Cross Country Sailplanes: In the Flatland

At 02:36 10 August 2009, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Chris Prince wrote:
I'm not a frequent reader of rec.aviation.soaring, so at the risk of
asking a common question, I'll pose my question. I fly cross country
here
in the meaty middle (cheesy middle? ) part of the US-- mostly
Wisconsin,
often Minnesota, sometimes Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan. I
often
land off-field (in 50 cross country flights, or attempts, I've landed
off-field on 26 flights).

I'm curious about the "back-story". Who retrieves you all those
times?

I am fortunate to fly with a club where many people crew. A very good
buddy of mine -- Walter Johnson-- has crewed the most (21 flights). For
more details than you wanted--
http://www.d.umn.edu/~cprince/soaring/Flights/

snip

I want to change ships. Presently, I fly a Schweizer 1-35. While I
enjoy
the heck out of flying this ship, and have it pimped out just right
,
I
have reached max gross weight on the ship, and want to add more toys.
For
example, I want to take my ship out West to do some mountain flying,
and
thus need to add an O2 system. While some people decide to fly over
max
gross weight, I don't choose to do so.

The SSA Sailplane Directory shows a 260 pound payload for the 1-35,
which seems enough to carry plenty of toys. The gliders I'm familiar
with have a *lower* payload, so I'm not sure a different glider will
improve the situation. If you are likely to be close to the max cockpit
weight, you better carefully weigh any glider before you buy it and
determine the allowable cockpit load, or you will probably still have
the over-gross problem.

My 1-35 indicates 685 max gross in the manual. When I had all the
equipment I wanted (included 02 system), it weighed in at 520, leaving
pilot weight at 165. I weigh in at about 170 lbs. Parachute, clothes,
water etc. bring me in over gross.

I agree, I need to weigh any glider before buying.

Chris.


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
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* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at
www.motorglider.org