"Martin Eiler" wrote in message ...
Here are two simple questions. The glider is an ASK-21
and for both questions the wind conditions are a smooth
steady 25 knots with no wind shear or gradient.

1. The pilot is holding North on his compass and the
glider is trimmed for 43 knots. He has a 90 degree
right cross wind from the East. The pilot then releases
the controls to see what the glider will do.
Do you believe the glider will turn into the wind,
downwind or stay facing North?

2. The pilot next decides to practice stalls upwind and
downwind to find out if they are the same other than
the groundspeed.
Will he or should he notice any difference?

M Eiler

I think number 1 depends on the yaw-stability of the sailplane. With
a great deal of positive stability, the vertical stabilizer will swing
the nose of the aircraft into the wind. I am only a student pilot and
I have never flown the ASK21. But, I know this happens with a trimmed
out free-flight model glider, so I assume once the pilot releases the
controls, the aircraft will behave as it is designed to do. With
negative or neutral yaw-stability, no change in direction should
result.

Number 2, well, it should not make a difference. The plane should be
moving with the airmass in this case, and the stall should behave as
normal. Only relative gound-speed would be different.

Best of luck getting a good variety of opinions,
Terrill