Whatever happened to...

At 15:06 22 November 2005, Papa3 wrote:
Speaking of 'whatever happened to'... I recall seeing
an article in
S&G a number of years back about a ship designed in
the UK for simple,
low cost construction using a 'new' laminate or honeycomb
material.
IIRC, it looked similar to the old Duster design from
the US. I think
I saw it featured on the cover of a book not long ago
(Green glider
against bucolic green landscape). Curious to hear
whether it ever went
into any sort of production. .

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)


Yes - I have it recorded in one of my my log books.
Edgley EA9.
I flew it in September 1997 at RAF Dishforth for 17
minutes, off an aerotow.

Flew like a K-8 - only with better performance.
Generally handled very nicely - but I found it difficult
to trim out.
I couldn't have been all that impressed because I did
not order one - and much preferred my Open Cirrus anyway.
I can't remember how much the asking price was - but
I don't think it was all that cheap.

sta13.
UK.

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 22:07:13 UTC, "For Example John Smith"
wrote:

Thanks to RAS, I no longer need a calendar.
When the PW-5 troll comes out, it must be winter in the Northern Hemisphere

"Ian Johnston" wrote in message
news:dzZo7CxomoOm-pn2-BbTHJvIz8nks@localhost...

I know a fair few PW-5's were made, but did it ever come close to the
thousands predicted? Are they still in production?

Whatcha talking about? I genuinely want to know. I remember seeing
predictions here for very large sales indeed of the PW-5 (I think
10,000 was one forecast) and I'd like to know what happened. The only
owner I knew sold his a couple of years back.

I'm a fan of small gliders. SIFOW!

Ian

On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 15:02:35 UTC, "Papa3"
wrote:

Speaking of "whatever happened to"... I recall seeing an article in
S&G a number of years back about a ship designed in the UK for simple,
low cost construction using a "new" laminate or honeycomb material.

That was the Edgeley (I may have too many 'e's in there) Optimist. The
honeycomb material was the stuff they make commercial aircraft floors
from. I don't think it got beyond prototype, but I could be wrong.

I was teaching some mature student engineers a few years back in a
class on composite materials, and using glider spars as an example.
One of the students later said "Do you think the Optimist looks like
an ASK-18?" I replied "Are you a glider pilot?" "No", he said, "but I
work for the company which built the Optimist prototype, and we were
constantly taking measurements of aan ASK-18 which we had in the
workshop."

I thought there were strong similarities in the appearance ...

Ian

--

The Edgley EA9 'Optomist' was mainly constructed of
a material called 'Fibrelam' which is also used for
floors in airliners. As far as I know only one protoype
was built, as a production version would have cost
almost as much as a conventional sailplane, but with
little better than K18 (on which it was based) performance.
It was painted green and hence became nicknamed the
'flying cucumber'.

Derek Piggott flew this glider in several Lasham Regionals
and even managed to win his class in it one year. Although
he manages to make almost anything go competitively
- even the PW5!

Derek Copeland
----------------------
At 16:30 22 November 2005, Stanford Korwin wrote:
Yes - I have it recorded in one of my my log books.
Edgley EA9.
I flew it in September 1997 at RAF Dishforth for 17
minutes, off an aerotow.

Flew like a K-8 - only with better performance.
Generally handled very nicely - but I found it difficult
to trim out.
I couldn't have been all that impressed because I did
not order one - and much preferred my Open Cirrus anyway.
I can't remember how much the asking price was - but
I don't think it was all that cheap.

sta13.
UK.

In article , Stanford Korwin
REMOVE_TO_REPLY.sta13nski-slepowron@y

Yes - I have it recorded in one of my my log books.
Edgley EA9.
I flew it in September 1997 at RAF Dishforth for 17
minutes, off an aerotow.

Flew like a K-8 - only with better performance.
Generally handled very nicely - but I found it difficult
to trim out.
I couldn't have been all that impressed because I did
not order one - and much preferred my Open Cirrus anyway.
I can't remember how much the asking price was - but
I don't think it was all that cheap.

sta13.
UK.




There were better gliders available for the same price, albeit
second hand ones.

There were plans to build a two seat version, but the firm who
were providing the money pulled out before construction got very far.

Edgley at one time produced a revolutionary three seat ducted
fan aircraft which had exceptional visibility, and the ability to cruise
very slowly. This would have made it a good helicopter substitute for
some jobs, and indeed one police force in Southern England had one.
Unfortunately they totalled it.

The firm had several other completed and nearly complete planes,
but they were destroyed in a fire. Such a shame, it looked a very
promising product.



--
Mike Lindsay

Exactly.
My favorite flight was at the Sports Class Nats at Reese/Lubbock a couple
years back. We had a long leg toward Midland into a 25kt wind and the
thermals I was catching were only 3 knots and pretty ripped up by the wind
and hard to center. I beat my way into that wind all afternoon--2 steps
forward; 1.7 steps back. 2 steps forward; 2.1 steps back....
Finally I nicked the TAT and ran street with that 25kt tailwind back to
Reese. I must have used 50 thermals to get to the turn and 2 or 3 to get
home with an achieved L in excess of 50.
The next day I drove home and my wife delivered our child.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

"Charles Yeates" wrote in message
...
So do all sailplanes ---

For Example John Smith wrote:
I haven't flown it at high altitudes, but in high winds it flies
backwards.

wrote in message
oups.com...

I read that in Poland the PW-5 had been approved for flights up to
11,000 meters? Anyone have any idea how this bird flies in high
winds/high altitude?

For Example John Smith wrote:
Exactly.
My favorite flight was at the Sports Class Nats at Reese/Lubbock a couple
years back. We had a long leg toward Midland into a 25kt wind and the
thermals I was catching were only 3 knots and pretty ripped up by the wind
and hard to center. I beat my way into that wind all afternoon--2 steps
forward; 1.7 steps back. 2 steps forward; 2.1 steps back....

I remember that day...and (sorta on topic) I completed that task in my
L33 Solo.

Curt Lewis - 95

If anyone's interested?

I have seen a couple of the PW5's at a UK club,
http://www.burnglidingclub.co.uk/





"Ian Johnston" wrote in message
news:dzZo7CxomoOm-pn2-FhsYc2YqHM38@localhost...
On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 22:07:13 UTC, "For Example John Smith"
wrote:

Thanks to RAS, I no longer need a calendar.
When the PW-5 troll comes out, it must be winter in the Northern
Hemisphere

"Ian Johnston" wrote in message
news:dzZo7CxomoOm-pn2-BbTHJvIz8nks@localhost...

I know a fair few PW-5's were made, but did it ever come close to the
thousands predicted? Are they still in production?

Whatcha talking about? I genuinely want to know. I remember seeing
predictions here for very large sales indeed of the PW-5 (I think
10,000 was one forecast) and I'd like to know what happened. The only
owner I knew sold his a couple of years back.

I'm a fan of small gliders. SIFOW!

Ian

Here are some others

http://www.texassoaring.org/AboutTSA/tsa_aircraft.asp

Here are some others

http://www.texassoaring.org/AboutTSA/tsa_aircraft.asp