"Crashworthy" nowadays refers to the pilot's ability to survive a crash -
not the aircraft structure comeingout of a crash undamged. A sturdy,
tank-like design very often means not crashworthy _at all_.

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Clint" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
I think you were misled by the "12" in the subject line, because the '12
Mark and I were referring to is the ASW 12. It's quite unlike the LAK
12, which is basically an ASW 17.

As far as "over-engineering" goes, I've looked at the LAK 12, and I
didn't see anything special about the design of the cockpit, which
seemed to share all the design features and problems of gliders designed
in the 70's. The cockpit design is the part of the glider that interests
this pilot the most when it comes to crashing.

I did understand you were referring to the ASW 12. Beautiful glider
but I have never had the chance to see one. I used the string to refer
to the LAK 12 because it is also incredibly strong - I should have
added a :-) when I referred to the LAK 12 as a '12.

I apologise if my understanding of the term "over-engineering" is
different from that associated with the term elsewhere in the world. I
used it to express the common disbelief in the engineers'
calculations. It is the exact opposite of "beautifully-engineered"
which would be used to express amazement at the fine calculations used
to manufacture a piece with no excess or waste (Lennie would
appreciate "beautiful-engineering" but despise "over-engineering" :-)
). The use of extra material just in case the engineers' calcs are
incorrect is "over-engineer" e.g. using a piece 2" thick when the
engineer says 1" is more than adequate. The LAK appears to have been
constructed with that principle in mind and the result is an
incredible tough aeroplane - like most things built by the old Eastern
Block countries. You should see the suspension system on the LAK T4
trailers - could have come off a T62 tank!

The LAK 12 manual does say the glider has a crashworthy cockpit but I
agree that there isn't the beautiful design found in modern AS gliders
with their strengthened cockpit structures. I think it is considered
crashworthy because it is so thick.

It is a common mistake to say the LAK 12 is basically an ASW 17. The
two have similar profiles and wingspans but the wing profile is closer
to the Nimbus 2 (Wortman FX67) than ASW 17 (modified Wortmann FX62).
The details are actually more Jantar 1 than anything German. The LAK
12 has a single piece wing, which is very different from the Nimbus 2
or ASW 17, which have 2 piece wings. What is similar is the docile
handling and performance - although at higher speeds the ASW 17 should
run away from the LAK. The LAK 12 was designed at a time that the ASW
17 and Nimbus 2 were already being replaced by the ASW 22 and Nimbus 3
respectively. It was designed as a training glider for the Russians
(future airforce pilots and government sponsored clubs), rather than a
competition machine.

Off the topic - the weather bureau are predicting 4m/s thermals and 17
000ft cloud base. A bit of a poor day as earlier in the week they were
saying 6m/s and 20 000ft. Looks like the old LAK will have to stretch
its legs tomorrow. Eat-your-heart-out all those in the Northern
Hemisphere!

Clinton Birch
LAK 12