"Jeremy Zawodny" wrote in message
...
Bill Daniels wrote:
Interesting discussion about "fast" gliders. I imagine there's a bunch
of jet jockys rolling on the floor laughing. How about 180 knots over
the fantail trying for the third wire on an 700 foot 'runway'.

The fastest landing glider in common use is the (very) old 2-32. The
2-32 POH provides little guidance on approach speeds but if the airspeed
indicator had one of those little yellow triangles showing minimum
approach speed, it would be around 75MPH. Most pilots respect the 2-32
enough to fly the pattern around 80 - 90 MPH. I haven't got the guts to
let the approach speed get below 80. No glass glider I know of lands
that fast.

Wow, those numbers strike me as fast. I did my primary training in 2-32s
and typically flew the pattern around 70mph and had sufficient float on
landing.

I can't imagine why anyone would regularly do a 90mph pattern.

I did do 100mph on final once, but that was part of a checkout before I
could do commercial rides in the 2-32. Those velocity limiting dive
brakes are pretty impressive. :-)

Jeremy

The concern isn't about float, it's about the 2-32's behavior in a gust
induced stall.

Bill Daniels