M B wrote:
As I think about a 24 meter glider, I wonder how much
span is too much?

At some point, the roll rate of a long span must just
be terrible. And there is added wetted area, right?


There are other disadvantages too (assembly, runway
width, etc.) that have nothing to do with flight in
the air too, I suppose.

I can see how lots of span is fine if you are willing
to add enough water, but 24 meters seems like a LOT
of wing.
Once L/D goes beyond a certain point (40 or 50 or whatever)

it seems like updrafts and downdrafts and penetration
become a much better indicator of performance than

strictly L/D.

The pilots who DON'T buy langer spans but have plenty
of money to do so are buying shorter spans for some
reason.
Is it mostly the ground factors, or is there a pretty
'natural' cutoff? Single seat vs. 2-seat I can understand,
and maybe some extra wing for those pilots who are
a bit
heavier, but 24 meters seems REALLY long to me...

At 21:00 15 April 2005, wrote:
no listing for the following

ASW22-A 24meter
ASW22-A 22meter

Al


Mark J. Boyd

25.5 m on my Nimbus 3 and I have never even bothered to fly it in the
22.5 m short mode without the tips on! The roll rate is not 'terrible'
but it does take some getting used too! Unfortunately our field is a
little short so I can't load it to the gills but on anything but a
winters day it really needs a couple of barrels of juice in the wings.

Given enough funds I might go to a HP 304S - 18T. I have always liked
their ships and the 304S looks like another winner and yes ground
rigging is pretty much all of the reason for moving over.

Someone else has already pointed out that longer span changes the way
you fly. There was a comment somewhere about flying the Eta ( 30m span
) 'when in doubt climb in a straight line'. Thats how the big open
ships seem to get around.

The 18m class ships have most of the L/D of the Opens but the reduced
span and modern aerodynamics retain most, if not all of the 15m
maneuverability. In European conditions I doubt whether most open ships
can run away from a new 18m ship. However when it dies late on a good
day its really nice to throttle back to best glide and be able to
average in the 60's for the last 50 or 60km through a sea-breezed final
glide area.


Ian