View Single Post
  #9  
Old December 15th 09, 09:56 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
T8
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 429
Default Optimum CG Range

On Dec 15, 1:35*pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
wrote:

Why is the ability to stall in a steep turn a useful criteria? It sounds
like a safety problem to me.

Gives adequate pitch authority to pull to max lift coefficient, thus
tightest turn. From my experience, this is usually about 75-80% aft in
manufacturer's approved range.
UH


How steep is the turn for which you still desire the ability to stall?
And how close to the ground or hillside do you expect to need this ability?

It's not clear to me this would be a useful ability for a pilot that is
trying to thermal away from a hillside, mountain, or during a low save.


If you never fly faster than 25 second turns -- and a lot of us don't
-- then it really isn't an issue.

When I'm on my game, I can thermal with 14 second turns, full of
water. 12 seconds, dry. Good trick to have in the bag when presented
with an usually strong, tight core (are you reading, #44? -- good
fun!). And yeah, the cg has to be in the right place to do that.

"Ability to stall" is only an indicator that the ship is set up
correctly.

-Evan Ludeman / T8