Stemme S12 in Michigan this Saturday, May 20th (KOZW) @ 4 pm

I owned a Stemme S10-VT for 8 years. I never scraped a wing. Once I scraped a wing tip skid, while taxiing at well above walking speed, I allowed one main wheel to drop into a drainage grate depression in the tarmac. No damage to the wing finish. I have never experienced "rocking and rolling".

As to handling, I would compare the difference between the S10 and my current ASH26E as a bit like that between a sedan and a sports car. The Stemme deals with turbulence better and gives a smoother ride. Ailerons are heavier, but I would not characterize roll as sluggish, and the addition effort is mostly unnoticed after flying for a few minutes . . . until after 5 hours or so when I found myself using two hands on the stick sometimes. Once cranked over into a thermal, the Stemme is more "stable" in that it tracks well and does not need the many small corrections one uses on a lighter ship.

Stemme ground handling is in a class by itself, making operations at even busy towered airports the same as with a power plane - blends right in.

The Stemme will operate in conditions that would have other high performance gliders staying in their boxes. Four of us launched from Cedar City after winds stiffened up overnight, blowing 35 knots mostly steady when it came time to go. Our taxiing to the runway center intersection required four 90 degree turns, all to the left, so we were exposed to that wind from every angle during taxi. I went first, and told Marty Hellman to just "cover" my wing tip, not touch it, for the first two turns when I would then be on my own. Launch required something less 20 feet and levitation straight up like an elevator! All of us took of safely.

bumper