Open Class Super-Ship from Windward Performance

On Friday, August 3, 2012 10:29:52 AM UTC-6, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
On Aug 3, 8:48*am, Tony wrote:

It's designed to hit $100,000 in 2010 dollars. That includes
convertible gear (nose roller and tail dragger), basic instruments,
removable nose and tail ballast, and open trailer.

I would very seriously consider a covered trailer - at least as an option. If the glider is made extremely easy to rig, many will consider a covered trailer a hangar on wheels and rig every day they fly. I do this with CAP K-21's and find it no worse than fitting a glider into a hangar. Just a bit of thought on rigging ease would make it a no-brainer.

A side-by-side fuselage could easily accommodate two main wheels making the fuselage self-stable thus eliminating the ubiquitous fuselage dolly and jack-able ramp. A hard points with 1/2-13 threaded holes at each wing panel CG allows a compact one-man rigging dolly's no bigger than a wing stand. The hard points also serve as tie-down points. A one-wheel wing tip dolly would allow walking the wings out of the trailer without lifting. As long as the tailplane is easily handled by one person, you have a easy one-man rig-able glider.

This is a particularly fitting time to consider producing a new 2-seat trainer. I think the market in the US is at least 400 gliders considering the demise of the L-13's and the rapidly shrinking Schweizer fleet combined with (hopefully) resumed growth in soaring. Internationally, the ASK-21 is the most popular trainer which, while excellent, is a 1980 design. The world market could be in excess of 1000 units