DG600 - any advice from owners??

Our syndicate just bought a DG600 - the unpowered version
- with 15, 17 & 18m tips.

We know about the lack of wing moulds at DG, and have
been around the houses concerning the stall warning
device.

This is our first flapped glider. Does anyone who owns
or flies a DG600 have any helpful advice for us on
vices, virtues, maintenance, flying tips (e.g. ballast)
etc. etc.

Many thanks

Martyn Johnson

Hi Martyn,



Congratulations with your fine glider. I bought mine (serial no. 41) just a
year ago. It has 15, 15w, 17 and 18w wingtips. Almost all of my experience
is with the 18w tips and I have about 85 hours/4500 CC Kilometers in it.
That is not much, so others may have much more authoritative views on the
'600.



Bearing in mind that we are talking the 18w configuration, I would say:



- Takeoff & landing: Very conventional, when using the procedures from the
manual. It does definitely not exhibit any out-of-the-ordinary stall
behavior. -But as with any flapped "racer", strict airspeed and attitude
control is always important



- Flying: It will run with the best, and seems to carry ballast well. The
one thing to notice is that when thermalling, you should _not_ fly as slow
as possible, as with some other gliders. To maximize your climb, find the
point where it starts to shake, and then add 5-8 Km/h. -And fly it
precisely, it punishes sloppy flying. If you remember this, it will also
climb with the best (who paid a _lot_ more, which is nice to know ;-)

The above is with about 95 Kg. in the cockpit, and the 4.3 Kg. tail battery
in use. That puts CG about mid-range.

With 15 tips, it does indeed seem to stall somewhat suddenly and
unforgiving. 15w makes it much better. There is a distinct difference
between the flying style that comes natural with 15 and 18 meter span. 15 is
very quick and lends itself to snappy maneuvering and tight circling. 18
invites lazy s-turning, dolphining and only occasional wide circles.

Regarding maintenance I don't have much experience yet, but it all seems
very standard-DG like, and very comparable to the current 808S models from
DG Flugzeugbau.

To my best knowledge, it has only had one mandatory AD issued, but check
DG's website. You'll find all relevant info there.



Good luck with your fine glider.



Lars Peder Hansen

DG-600 "EE"

Denmark.






"Martyn Johnson" wrote in
message ...
Our syndicate just bought a DG600 - the unpowered version
- with 15, 17 & 18m tips.

We know about the lack of wing moulds at DG, and have
been around the houses concerning the stall warning
device.

This is our first flapped glider. Does anyone who owns
or flies a DG600 have any helpful advice for us on
vices, virtues, maintenance, flying tips (e.g. ballast)
etc. etc.

Many thanks

Martyn Johnson

To make clear what Martyn Johnson meant by "lack of wing moulds at DG",
I found the following at
http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/dg-25-jahre-e.html. This wouldn't stop
me from buying a DG-600.

======================

The DG-600 needs better acquaintance of the pilot to his plane than
other glider, but as soon as the pilot is used to it's peculiarities he
will be enthusiastic about the extraordinary quick control response and
the outstanding high speed performance. Due to a fire in the wing
production room in the year 1992 the DG-600 production had to be shut
down with 112 units produced, as the wing moulds had been severely
damaged.

Many thanks to those who responded.

Regards,

Martyn


At 16:42 29 December 2005, Martyn Johnson wrote:
Our syndicate just bought a DG600 - the unpowered version
- with 15, 17 & 18m tips.

We know about the lack of wing moulds at DG, and have
been around the houses concerning the stall warning
device.

This is our first flapped glider. Does anyone who owns
or flies a DG600 have any helpful advice for us on
vices, virtues, maintenance, flying tips (e.g. ballast)
etc. etc.

Many thanks

Martyn Johnson

Many thanks to those who responded.

Regards,

Martyn


At 16:42 29 December 2005, Martyn Johnson wrote:
Our syndicate just bought a DG600 - the unpowered version
- with 15, 17 & 18m tips.

We know about the lack of wing moulds at DG, and have
been around the houses concerning the stall warning
device.

This is our first flapped glider. Does anyone who owns
or flies a DG600 have any helpful advice for us on
vices, virtues, maintenance, flying tips (e.g. ballast)
etc. etc.

Many thanks

Martyn Johnson

Many thanks to those who responded.

Regards,

Martyn


At 16:42 29 December 2005, Martyn Johnson wrote:
Our syndicate just bought a DG600 - the unpowered version
- with 15, 17 & 18m tips.

We know about the lack of wing moulds at DG, and have
been around the houses concerning the stall warning
device.

This is our first flapped glider. Does anyone who owns
or flies a DG600 have any helpful advice for us on
vices, virtues, maintenance, flying tips (e.g. ballast)
etc. etc.

Many thanks

Martyn Johnson