On Dec 19, 12:22 pm, John Smith wrote:
kirk.stant wrote:
Now, if all gliders had AoA gauges, you could jump from one glider to
another and not worry about what the right approach speed is for the
glider you happen to be in.

Whatever happened to the old fashioned custom to familiarize oneself
with the particularities of a glider before flying it?

That's a great custom, which I wholeheartedly endorse. Now, put
yourself in the postion to jump into a variety of gliders in rapid
succession. You are current and qualified in all of them, of course.
But can you instantly recall the exact speeds for all of them, under
pressure, without fail?

My personal experience was in giving commercial rides (sightseeing and
aerobatic) in 2-33s, 2-32s, G-103s, and ASK-21s. With a wide variety
of passenger size, in no particular order, often moving to a different
glider immediately after landing.

Fortunately, one soon learns the individual characteristics of the
gliders one flies frequently, and on a nice big field, a little extra
airspeed doesn't hurt until you slow down in the flare. So TLAR works
surprisingly well.

But it would still be nice to have ACCURATE instrumentation. While
airspeed works, it is by design only an approximation of the correct
speed. We are lucky that most gliders are so forgiving that this is
mainly an academic argument. Now, get slow on your turn to final in a
2-32 and you may wish you had an AoA indicator!

Right now, the closest we have is the yellow triangle on german
gliders - approach speed at max gross, I think? (please correct me if
I'm wrong on that one).

Nothing to do with German, it's a JAR requirement. Suggested minimal
approach speed at max gross without water ballast. The triangle is
handy, but just reading the POH works, too.

Absolutely correct. I find that I don't use it in my own ship, but
look for it when I get in a club ship that I havn't flown in a while -
as a starting point for pattern speed.

Kirk