Op zondag 3 januari 2021 om 13:15:49 UTC+1 schreef :
piątek, 1 stycznia 2021 o 20:14:42 UTC+1 2G napisał(a):
On Friday, January 1, 2021 at 4:43:40 AM UTC-8, wrote:
piątek, 1 stycznia 2021 o 09:11:18 UTC+1 Surge napisał(a):
On Tuesday, 29 December 2020 at 22:07:01 UTC+2, wrote:
Hi Surge
I would be happy to learn how you find your decision of buying that Nimbus 5 years ago from the perspective of those 5 years. Do you still own it? I am curious because I am now facing the same dilemma of low time pilot going for Nimbus 2. If you are somewhere out there I would be glad to hear from you:
Hi piotrm
I still own the Nimbus 2 although I haven't flown it that much due to life and work getting in the way. I'm still happy with the glider. My cautions would mainly be around ground handling and aerotow (I haven't winched it yet). I provided a general update in 2018 if you missed it. You're welcome to ask me specific questions otherwise.
What I would add is:

Rigging:
Try to keep it hangared if possible - I would not recommend rigging it every weekend unless you're young and fit and have time on your hands. I keep mine hangared with the tips off (GA size T hangar) but even that is a bit of a pain since I'm quite particular regarding cleaning and re-greasing all the pins, sockets and L'Hotellier aileron connections at the tip mounting point every time I fly it. These parts are exposed to dirt every time the wing tips are removed. However it is not a difficult chore and I do everything myself using a DIY one man, wing rigger. Total time to rig, clean, DI and tow to the launch point is about 2 hours. Cleaning and rigging the wing tips takes me about an hour.

Take off:
Make sure you start the take off role with full negative flaps to obtain aileron authority early.
When flying empty be ready for the glider to leap off the deck when shifting gently to +4 degrees flaps. Even with trim almost fully forward and my CofG fore of centre, she likes to get airborne very quickly. I'm sure it would not be so when using water ballast but I haven't flown with ballast yet.

Landing:
Go to full negative flaps during roll out else aileron authority degrades very rapidly. I almost ground looped once because I forgot to use negative flaps during roll out and there was a light tail wind.
Don't forget to use landing flaps - they add a significant amount of drag and lift compared with +6 degrees. I landed with approach flaps once (+4 degrees) and I ended up using about 450 meters of runway before I came to a stop - lots of energy to dissipate.

Aerotow:
She's slippery so it's quite easy to get slack in the tow rope in turbulent air even in low tow position with +6 degrees flap. Be ready to use the airbrakes to prevent rope slack.
Hi Surge
thanks for your reply I really apprecite it as I am getting closer and closer to making a final decision about the purchase. I am glad to see that you do not regret your decision, still enjoy the glider and in general I find your words quite reasurring. I am also relieved to see that you did not experience any particularly dangerous situation (except that near ground loop landing maybe). My ultimate aim is exactly the same as you descrbied it starting this thread: medium distance relaxed cross conutry 300-500 km rather than blasting around 200 km/h and fighting in competitions. As for the storage I am also planning to keep her in a hangar, so handling issue should not be much of a problem. Some dust covers are included in the package and that may help to protect pins and sockets from the dirt.

Perhaps one of my biggest concerns are outlandings. Since I am inexperienced (70 hours on gliders, 100 hours on powered planes) I am not planning oulandings any time soon and I guess having 3 airfields almost within the distance of Nimbus2 49 L/D I don't run much risk of a casulal landing. Even if I happend to have one, the area of Poland where I live is covered with large, smooth fields.
Is landing roll really significantly longer than a "regular" club 15-meter like Astir for example? (assuming that landing procedure is executed fawlessly)
Have you ever tried to use tail parachute on landing?

Did you find anything worth emphasizing about handling the ship during the thermalling/cruise?

From other advice on Nimbus 2 which I got I assume that challenges of flying a glider of this kind are lying more in mental areas (concentration/focus/discipline) rather than area of pure flying technique. I guess my experience of PPL pilot may help here (flaps adjustments, engine rpm adjusments on landings/take-offs etc).
Do you know any place where I could find Nimbus 2 pilot operating handbook? I was trying to find in the internet but the best what I found was Mini Nimbus POH.

best regards
Piotr
Hi Piotr,

Considering your experience and budget I recommend that you get an ASW19 or a Standard Cirrus. Landing the N2C under normal circumstances is a handful - an outlanding multiplies all of those issues.

Tom
Hi Tom

thanks for reply, each opinion/advice is valuable. I managed to get response from the originator of that thread (Surge) who bought Nimbus 2 having around 50 hours of experience. He still owns that glider, flies her happily and nothing bad happend. What I find to be crucial is risk awareness and "risk management". People who are advising me against the choice of Nimbus point out to potential risks and this is very valuable. People who are advising in favour point out how to avoid the risk. I guess you are probably a glider pilot with a lot of experience so do not feel competent to argue from the position of newbee, but I would be interested to learn what is your opinion on a few conclusions I draw:

1. Many people are warning that outlandigs in Nimbus2 kind of glider are much riskier. But isn't it true, that flying a glider with L/D 50 and sink rate of 0,5 m/s creates much smaller risk of outlanding altogether ? Even from my very limited experience of flying SZD-30 Pirat (L/D 31, sink 0,7m/s) and SZD-51 Junior (L/D 36, sink 0,6m/s) during my SPL training I could see that I was able to stay longer in the air in Junior than in Pirat in the same conditions. I am planning to avoid outlandings anyway during the first 2 years of my "SPL licenced" flying, so I guess that L/D 50 glider should rather help in it? There are a couple of clubs within a distance of 50-70 km from each other in my area so with an average cloud base during the season of c.a. 1500 meters A.G.L. I could assume regular landings on airfields with pretty much certainty, and even in case of an outlanding, there are lots of large agricultural fields in that part of Poland.
Just as Surge, I am not planning to fly in adverse conditions in the beginning (stron winds)

2. Technical difficulties of flying (especially take-offs and landings) - this seems similar to my motorbike experience. Shortly after getting a licence for a motorbike I decided to buy a vintage Ducati Monster 1000cc bike (it was based on high performance racing bike constructed in the 70-ties) which most people warned me against as too dangerous for a beginner and suggested some 600cc with easier handling. I bought Monster however and having all those warnings in the back of my head I drove as safe as possible, avoided speeding etc and nothing bad happened. I have been driving it for a couple of years now and enjoyed it a lot. Paradoxically, it maybe even contributed to improvement of safety of my riding because being aware of higher risks I was seeking advice of more experienced, reading a lot on the biking technique, proper speed/breaking management etc

3. Practical considerations - glider which I am planning to buy is well maintained and has 2300 h to fly to the next service life extension, at the asking price close to that, which most of 15meter club ships have, which are usually sold with between 100 h - 1000 h of flying left until next service life extension.

and besides, I find open gliders just splendid with their slender wings.... Although this subject has probably never been raised in this forum, to me, part of the satisfaction of being an owner of a glider comes from the fact of owning/flying a beautiful work of art, which, I believe, the glider is.. I guess that explains a lot

best regards
Piotr

I had about 80 solo hours before I made the decision to buy my own glider. I was also looking at Nimbus 2, but decided to go for a DG-101. It's 15m standard class (now club) and due to the span and weight, is very easy to climb with. Keep in mind that a heavy 20m ship will be better in banging weather, but when having to fight at 200m ALG on 0 m/s waiting for the thermal to develop, I really do love a smaller and lightweight club class glider. I have never outlanded in my DG 101 and fly between 300 and 500km frequently. It's very easy to rig as well and never had any issues with the L/D of 39 (I have never flown straight at best L/D speed)

Even though the high L/D is nice, L/D is just a number, it doesn't mean that the ship is better than a Std Cirrus. It all depends on experience and your style of flying. If you always fly in super weather with large thermals and over 2 m/s of lift, open class ships will be amazing. In Belgium, we don't have that luxury all the time and have to be happy with 1 up to 2 m/s with few exceptions above 2 m/s. Look at the weather in your area. Are you always going out on the big days or are you happy to fly with weaker days too?

My suggestion would be to look at the Std Cirrus, ASW19, Pegase, Std Libelle, DG-100, DG-300, LS4 (last 2 if budget allows). Those are great all-round gliders which will get you lots of fun and can last a long time. Great rigging, handling, great climbing and performance make these great choices for first gliders.