On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 02:19:36 -0700, ashmanthefirst wrote:

I'm interested to know if primary gliders were capable of soaring
flights or if they only flew short hops.

The SG 38, for example, has a sink rate of 1.3 m/s so in theory it's
possible. I'd be very interested to hear of any stories about soaring
one of these gliders.

Yes - a few years back I remember reading a story about one that was
thermalled as part its display in a Gemman airshow. The main problem was
that, without airbrakes, its pilot couldn't get it down and held up the
rest of the show for 45 mins.

Slipping it wouldn't help much because primary gliders have very little
side area and no dihedral.



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Martin | martin at
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