Why did the PW5 energize the students/others so much more than the Russia? I've
flown both, and they seem nearly the same.

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)

Eric,

While the performance is almost the same, the Russia has the retractable landing gear. Our model has a very flat wing angle of incidence requiring very good speed control on short final and during the transition to touchdown, to avoid too much tail wheel first. Thirdly, our particular model had very poor braking (we have recently installed a hydraulic brake system). These things spooked the lower time pilots and students.

The PW-5 is configured similarly to the ASK-21. So, we require a couple of flights in the ASK-21 for those who have not flown fiberglass, and to get used to the wheel configuration. The PW-5 is less pitch sensitive than the Russia.

For those who have not flown retractable landing gear, we require a couple of flights with an instructor in the L-23, raising and lowering the landing gear, before soloing the Russia. We watch their checklist procedures closely. In the past, we had several gear up landings so we are trying to reduce this possibility.

Raul Boerner