There was a DG-303 Acro at our field for a couple of
years. I got a chance to wring it out a couple of
times. Very nice control harmony. Not quite the roll
rate of my Salto or Silent, but certainly acceptable.
Retains energy really well. Deep seating position
keeps the belts low on the hips with very secure feel.
Inverted flight with that long canopy is a real kick.

I spun it several times. Spins to the right were fairly
normal. The spin would begin to oscillate and would
recover after about 4 revolutions. Spins to the left
were a bit more interesting. After the first 3/4 revolution,
the nose would come way up, followed by a violent pitch
down, this was accompanied by a fairly significant
yaw oscillation. I was not able to continue the spin
after this event. Really got my attention the first
time, but subsequent tries were a kick. Would make
a good airshow maneuver. I suspect this spin anomaly
has something to do with turbulent air at the blowhole
inlet.

Should thermal well inverted! All-in-all a very nice
multi-purpose aircraft.

Bob C.



At 06:00 07 April 2006, wrote:
Ron

I brought a DG-303 Acro and flew it last year. I had
less than a
hundred hours total time in gliders and no XC experience
at time of
purchase. I flew over 10,000km in it last year, including
some great
flights out of Parowan. My decision was based on wanting
something
somewhat aerobatic as well as having OK XC performance.
In reality I do
very little aerobatics, but I still enjoy the doing
the few acros I do.
Also I know people locally (Hollister, CA) with DG-300s
so there was
some good local knowledge on the glider. Control layout/simularity
with
a club DG-1000 was also a factor.

It is an extremely comfortable glider and nothing beats
having your
feet sitting in the sun nice and warm during wave flights
while other
pilots are freezing their feet off. It flies well with
water. However
it is not the highest performance glider around, especially
without
water I've been in situations where you can definitely
see the
differnece on final glide against higher performance
gliders like a
Disucs 2 I fly with occasionally. It it is still more
glider than I'm a
pilot so I don't regret the purchase. In good conditions
you will
definitely want to water up and enjoy the benefit.

I would look for one with the forward tow hook. A forward
hook can be
retrofitted but it involves fiberglass work so check
the costs of that.
The forward hook is not all the way in the nose but
under your legs.
But it will make takeoffs with a cross wind easier
and safer. I've aero
retrieved out of places in pretty demanding cross
winds that I would
not attempt with the CG hook.

I am around 185lb in a parachute. I had a brass tail
wheel installed to
get the CG back to around 85-90% for aerobatics. For
XC I normally fly
with one or two weights in the front. The seat is very
reclined, get a
long softie or similar parachute and you will be in
comfort heaven.
Take out the silly factory air bladder behind the seat
and hurl it as
far as you can - if you need to inflate it the seat
wobbles from side
to side. If you need lots of padding behind the seat
make a custom shim
out of semiflexible foam. I'm 5'8' and I usually just
pack my
parachute bag and a polartec jacket (in case of outlandings)
behind the
seat back.

DG gliders often have beautiful gel coats. But they
are thicker that
more and more prone to cracking. Many DG 300/303's
and other models,
especialy those flown in cold wave conditions, will
have fine cracks in
the upper wing spreading out from the corner of the
spoiler box bakc to
the trailing edge. Wether it is worth having these
repaired or not is a
long conversation. There are used DG-303's kicking
around for sale at
the moment that the owners describe as in perfect condition
but that
have these cracks. Just make sure you know what you
are getting. If
it's not cracked now it probably will if you fly it
a lot. I've
managed to get a fine crack the gelcoat on one wing,
it happened on a
wave flight, most people can't even see it is there.

Spend some time and look over all the technical notes
on DGs web site.
You will find information that covers all the following
in good detail.
But here is a summary...Check the glider has the rudder
lower bearing
mods (stops the rudder potentially falling off) - subject
of several
disucssions on RAS recently. Any 303 built in the last
few of years
should also come with the canopy Roeger hook installed
and the mod that
adds a sping that holds the undercarriage handle more
firmly in the
locked position. Both are available as kits if the
glider does not have
these intalled. I'd not want to fly without these.
When I was looking
at 303's I was suprised how few owners were aware of
these - and I
talked to people who have had the handle pop out of
the detent and the
U/C collapse and they were still unwaware of the U/C
handle mod. If the
glider is older make also make sure the U/C gas strut
is well inspected
and maybe replaced during your annual.

DG-300/303's are probably more likely than most to
have gear collapses
if they don't have the U/C handle mod. Therefore check
carefully for
signs of damage or repair. My glider with ony 15 hours
time on it with
the previous owner showed signs of minor damage from
a gear up landing
or collapse on a grass runway. The seller somehow forgot
to mention
this :-)

I found on very long flights my ankles where hurting
from having my
legs so bowed around the instument console. The rudder
pedals bars
camber outwards pretty significantly to get your legs
around the
console. I brought angled rudder pedal plates with
from DG that just
clip on on in place of the factory plates and help
reduce much of this
angle and straighten my legs out and these worked great.
It's very
personal however, I fly with somebody in a DG-300 who
has long legs and
he put in pedal plates that go the other way (also
available from DG)
to bend his legs out even more.

Instument panel space is tight, and there are issues
with fitting long
case instuments like Becker radios or transponders
into the panel. I'm
very happy with how I've laid out my panel and mounted
two PDAs on
gooseneck off the panel. I can provide more details
if you want.

Pay particular attention during tailplane assembly,
as with other DG
gliders, it is possible to not have the elevator control
linkage end
correcectly enter into the elevator control 'funnel'.
Instead the
linkage sits outside of the funnel but with enough
friction against the
side of the funnel that the elevator will appear to
work during a
visual check. A positive control check should discover
the problem. I
know somebody who managed to fly and safely land a
DG-300 with the
elevator 'partially' connected like this - no he did
not do a positive
check.

Remember you are not really buying a DG glider, they
are made and
supported by AMS-Flight not DG. Some parts and support
are available
through DG, mostly the parts that are common ith other
G gliders. For
others you'll need to work with AMS-Flight reps or
the factory
directly. I've found DG easier to deal with and more
responsive to deal
with if it's a part they can supply.

Regards


Darryl Ramm
DG-303 6DX


Ron Gleason wrote:
I am looking at a DG 303 Acro. I would appreciate
any comments about
the plane. It will be my first plane, 50+ hours in
Grob 103, 1500+
hours soaring in hang glider, 5000+ miles XC in hang
gliders.

I plan on flying this plane XC in UT and to start
competing in sports
class.

Thanks in advance