Russia Sailplanes website

I am in the market for a sailplane and have been looking at
PW 5s and Russia AC 4s. I noticed the Russia Sailplanes site has been
inaccessable for a few weeks. Anyone know why?

I was told they have given up offering the Russia Gliders....
I don't know if anyone will pick this up again.
tim

"Willie" wrote in message
m...
I am in the market for a sailplane and have been looking at
PW 5s and Russia AC 4s. I noticed the Russia Sailplanes site has been
inaccessable for a few weeks. Anyone know why?

Tim Mara wrote:
I was told they have given up offering the Russia Gliders....
I don't know if anyone will pick this up again.
tim

"Willie" wrote in message
m...

I am in the market for a sailplane and have been looking at
PW 5s and Russia AC 4s. I noticed the Russia Sailplanes site has been
inaccessable for a few weeks. Anyone know why?

Go to www.motorglider.org, and use the links section to join the Russia
AC4/5 newsgroup. You can ask questions there, but basically Tim is right
about the website. The compamy web site is available, but you'll need to
use a translation tool (Google, Alta Vista) to read it in "English",
since it is in Russian.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

sounds like a PW-5 is a better offer now..

BT

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Tim Mara wrote:
I was told they have given up offering the Russia Gliders....
I don't know if anyone will pick this up again.
tim

"Willie" wrote in message
m...

I am in the market for a sailplane and have been looking at
PW 5s and Russia AC 4s. I noticed the Russia Sailplanes site has been
inaccessable for a few weeks. Anyone know why?

Go to www.motorglider.org, and use the links section to join the Russia
AC4/5 newsgroup. You can ask questions there, but basically Tim is right
about the website. The compamy web site is available, but you'll need to
use a translation tool (Google, Alta Vista) to read it in "English",
since it is in Russian.

--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Rumor is there will be a new US distributor announced this year. If
you look at the Aviastroitel website (in Russian), you see many new
models being developed. Since the US was the largest market, clearly
these new models will likely be made available in the US. Which
indicates the rumors of the new US distributor might actually come
true.

Having flown both the PW5 and the Russia, I would say the PW5 is a bit
fancier in the cockpit (small stick like the expensive birds, for
example), but that is all. The Russia has much better control harmony
and seems a lot tougher overall. The rudder coordination take a while
to figure out in the PW5. Assembly of the Russia is way better
(really is a 10 minute, one person job), and glide performance with
the retract gear is much better than the fixed gear PW5. The only
negative with the Russia is it is a little pitch sensitive, requiring
re-adjusting attitude with spoiler changes (that is, more spoilers
cause the plane to slow down). Takes a bit of practice to smooth out
your landing if you transition directly from a more stable bird like
the 2-33.

The Russia does have a very bad tailwheel that just does not hold air.
Expect to spend around $130 to replace the Russian tailwheel with a
Tost tailwheel. Some owners report leaky mainwheels, but nothing
beyond having to add air every other month. Cheap fixes ($8)
involving Slime are available for the mainwheel.

Availability of used aircraft for sale seems a good indicator of how
well owners like living with a particular airplane. While you can
find a number of the self-launch AC5M Russians for sale (like due to
the 400-450 fpm climb rate from the 28 hp engine....I think this might
have disappointed a few owners), not many of the glider AC4 are for
sale. Seems like a satisfied group.

John

(John) wrote in message . com...
Rumor is there will be a new US distributor announced this year.

Thanks for the information. I have been considering a used ship in the
20 -25 thousand range. I really like the look of the Russia, it
reminds
me of a Phoebus, but without the heavy wings. I am also watching the
Sparrowhawk and Apis, but since they are so new, I don't think I will
find a used one for awhile.

The PW5 seems to be a good fit for me in terms of performance, but I
have heard and read nothing but negative comments from other
sailplane pilots. Is it really a bad ship? It seems to have the
performance
that I'm looking for (33 to 1) or better.

I am in no great hurry and can afford to wait for a deal, so I will
keep my eyes open and watch for the new Russia distributor.

Thanks again,
Willie

Here is more proof the Russia is better than the PW5, at least in the
USA.

There were 81 Russian gliders imported to America, 26 motorgliders
imported, and 3 kits built. This according to the yahoo AC4 group.

If you search the FAA aircraft registry on the Internet, you will find
a smaller number of the "other" world class gliders registered in the
USA. Specifically, the FAA lists the number of PW-5 aircraft
registered as 65; and the number of L-33 Solo aircraft registered as
55.

Based on these numbers, the USA market place clearly prefers the
Russia to the PW5.

I assume one reason the Russia is a better choice then the PW5 is the
design has evolved from tail dragger, to nose wheel, to retract gear,
to motor glider, to now apparently touring glider, and soon-to-be
longer-span/winglet/flapped glider. The PW5 is "stuck" as a design
and not allowed to evolve.

So really, can you compare a new Russia with a decade-old design such
as the PW5? I once watched a retract gear C model Russia literally
run away from a PW5 between thermals...almost like the PW5 was going
backwards. Pull the gear up and add the wing root fairings, and the
Russia is 35:1. Nothing the poor 30:1 PW5 can do about that.

John wrote:
The only
negative with the Russia is it is a little pitch sensitive, requiring
re-adjusting attitude with spoiler changes (that is, more spoilers
cause the plane to slow down). Takes a bit of practice to smooth out
your landing if you transition directly from a more stable bird like
the 2-33.

All the gliders I've flown have required a pitch-down when the spoilers
were opened, including my ASH 26 E, ASW 20 C, Libelle 301, Blanik, and more.

The Russia does have a very bad tailwheel that just does not hold air.
Expect to spend around $130 to replace the Russian tailwheel with a
Tost tailwheel. Some owners report leaky mainwheels, but nothing
beyond having to add air every other month. Cheap fixes ($8)
involving Slime are available for the mainwheel.

All tires lose pressure, smaller tires lose pressure more quickly. The
500 x 5 Goodyear tire on the mainwheel of my ASH 26 E required air every
month, even with it's inner tube. It's normal, not a "Russia" thing.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

(John) wrote in message . com...
Availability of used aircraft for sale seems a good indicator of how
well owners like living with a particular airplane...

Not really. The statistical fluctuations are too high due to the
small number of aircraft built. Right now there are no Russias for
sale in the US, a little while back there were a whole bunch. Not
long ago there were a bunch of ASW20s on the market, I don't think
that's an indication that ASW20 owners are dissatisfied.

I think a better indicator is the number of hours on the ones that do
go up for sale. If they are racking up a high average number of hours
per year, their owners are probably quite happy with them. If you see
them going for sale with like 5 or 10 hours per year on them, then
maybe not so.

it always was ;-)

Ernie

(c'mon - it is still winter, there is enough time for some serious PW5
discussion ;-)

BTIZ wrote:
sounds like a PW-5 is a better offer now..

BT

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...

Tim Mara wrote:

I was told they have given up offering the Russia Gliders....
I don't know if anyone will pick this up again.
tim

"Willie" wrote in message
.com...


I am in the market for a sailplane and have been looking at
PW 5s and Russia AC 4s. I noticed the Russia Sailplanes site has been
inaccessable for a few weeks. Anyone know why?

Go to www.motorglider.org, and use the links section to join the Russia
AC4/5 newsgroup. You can ask questions there, but basically Tim is right
about the website. The compamy web site is available, but you'll need to
use a translation tool (Google, Alta Vista) to read it in "English",
since it is in Russian.

--
-----
change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA