On Sunday, November 5, 2017 at 1:55:40 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The ASW 20 seems to have a reputation for bad behavior in some configurations. Is this reputation deserved or overblown? What has been the experience of those who have owned and flown the glider? Are some variants of the 20 better or worse in terms of handling characteristics?

Tom A

The '20 got a poor early reputation due to it's spin characteristics when flown with aft CG. When it came out it was very common for pilots to fly with far aft CG to try to get more performance.
I have extensive experience in A and C versions. Something around 1200 hrs or so. When flown at, or aft of the manufacturer's aft CG point they both depart and spin quite quickly. A pilot can be easily surprised by this.
That characteristic does not surface, from my experience, with the CG forward of the 80% point. It will still spin, but doesn't snap the same way. Flown well behind manufacturer's limit, is, in my opinion, very dangerous.
There is negligible performance lost at 75-80% and interestingly enough, the trimmer isn't even needed. I flew my 20C with the trimmer taped off the entire time I owned it.
I also found that external seals, in addition to the usual internal seals, seems to make the tendency to drop a wing at high angles of attack less. I'm pretty sure this is due to spanwise flow in the trailing edge cove that gets trapped by the seals.
Winglets, again from my experience, make the stall and wing drop more docile, but make the spin, as it develops, more abrupt.
There is a reason these ships have remained popular and desirable.
FWIW
UH