On Sat, 04 Nov 2017 22:55:39 -0700, anklam2 wrote:

The ASW 20 seems to have a reputation for bad behavior in some
configurations. Is this reputation deserved or overblown? What has
been the experience of those who have owned and flown the glider? Are
some variants of the 20 better or worse in terms of handling
characteristics?

I had an early ASW-20 (s/n 34), the so-called A series, with the two
stage landing flap. Twice it departed in a thermal turn without any
warning, zero flap (position 3) 40-45 degree bank, flying at 45 kts. Both
times It recovered after a 1/4 turn, though 300 ft lower and now at 80
kts. The second time it happened I tried to reproduce the same behaviour
after arriving back home in late afternoon with plenty of height in hand,
but was unable to get it to spin similar from turns at the same or a
slightly lower airspeed. I was forced to conclude that this was either
idiosyncratic behaviour of my particular ASW-20 or it had something to do
with micro-turbulence in the thermal.

Apart from that I had no issues with its handling once I'd learnt to fly
a flapped glider properly and not to add 5 kts to approach speed for luck
since that made it want to float into the next county after rounding out.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |