Schleicher cockpit

Since retiring from Schleicher Gerhard and Tilly have lived in Bavaria in the Alps. He is still his ebullient self and stays active with OSTIV, although he hasn't flown for years.

The extra kilos he's carried around forever have put a hurt on his mobility due to knee/hip pain (forget which), so he's gotten serious about dumping some ballast.

Kids Micky (VW engineer) and Susie (dentist) are a source of happiness.

Originally Posted by Jonathan St. Cloud

On Friday, January 17, 2020 at 6:40:31 PM UTC-8, wrote:
It's snowing and for entertainment sake I thought I'd throw this question out there.
One of the selling points of the -24 and later Schleicher gliders is the "crashworthiness" of the fuselage. Waibel won the Ostiv, we've all seen pictures of the test rig dropping a fuselage after a simulated crash. It makes sense. 30 years later does it work?
With out looking at accident reports I can name a handful of fatalities in modern Schleichers. They don't make a difference in a high energy impact obviously, but how often do we see survivable low energy accidents? Of those low energy crashes, not all of them are going to hurt you anyway. I had a friend bounce a DG100 on its nose after a loss of control on T/O and he survived with stitches on his leg. Over run accidents? I've never heard of one causing serious injury. I have to admit I FEEL more safe in my -24 than say, a Libelle were the cockpit is a bit more robust than an eggshell but I'm not sure it's gonna matter if I screw up turning base to final one day.
Please respond soon. The snow is set to continue through tomorrow, I've watched everything on Netflix, I'm out of beer and waiting for the epoxy to set.

"crashworthiness" or not, you just can't lawn dart them.

I seem to recall the use of airbags years ago but haven't heard anything since. Would an airbag be of any use in a "Lawn Dart " Impact ?
Maybe too much G force to overcome ?

I've never met him, but he's on my very small list of personal heroes. His gliders are the best looking and among the best ever built.
Interesting examples listed above, I can see where the cartwheel is a significant event that is less dangerous to the pilot in these gliders. The -27 crash with the sheared wing though sounds like that's where the energy went.. I suppose either way it's fortunate for all of us who fly them that so much effort was given to make us just a bit safer.

The storm is still going, but I've got to work tonight. Anybody need a lift to Paducah?

DT

I believe there was a stall/spin into trees in the "bowl" near Newcastle, VA decades ago. The ship (ASW-24?) went almost straight into trees, ending up upside down with the nose between 2 rocks. Skinny pilot wiggled out through the broken canopy and walked down a hill to a road.
Cuts and bruises, otherwise fine. Since cockpit didn't collapse, he got out..

I have seen a number of ships that "eggshelled" with a lower frontal impact that usually exploded the canopy and injured from hips and down.

I bought my ASW 24 in 1992 based in part on photos of one that had clobbered a ridge at Mifflin. Pilot walked away.

It cost more than the Discus for no better performance but I was happy to pay.

Haven't tested the cockpit. But the landing gear is also a marvelous design with shock absorption and progressive failure in mind that did come in handy when I hit a rock just after touchdown.

Kudos to Gerhard for his work in safer gliders that also fly and perform great.

Chip Bearden
JB

On Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 1:52:52 PM UTC-8, Karl Striedieck wrote:
I called Waibel a couple weeks ago to chat and congratulate him for the Lilienthal medal he recently received from OSTIV for his leadership in making gliders more crash resistant...

In 2002 I went to Tehachapi for the annual Experimental Soaring Association convention. When I arrived I found Waibel clad in grubby T-shirt and shorts, cheerfully sweeping out the hangar where that night he would deliver that year's SSA Barnaby lecture on the future of sailplane development.

On Friday, January 17, 2020 at 6:40:31 PM UTC-8, wrote:
It's snowing and for entertainment sake I thought I'd throw this question out there.
One of the selling points of the -24 and later Schleicher gliders is the "crashworthiness" of the fuselage. Waibel won the Ostiv, we've all seen pictures of the test rig dropping a fuselage after a simulated crash. It makes sense. 30 years later does it work?
With out looking at accident reports I can name a handful of fatalities in modern Schleichers. They don't make a difference in a high energy impact obviously, but how often do we see survivable low energy accidents? Of those low energy crashes, not all of them are going to hurt you anyway. I had a friend bounce a DG100 on its nose after a loss of control on T/O and he survived with stitches on his leg. Over run accidents? I've never heard of one causing serious injury. I have to admit I FEEL more safe in my -24 than say, a Libelle were the cockpit is a bit more robust than an eggshell but I'm not sure it's gonna matter if I screw up turning base to final one day.
Please respond soon. The snow is set to continue through tomorrow, I've watched everything on Netflix, I'm out of beer and waiting for the epoxy to set.

Improved crashworthiness is not just a marketing slogan, it's very real:

https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/Re...Final&IType=CA
https://www.danlj.org/~danlj/Soaring...hrop-12-17.pdf

Tom

By comparing with a DG100 you are starting from an excellent cockpit design, as it was built with a double shell unitary structure which was a very advanced feature, probably unique in its era. It would have deserved a prize, if any were issued at that time.
The ASW24 and all AS derivatives deserved the Ostiv Prize 100% as they're a significant step forward.
I've seen an Antares cockpit, or rather what remained of it after a 20g, 30° nose down crash IIRC. It has a more advanced safety cage. The pilot was lightly wounded.
I'd feel significantly less protected in an UL glider, or in first generations glass ships.
No cockpit features can protect the pilot in an impact against exposed rocks.

Aldo Cernezzi