On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:02:55 -0800 (PST), SoaringXCellence
wrote:


The weight toward the tips provides an interial resistance to roll.
That means the ride is a little smoother as the wing has greater
resistance to differential vertical gusting across the wingspan. It
is the same principle that tightrope walkers use by carrying a long
heavy pole.

I beg to differ - at least for certain gliders it's vice-versa.

In the AS 22-2 (the mother of all ASH-25s) it is strictly required to
fill the outer wing tanks first (and empty them last) - the limiting
factor is the bending momentum of the wing of course.

The interesting part:
Even with completely filled outer wing bags (about 120 lbs per wing)
the roll rate doesn't suffer at all.
But filling the inner wing tanks (about 100 lbs per wing) instead of
having a co-pilot on board reduces the roll rate significantly.

Don't ask me why.