On Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 3:00:07 AM UTC-7, Mike Oliver wrote:

Brakes are weak if you have no headwind but a tip I was given (which goes
against all training)! was that if seriously too high IN NO WIND conditions
and NO TURBULENCE you can open the brakes and raise the nose to take it to
the back of the drag curve. It comes down smoothly and rapidly. When back
to the correct angle lower the nose and complete approach as normal. It
works. I'll bet people will want to come on here who have never flown one
and say different but try it at altutude first. I could even do this whilst
playing with the rudder and it showed no tendency to drop a wing.

Lovely glider, sometimes I regret moving on.

To get my Austria S down, I go the opposite way. I add about 5 knots airspeed. It is my experience that the air brakes are significantly more effective at or above 60 knots. 55 knots, not much happening. 65 knots, she is coming down, for sure.

My particular airframe - and, note, mine is an early example with a NACA airfoil - seems to have a 'knee' in the lift/speed curve. It tends to pop up on aerotow round about the end of the runway. I have thought that and the airbrake behaviour may be related.

Bruce