Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for a club?

Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33 but I have heard a
few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged if a tail first landing
is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that own an L-33 could
give me guidance.

Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use?

Does the paint last?

Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13 are difficult to
service.

Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available? Is it expensive to
fix?

On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club use?

Thank you for any information.

-Jeff

We had one, the tail got broke off twice. The first was a tail-first
landing. The second was from "loss of lift" after trying to hop the wires.

From our experience with out L-13, it is very easy to maintenance ourselves.
That is key, we can work on it and not have to pay $K's to have the glass
cut open to make a repair. On the other hand glass doesn't require
maintenance as often, but when it does, it costs. Contact with the factory
has been excellent, though slow due to a language barrier. If not for the
wire hop I believe we would still have the L-33 today.
"jeff rothman" wrote in message
.net...
Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33 but I have heard a
few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged if a tail first landing
is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that own an L-33 could
give me guidance.

Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use?

Does the paint last?

Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13 are difficult to
service.

Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available? Is it expensive
to
fix?

On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club use?

Thank you for any information.

-Jeff






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Jeff,

Our club is into its second year of owning an L-33,
so our experiences won't be as valuable as operators
with longer times of working with the Solo.

We have not incurred any damages due to the pilot,
but last year, a thunderstorm did damage the aircraft.
It was tied down outside, with the tail resting on
the ground rather than on a stand, when the storm hit.
Since the aircraft has no tie down points, it is secured
by sliding steel collars or sleeves or whatever they
are called over the wings and connecting the tie-down
to this collar. The collar wedges to the wing and
acts not only as a tie-down anchor, but also as an
aileron lock. Well, the winds were strong enough to
get the glider jumping up and down. How is that possible?
We used chains vertically from the collar to a steel
cable that ran along the ground parallel with the wings.
This cable, while tight along the ground, still had
enough slack to allow vertical movement. With the
ship's tail on the ground, the angle of attack of the
wings permitted 'flying speed' with the winds of the
thunderstorm. So, the ship must have been jumping
up and down, vertically. The result is the mild steel
collars on the wings deformed! The bottom section
was pulled down towards the ground, thus effectively
shortening the 'chord' of the collar. This shortened
chord had to have some relief of the aircraft's wings
to match and the 'slack' was created in the ailerons.
Yep, they got crunched.

We had to order new ailerons from the factory. They
had to build them. In all, I think we lost four or
five months of flying time.

Now, we have the tail tied down on a stand. We also
bought new 'collars' from Blanik and then took them
to a metal shop where a vertical web was welded to
the lower section and runs the entire length, from
leading to trailing edge. Also, fabric tie-down straps
go straight down to ground anchors augered into the
ground and topped with about 4 or 5 inches of concrete.

Otherwise, we are happy with it. Club members are
getting their first taste of cross country flying with
it and one recently earned his Silver Distance by flying
90 km to Ball Field in Louisburg, North Carolina.

I think it is fine for club use. Being all metal gives
you the chance to tie it down outside which, for us,
is the biggest reason we chose it for a single seat
glider.

And, althougth I've flown it only once, I was amazed
at how easily it flew and how quiet it was. I've never
flown another metal ship that was that quiet. It is
more quiet than my LS-1d which has some leaks around
the canopy.

I think it is a nice ship.

That's my two-cents worth.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA





At 01:12 07 May 2004, Jeff Rothman wrote:
Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33
but I have heard a
few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged
if a tail first landing
is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that
own an L-33 could
give me guidance.

Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use?

Does the paint last?

Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13
are difficult to
service.

Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available?
Is it expensive to
fix?

On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club
use?

Thank you for any information.

-Jeff

Our club has had one for at least 3 years. We have had no problems with the
tail, but we only let licensed pilots fly it who have had a checkout in the
L-23 and can demonstrate good landings to an instructor.

We did have an incident where a pilot did an intentional spin. He did not
realize a battery charger was in the cockpit. It jammed the controls
momentarily. After freeing the controls, he over-reacted and overstressed
the wings. They were permanently deformed. Our local aero engineers who
work at NASA estimated the pilot snap loaded to about 8g for just a moment.
We ordered new wings and the glider is flying again.

Paul

"jeff rothman" wrote in message
.net...
Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33 but I have heard a
few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged if a tail first landing
is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that own an L-33 could
give me guidance.

Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use?

Does the paint last?

Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13 are difficult to
service.

Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available? Is it expensive
to
fix?

On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club use?

Thank you for any information.

-Jeff

Does the paint last?

In a word, "no". Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can get a pic this weekend.

Ray is right, though. It handles wonderfully - light and well balanced
controls. Almost no effort to take off and tow. On the down side, do not
get slow in this glider close to the ground. That's good advice for any
glider but more so for the L33.

Tony V.

The club I'm in has had one for several years. No problems other than that
the paint job was lousy--came off in big sheets. We repainted the ship and
Blanik covered some/most of that expense.

Brent
"jeff rothman" wrote in message
.net...
Our club is seriously considering buying a Blanik L-33 but I have heard a
few reports that the fuselage can be easily damged if a tail first landing
is made. I would appreciate it very much if clubs that own an L-33 could
give me guidance.

Is a Blanik L-33 rugged enough for club use?

Does the paint last?

Is it easy to work on? I know that the L-23 and L-13 are difficult to
service.

Does Blanik support it well? Are parts readily available? Is it expensive
to
fix?

On the balance would you recommend an L-33 for club use?

Thank you for any information.

-Jeff

Tony Verhulst wrote:


Does the paint last?

In a word, "no". Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can get a pic this
weekend.

Here are the L-33 pics. This glider has spent a lot of time outdoors -
but, so have the Cessnas and Pipers a few yards away and THEY don't look
like this. We have a painted L-23 that doesn't look so hot either.
Cessna, Piper, and others have figured out how to paint aluminum. LET,
apparently, has not.

Tony V

http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2165.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2166.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2167.JPG

Tony, that is awful!

The original poster did ask about paint and I forgot
to mention in my earlier post that our L-33 had been
repainted by the previous owner. I don't know if he
used Imron or what, but the paint is still looking
pretty good. We've had the glider for about 2 years
and it stays tied down outside. I don't know how old
the paint is, but I'll ask the previous owner for details
and let you know.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 15:42 10 May 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote:
Tony Verhulst wrote:


Does the paint last?

In a word, 'no'. Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can
get a pic this
weekend.

Here are the L-33 pics. This glider has spent a lot
of time outdoors -
but, so have the Cessnas and Pipers a few yards away
and THEY don't look
like this. We have a painted L-23 that doesn't look
so hot either.
Cessna, Piper, and others have figured out how to paint
aluminum. LET,
apparently, has not.

Tony V

http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2165.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2166.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2167.JPG

Tony Verhulst wrote:

Tony Verhulst wrote:


Does the paint last?

In a word, "no". Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can get a pic this
weekend.

Here are the L-33 pics. This glider has spent a lot of time outdoors -
but, so have the Cessnas and Pipers a few yards away and THEY don't look
like this. We have a painted L-23 that doesn't look so hot either.
Cessna, Piper, and others have figured out how to paint aluminum. LET,
apparently, has not.

Tony V

http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2165.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2166.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2167.JPG

Is sure looks like they painted bare aluminum. There certainly is not
zinc chromate primer and it does not appear there is any allodine
either. Maybe there are some other methods to prepare the bare
aluminum prior to painting, but given the way the paint is
disappearing, it does not appear any was used.

Tony Verhulst wrote:
Tony Verhulst wrote:



Does the paint last?


In a word, "no". Ours looks awful. I'll see it I can get a pic this
weekend.


Here are the L-33 pics. This glider has spent a lot of time outdoors -
but, so have the Cessnas and Pipers a few yards away and THEY don't look
like this. We have a painted L-23 that doesn't look so hot either.
Cessna, Piper, and others have figured out how to paint aluminum. LET,
apparently, has not.

Tony V

http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2165.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2166.JPG
http://home.comcast.net/~tony.verhul...c/DSCN2167.JPG

I fail to see why anyone would leave a glider rigged - outdoors, particularly in
the Northern winter. This is what hangars were invented for.

LET L13s that I have seen all appear to have shabby paint - even when kept, as
we do, inside hangars except when flying... Never seen a L23 or 33 in the metal.

I suppose the caption is that it will look like what you treat it like.