On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 at 10:39:00 AM UTC-7, Eric Greenwell wrote:
jld wrote on 8/18/2020 9:57 AM:

"Glider pilots on the Allegheny Ridges (ridge soaring), in Western US high deserts (thermal soaring), and in the Sierra wave sometimes use higher wing loading"

Then the GP15 might be able to satisfy these US pilots as long as they use antifreeze in the ballast :-).
Also you might not be able to get all the benefits of high WL if you are limited by Vne due to high altitude.

I have been lucky to fly in Minden before.
Unless you compete in the WGC or are trying to beat a world record, 60 kg/m2 would already be A lot.

Bottom line, lets look for news from GP or the dealers to get confirmation of configuration and delivery dates...

No antifreeze needed in the summer, as the temperatures at 18,000' are not cold
enough to freeze the water in the wings. Winter wave flying is much colder, of
course, and wave runners that get permission to fly above 18,000' have to consider
the temperature at any time of the year.

According to the recent provisional manual, the GP15 VNE is 162 kts IAS up to 3000
meters; 143 kts IAS at 6000 meters. That's about 195 kts TAS from 3000 meter on
up, so a pretty high limit, especially compared to my ASH26E, with it's 143 kt
VNE. I don't know what modern gliders have for VNE, or wing loading, for that matter.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

Eric, what air temp do you regard as cold enough to freeze water in the wings?