52/1 Performance in a 15M ship at half the weight.

Great Article. Having spent some considerable time with Greg while in
Bend in preparation for racing his Sparrowhawk at the 2008 Sports Nats
in Montague last year, I believe Greg is right on the cusp of creating
AND producing a glider that will make many current glider pilots say
"Wow!" and then line-up for one. While finances are tight (but then
again whose aren't), this ship is taking shape very rapidly and I
would not discount its first flight this summer. I've seen the wing
molds and plugs and the cockpit/control mock-up and it is all going to
be first class. From last report parts of the wing were already laid
up last fall. If the numbers are even close to what is calculated,
this ship will be one to watch for sure.

Tim McAllister EY

State of the art performance is what Cole is after here, plus safety
and relative affordability.

Definitely, $92,000 is quite affordable if you are out to win the 15m
nationals and you're willing and able to spend what it takes.

Thanks, Bob K.

It is interesting to see how the discussion is drifting a little bit
off the topic. Many glider manufacturers do not give names to their
products, and yet still have been able to built respectable
reputation. For designer who gave Sparrow Hawk name to his first
glider, it appears almost a natural consequence to name the 15M racer
as Duck Hawk, particularly that both of the gliders will share the
fuselage [at least the outside shell, since Duck Hawk will obviously
have retractable landing gear]. Diana implies beauty, not necessarily
the performance, yet her mark does not remain unnoticed.

In a world of modern, high performance glider design, Greg Cole
deserves huge recognition, for now at least for trying, but doubtful
the Duck Hawk will not deliver on the promise. For those few that had
the privilege of looking at the new wing tools for the glider, I would
dare to say, they already know the answer. Would it not be the subject
of pride to see the top performing racer coming from the US?

At 21:28 26 February 2009, wrote:
It is interesting to see how the discussion is drifting a little bit
off the topic. Many glider manufacturers do not give names to their
products, and yet still have been able to built respectable
reputation. For designer who gave Sparrow Hawk name to his first
glider, it appears almost a natural consequence to name the 15M racer
as Duck Hawk, particularly that both of the gliders will share the
fuselage [at least the outside shell, since Duck Hawk will obviously
have retractable landing gear]. Diana implies beauty, not necessarily
the performance, yet her mark does not remain unnoticed.

In a world of modern, high performance glider design, Greg Cole
deserves huge recognition, for now at least for trying, but doubtful
the Duck Hawk will not deliver on the promise. For those few that had
the privilege of looking at the new wing tools for the glider, I would
dare to say, they already know the answer. Would it not be the subject
of pride to see the top performing racer coming from the US?




Special design features have their own drawbacks - carbon fibre is light
but it doesn't give in a crash, has this been accounted for?

btw, the Diana sailplane is sleek but it seems to almost guarantee a
tailboom snapoff in a mild groundloop.

Maybe it should be called a Charles, after what he did to Diana?

On Feb 27, 8:00*am, Jim White wrote:
Maybe it should be called a Charles, after what he did to Diana?

how about a w(h)ale?!

Brad

I think that these forums are more read than the Magazine, but they
would rather print that story when there is some real data behind it.

Very interesting stuff.

The Light Hawk is another Carbon/glass ship that is made in the US in
CA, and costs around $100k.

It has a different mission....minimum sink to be able to soar micro
lift (Search "Garry Osaba" for details and a fascinating story)

It literally can soar on cow farts.

Even at that cost his profit margin is small.

I spoke to the owner/designer Danny Howell a few months back and he
says that most sales are coming from Europe.

Fascinating talk as you start to uncover the posibilities and
different flight regimes.

Ray

While the DuckHawk sounds interesting, and I hope it works, I'm
surprised that it is being designed as a 15m flapped ship. Most of
the flapped development nowadays is in the 18m class - and while the
15m racing class is still safe, it's probably not where the real
action is going to be in the future (and I say this as a 15m racer
myself).

It would seem that the Duckhawk would have more international appeal
as a Standard class (15m no flaps) ship - wonder how it would perform
without flaps?

Watching with interest....

Kirk
66

wrote:
While the DuckHawk sounds interesting, and I hope it works, I'm
surprised that it is being designed as a 15m flapped ship. Most of
the flapped development nowadays is in the 18m class - and while the
15m racing class is still safe, it's probably not where the real
action is going to be in the future (and I say this as a 15m racer
myself).


Yes, that does make one wonder about the commercial viability of this
new glider.



It would seem that the Duckhawk would have more international appeal
as a Standard class (15m no flaps) ship - wonder how it would perform
without flaps?

Watching with interest....

Kirk
66

On Feb 27, 9:42*am, "
wrote:
While the DuckHawk sounds interesting, and I hope it works, I'm
surprised that it is being designed as a 15m flapped ship. *Most of
the flapped development nowadays is in the 18m class - and while the
15m racing class is still safe, it's probably not where the real
action is going to be in the future (and I say this as a 15m racer
myself).

It would seem that the Duckhawk would have more international appeal
as a Standard class (15m no flaps) ship - wonder how it would perform
without flaps?

Watching with interest....

At ESA Tehachapi '08, Greg did a presentation on the GosHawk electric
airplane he is working on, probably with an eye towards competing in
the green aviation contest that NASA and CAFE are attempting to
collaborate on. Anyhow, it was pretty clear from the specs that the
GosHawk airplane uses the same wing shapes as the DuckHawk sailplane,
though the GosHawk's greater fuselage width and much greater non-
lifting weight probably require some structural differences.

Those who believe that breakthroughs in battery technology are right
around the corner will be really interested in the GosHawk. Greg is
scheduled to be in the Bay Area to give a presentation at the CAFE 3rd
Annual Electric Aircraft Symposium on April 24, 2009 at the Hiller
Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California. You can register online for
only $249, but it's $310 at the door:

http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pav_eas_2009.php

Given that the DuckHawk wings (and their tooling) have multiple
applications, it was probably a pretty closely calibrated decision to
optimize their sailplane application for the waning 15-meter racing
class. And while the fine planform optimization required to achieve
their promised performance probably precludes tip extensions to 18m, I
wouldn't be too surprised to see a version that adds a meter and a
half on a side at the inboard end.

Thanks, and best regards to all
Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24