Update on Minden tradegy

I could never get my ASW-20B to do a benign spiral. I tried many times
over a period of sixteen years and 2000 hours with flaps, spoilers,
gear, trim and CG in various positions. My technique was to set up the
configuration, then upset the attitude a bit the way rotor cloud
turbulence would, and then hands and feet off. It always would begin
with small "zoomies" which got bigger and bigger until I was forced to
take control to save my life.

My '20 was also the only glider (or throttled back power plane) that I
ever flew which was uncontrollable with the stick against the aft
stop. With every type but the '20 I could very slowly ease the stick
aft until it hit the stop and then control it indefinitely with coarse
use of aileron and rudder as it waffled downwards. Not the '20. Very
quickly it would tell me that I better push forward or it was going to
self destruct. The exception was in a very steep bank, 50 or 60
degrees, doing 10 second circles and pulling about 2 g's.

I loved my '20 - a wonderful airplane. There must be other types out
there with the same characteristics but I never came across one. This
winter while I'm floating around the skies in Florida I'll try out my
'27 and see what it does.

Walter