On 8/13/11 7:40 PM, Tom Nau wrote:
I fly an ASW-28. The under-surface of the wing has a nice little piece
of plastic that covers the dump valve and which is hinged by a piece
of cloth tape. When flying with water ballast my assumption is that
correct procedure is to leave the piece of plastic in place, but open
and hanging down from the cloth tape hinge. I am thinking that airflow
will keep the plastic closed and be more aerodynamic over the dump
valve but when dumping ballast it will open sufficiently to let the
ballast dump efficiently. Or should I simply remove the piece of
plastic entirely when carrying water ballast? Thanks.
Tom

Yes leave it in place as a hinge.

Make sure you fill and test dump and make sure everything seems to work OK.

If you've never flown with water I would encourage you to find a local
experienced pilot locally (ideally somebody who flies a Schleicher with
water) to help you make sure everything is OK and talk through with you
things like fill and ground handing procedures, flyng handling
differences, thermalling speeds, performance effects etc. And of course
read the POH. And make sure you let the tow pilot know you are
heavy/carrying water.

Darryl