On Mar 16, 6:55*pm, Walt Connelly Walt.Connelly.
wrote:
Okay folks, your thoughts on the Standard Cirrus? *Good, bad
indifferent? *Flying tail, pros and cons? *I am new to gliding,
Commercial Add on, 140 flights and approx 100 hours, mostly in 1-34.
Would this be a reasonable next step?

From Dick Johnson's test of a Standard Cirrus:

"One of the outstandingly good features of the Standard Cirrus is its
well-arranged cockpit. It is capable of fitting large pilots
comfortably, has room for a normal-size instrument panel, and yet
provides the pilot with excellent visibility. The controls operate
freely and are well located. The side-hinged canopy opens and closes
with ease and is much more convenient than the non-hinged removable
type which usually must be placed on the ground or handled by an
assistant when entering and exiting the cockpit.

Mediocre flight characteristics on the Cirrus B are its longitudinal
stablility, controll and stalling. The longitudinal stability is
relatively low compared to the PIK-20 or Schweizer 1-35, and this
requires some additional pilot attention to maintain aero tow position
or fly at constant airspeeds. At high airspeeds the control stick
elevator pressures are quite low, and care must be taken not to
overcontrol. Some warning is given at stall, but the roll-off is
rather rapid and it apparently will enter a spin rather quickly. The
earlier Standard Cirrus A was reported to be worse in that regard, and
for that reason the wing washout was increased about .75 degrees. For
the above reasons, I would recommend that pilots with less than about
100 flying hours should not fly the Standard Cirrus. Experienced
pilots with current proficiency should have little difficulty, and to
those I recommend the Standard Cirrrus B as an excellent sailplane.

Fig. 1 shows that its measured flight performance is relatively good,
indicating an L/D max of about 35.9 at 51 knots calibrated airspeed,
and about 440 ft./min. sink rate at 90 knots calibrated airspeed. The
reason for the emphasis on the words "calibrated" is that one of the
less-good features of the Standard Cirrus B is its large airspeed
system errors.

The earlier Standard Cirrus A reported by Paul Bickle in reference 1,
had its static ports located on the forward fuselage sides near the
instrument panel. This location produce suction at all airspeeds,
which caused the airspeed indicators to read considerably high at all
speeds. At stall this error amounted to about 2.5 knots high for the
Standard Cirrus A, whereas the Standard Cirrus B shows one knot low,
or a difference of 3.5 knots in indicated airspeed. This was excellent
brochuremanship and resulted in many people believing their new Cirrus
possessed 4 mph lower stalling speeds. At high airspeeds both the A
and B models show considerable static port suction, such that the
indicated airspeed is about seven knots above its correct calibrated
airspeed. Again good brochuremanship, but no help in contest flying."

And Derek Piggot's opinion:

Early versions of the Standard Cirrus were rather under-braked and
might be a problem for early field landings. The later Cirrus 75 has
an improved wing and better airbrakes and a few Standard Cirrus have
been modified to have a double area airbrake blade similar to that on
the Pirat. This appears to be a worthwhile modification as it
considerably improves the power of the airbrakes. The all moving
stabilizer and spring trimming make it sensitive, if not 'twitchy' at
higher speeds. With the c.g near the aft limit, inexperienced pilots
may run into pitching problems, so to improve stability the initial
flights should be made with extra ballast in the cockpit to bring the
c.g. well forward. Pilots should be carefully briefed to avoid
overcontrolling, particularly just after take-off on aerotow. In all
other respects the Standard Cirrus is a nice machine with good
handling and stalling, and a competitive performance. It is only
suitable for the very competent Bronze C pilot and is perhaps a better
second glass glider.