13 meter class

Senna,

Let me tell you my opinion about what 13.5 meters did for our Club.

For the longest time, we thought our members needed access to a single-seat 15-meter glider. With this, they could try cross-country, we thought. Eventually, members might buy their own 15-meter glider and go big time. Well, that was not happening.

Then, we acquired a Russia. That got the Club interested in cross-country; but still, they were not breaking the string between their comfort and getting beyond glide of home base. For those of us with 15-meter cross-country experience, we didn’t realize that we were not relating to the members who wanted to fly cross-country, but not the way the rest of us were thinking. These 13.5-meter cross-country pilots were tickled silly to fly a 50 km flight. Who’d a thunk it.

Then, we acquired a PW-5. We held ground school sessions for the glider; the attendance was spectacular. We had solo student pilots checking out. The PW-5 schedule filled up to the point where members overflowed into the Russia.

Now we call it the 27-meter pilots.

Raul Boerner
CFI
BFSS

wrote on 12/24/2018 5:56 PM:

Senna,

Let me tell you my opinion about what 13.5 meters did for our Club.

For the longest time, we thought our members needed access to a single-seat 15-meter glider. With this, they could try cross-country, we thought. Eventually, members might buy their own 15-meter glider and go big time. Well, that was not happening.

Then, we acquired a Russia. That got the Club interested in cross-country; but still, they were not breaking the string between their comfort and getting beyond glide of home base. For those of us with 15-meter cross-country experience, we didn’t realize that we were not relating to the members who wanted to fly cross-country, but not the way the rest of us were thinking. These 13.5-meter cross-country pilots were tickled silly to fly a 50 km flight. Who’d a thunk it.

Then, we acquired a PW-5. We held ground school sessions for the glider; the attendance was spectacular. We had solo student pilots checking out. The PW-5 schedule filled up to the point where members overflowed into the Russia.

Now we call it the 27-meter pilots.

Why did the PW5 energize the students/others so much more than the Russia? I've
flown both, and they seem nearly the same.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

Why did the PW5 energize the students/others so much more than the Russia? I've
flown both, and they seem nearly the same.

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)

Eric,

While the performance is almost the same, the Russia has the retractable landing gear. Our model has a very flat wing angle of incidence requiring very good speed control on short final and during the transition to touchdown, to avoid too much tail wheel first. Thirdly, our particular model had very poor braking (we have recently installed a hydraulic brake system). These things spooked the lower time pilots and students.

The PW-5 is configured similarly to the ASK-21. So, we require a couple of flights in the ASK-21 for those who have not flown fiberglass, and to get used to the wheel configuration. The PW-5 is less pitch sensitive than the Russia.

For those who have not flown retractable landing gear, we require a couple of flights with an instructor in the L-23, raising and lowering the landing gear, before soloing the Russia. We watch their checklist procedures closely. In the past, we had several gear up landings so we are trying to reduce this possibility.

Raul Boerner

Oh, if soaring performance could be measured in smiles rather than miles! The PW-5 and Russia are definitely "world class".

The PW-5 and Russia are definitely "world class".

Only if everyone else at the field is blind. Looking at either one is painful.

I helped fly off the experimental hours on an early PeeWee.Â* It flew
pretty nicely but I never took it much past the field boundary.Â* Oh, and
I couldn't see it from inside the cockpit.Â* Standing outside was a
different matter...

On 1/2/2019 7:49 PM, wrote:
The PW-5 and Russia are definitely "world class".

Only if everyone else at the field is blind. Looking at either one is painful.


--
Dan, 5J

I enjoyed the PW-5 at a previous club and suspect I took it farther on XC than other club members. But over 50 kt. it was a lawn dart. That said it had a great nose for thermals: much needed because you couldn't afford to skip a thermal.