider - I flew a brand new one once at the old
Vacaville gliderport back in the late 70s - OK performance but really
poor glidepath control and somewhat odd roll control. Sadly, the
following day it crashed (during a landing attempt, I think) and the
pilot was killed. I remember not being surprised by the accident,
which I think was a high pattern resulting in a low 360 attempt and
the classic stall/spin on final. Not a slam on the glider - it was
just different.

I cringe when I see gliders tied out for long periods - even poor
little 1-26s. At least hangar the little things! Especially now when
something like a PW-5 or Alpis can be rigged and ready to go in 30
minutes - clean, no bird droppings, no hangar rash, and with a really
detailed preflight inspection (at least that is how I treat my
assembly process..).

To me, a lot of the fun is the whole rig-tape-wash-setup
cockpit-pushover ritual that leads to a soaring flight. As long as it
isn't a Lak-12 or Nimnbus 3 - of course!

Kirk
Ls-6