FAA to ground 80% of Glider Training Fleet... it's just a question of when

On 6/04/2013 13:38, Eric Greenwell wrote:
On 4/5/2013 7:41 AM, Bill D wrote:
The only things I would change are convenience items like wing hard
points for one-man assembly tools and maybe some hand grips to help
lever a creaky old instructor out of the back seat. I think quick
and easy rigging/de-rigging is important for those without a hangar.

How about rigging or retrieving from a farm field? The wings look big
and heavy, and so does the fuselage.

Quite right, Eric, K21s are heavy. Unlike prepregs however, they are
also quick, cheap and not technologically challenging to repair. The
insurance premiums are commensurate with that.

In over 50 years of aviation, I've yet to see a training aircraft so
robust that repairability wasn't important. (However, I've never seen a
2-33 so I may be wrong...)

GC

On Apr 5, 11:27*pm, GC wrote:

Quite right, Eric, K21s are heavy. *Unlike prepregs however, they are
also quick, cheap and not technologically challenging to repair. *The
insurance premiums are commensurate with that.

Using the field-optimized technologies I developed and refined for the
HP-24 project, I'm pretty sure I can hit 175 lbs/panel for each of
Aurora's ASK21-sized wings. That's not as light as might be wished
for, but it has good margin for repairability and operationality.

Thanks, Bob K.

The ASK-21 is essentially a perfect training glider. *Its superb handling qualities match its beautiful appearance. *Yes, it's expensive up-front but they have a long life and will pay that investment back.

The only things I would change are convenience items like wing hard points for one-man assembly tools and maybe some hand grips to help lever a creaky old instructor out of the back seat. *I think quick and easy rigging/de-rigging is important for those without a hangar.

Living in the land of mice, black widow spiders, snakes and locusts
and having recently helped vacuum out several large thick piles of
locust body parts from under the seatpan of a K21 I can add another
thing I would change on it. It would be nice if complete access to
the entire fuselage by any critter the size of a baby skunk, raccoon
or possum could be limited. What critter eats the juicy parts of
thousands of grasshoppers and leaves only the legs, wings and other
dry parts? Seems like a mammal would eat the whole bug.