"Jeremy Zawodny" wrote in message
...
Eric Greenwell wrote:
Frank Whiteley wrote:
90mph patterns in a 2-32 aren't uncommon. Especially at sites that
have had one spin in.

What is the stall speed?

I don't have my copy of a 2-32 manual handy right now, but a quick search
reveals 47mph @ max gross:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...26e884e191c7de

That feels like it's in the right ballpark for the 2-32s I've flown.

Jeremy

47 MPH stall is very optimistic. At gross weight, the stick buffet starts
at about 55 - 60 and the stall break is around 53. If the stall is not
perfectly symmetric, a spin departure is likely leading to significant
altitude loss. The 2-32 is not a glider you want to stall in the pattern.
There were pilots who thought 70 MPH was an adequate pattern speed who are
no longer with us.

My original point was that, as Robert Mud wrote, modern glass gliders are
very docile and that references to "hot" glass ships is misguided. In
reality, bad gliders are bad at everything and good gliders have excellent
performance AND docile handling qualities. I'd like to see everyone trained
in Duo Discii.

At one point there was a glider manufacturer who couldn't build high
performance gliders. In an attempt to maintain market share, that
manufacturer took a marketing approach that suggested that performance and
safe handling qualities were inversely related such that it was impossible
to build high performance gliders with safe handling. Instead, that
manufacturer proved that it was possible to build bad handling and lousy
performance in the same glider.

Bill Daniels