At 22:35 12 February 2018, Kiwi User wrote:
On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 20:55:41 +0000, Michael Opitz wrote:

If your ASW-19 doesn't have the 2 stage dive brake mod, get it
done. If
it already has it, you should have seen what it was like before. I
had
one for 5 years from 1978 - 1983.

I've never seen one without the double brake plate mod, let alone
flown
one. How do the original brakes compare with a Std Libelle?

I had been going to say that, though I'd been warned about Libelle
brakes
before I ever flew one, I initially found them to be a bit weak but
not
terrible. then again, post solo I spent a year flying SZD Juniors (up
to
Silver) and then another two years in a Pegase90 (both club
gliders)
before I first flew a Libelle and a PW-5. Neither were problematic,
though I much preferred the Libelle.


Martin,

Frankly I don't know because I have never flown a STD Libelle.
The original single stage ASW-19 air brakes were some-
what better than the single stage STD Cirrus airbrakes, which
were poor. I think they were also a little better than those of an
LS-1C or a DG-100, but close.

I forget the German competition pilot's name who came up with
the mod, but Schleicher started producing kits for the retrofit
pretty quickly. I think that became the basis for the ASW-19B
designation. I obtained one of those kits as soon as it became
available, and it made a pretty dramatic difference once installed
on my bird. My brother and Father bought that -19 from me when
I moved up to one of the first DG-300's. That -19 is now 40 years
old, and my brother still has it.

RO