Flapped Glider Recommendations...

On Jan 7, 8:36*am, "noel.wade" wrote:
Hi All,

Assuming a budget of under $30k, I'm looking at upgrading my Russia
AC-4. *She's an excellent ship and I could do a whole lot more with
her... But with our weak conditions locally, I find myself itching for
a few more points of glide (currently about 31:1) and a lower min-sink
(currently somewhere around 130-140 fpm). *

snip

Any alternate suggestions of aircraft I may have overlooked?

Libelle? Light & easy to rig, not self-conecting but not hard to do,
and in light weather it will be at the top of the heap at our club.
Cheap as well, at least in the UK! Certainly a better glide ratio
than your current ship, and in the UK a guy has done his Diamond 500k
flight in one in 2007.

Cats wrote:

Libelle? Light & easy to rig, not self-conecting but not hard to do,
and in light weather it will be at the top of the heap at our club.

I'd certainly agree with that. I can't wait for my third season in mine
to start.

I can confirm they are light and easy to rig. Its one glider that never
causes other pilots to dive for cover when you want help rigging or
derigging.

Libelles are partly self-connecting: the elevator and brakes
self-connect. The ailerons are not, but only take about 15 seconds each
to connect or disconnect. They are even simpler than Hoteliers and are
easy to check for correct connection. I can't comment about the ballast
system: mine is #82, so precedes the B-series addition of water ballast.

Mine has Streifneder trimmings (sealed surfaces, full span zigzag turbs
on the under surface) and seems to have gained about a point on L/D.

The only possible drawback is that the cockpit is fairly snug and may be
a problem for the larger pilot. The ventilation in hot conditions is
second to none.


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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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