Duo Dive-brakes ( Polar with spoilers extended?)

Karl Striedieck wrote:
The original Duo (can't speak for the new X model with the drag flap)
definitely requires more attention to energy management when landing than
your garden variety 750 pound glider. Any excess coming over the trees won't
go away by diving with full spoilers. This is a consequence of increased
weight and relatively smaller spoilers and is common to all "large" gliders.

The problem can be magnified by improperly adjusted spoilers. It is possible
that owners who have readjusted their wheel brakes have inadvertently
reduced the travel of the spoilers. Also, the Duo spoilers are heavier to
extend than smaller gliders and it takes extra muscle to hold them fully
open during the approach and flare. And as the airspeed decreases they get
heavier because the dynamics of airflow don't help hold them open.

As to the assertion that the DG-1000 has more effective air brakes than the
Duo, this is not so. While flying a DG-1000 I had the opportunity to do a
formation "test dive" comparison with a Duo. We (Tom Knauff in a Duo) got in
tight formation with me on the wing and at 65 knots pushed over while
deploying full spoilers. The two ships stayed exactly even in a descent of
500 plus feet.

Many US pilots I've noticed landing at various contest sites like to stick
the glider on the ground at speeds 20 and 30 knots above stall and then roll
thousands of feet to their trailers. This is poor preparation for the time
precise energy management is needed to get into a small outlanding field. As
the size and weight of the gliders increase the problem of stopping
magnifies, so unless you are flying a Sparrowhawk or 1-26 you should make
every landing a tail dragger touch down at an intended spot.

Karl Striedieck

Great info on the comparison, and excellent advice on the landings. I
couldn't agree more. Pick a spot and grade yourself on each landing as
to how close you came to sticking that spot.