What gliders do you hate?

On Saturday, January 3, 2015 3:56:05 AM UTC-7, Cookie wrote:
sgs 1-36....

simple solution which we used to do...

You just bring a big rubber band....wrap it around the stick and the stick trim...thus disengaging the trim spring...it now flies like a 1-26...light on the elevator!

Cockpit is roomy and seat is way comfortable....performance way better than 1-26...nice glider...


Cookie





On Friday, January 2, 2015 11:52:05 PM UTC-5, WB wrote:
For me, the most miserable glider I've ever flown is the Schweizer 1-36.. Flew a nearly brand new one, thought it horrible. The pitch trim system was the main problem. It was much too powerful and made the stick very heavy.. I chalked it up to being new and tight. Flew a different one thinking it had to be better. Nope just as horrible as the first. A few year later, found the mangled remains of that first 1-36 in a repair shop a long way from where I flew it.

Someone mentioned the TG-2. Flew one of those on a 60 mile ferry tow. If you think the 72 mph redline made cross country soaring tough, what about flying the thing for 60 miles on tow behind a towplane that could not tow that slow? I was never so happy to get to a reasonable bail-out altitude. The split ailerons on this one had been covered as single units and would bind a bit, resulting in limited movement and poor roll control. No rudder pedal adjustments and a fixed seat made for a very cramped seating position. However, after reaching the destination at 5000 agl, I found that the thing would spin and recover very well due to that huge rudder.

I think Kirk mentioned the Schweizer 1-23. The D models and later are probably the best gliders Schweizer ever built in serial production. One of my favorite flights of all time was in a 1-23D. Climbed the upwind side of a tall cu from it's 5000' base all the way to 8000' agl, then flew the cloud street like a ridge for an hour. Also had my first outlanding in a 1-23H15.

A precise, powerful trimming system makes an enormous difference in any aircraft. Schweizer proved they could do it with the 2-32. That they then failed to do so with subsequent models is puzzling.

The 2-32 trim is a nice set up...it is an anti servo tab....aerodynamic trim system...the more you move the stick, the harder it fights back...sort of variable ratio.....

A full flying stabilizer pretty much requires this sort of trim...

I find the trim "wheel" a bit awkward though...

My airplane transition pilots always seemed to like the 2-32 because it flies more like an airplane than it does like a glider.

Many planes and gliders don't need any trim system at all....

We seldom even touch the trim when flying a 1-26 ...My small homebuilt airplanes had no need for trim either...

Cookie




A precise, powerful trimming system makes an enormous difference in any aircraft. Schweizer proved they could do it with the 2-32. That they then failed to do so with subsequent models is puzzling.

On Saturday, January 3, 2015 10:03:27 AM UTC-7, Cookie wrote:

My airplane transition pilots always seemed to like the 2-32 because it flies more like an airplane than it does like a glider.

Which would seem to be precisely the reason one would NOT want to use a 2-33 for transition. If it flies "just like and airplane" then what's the point of the transition? A trainer that flies like a real glider results in a transitioned pilot who knows how to fly a glider.

2-32,Bill...

On Saturday, January 3, 2015 4:42:26 PM UTC-7, Tony wrote:
2-32,Bill...

New glasses

I mentioned 2-32 in my comments...you replied with 2-33...

There is plenty more to transition to gliders than how a particular glider "handles"...you know, like all that soaring and stuff like that!

Sometimes you don't have a choice of what you get to teach in...so sometimes its a 2-32, sometimes 2-33....

Personally I like teaching beginners or transition pilots in ASK-21...if I had the choice...

But really, is there all that much difference from one glider to another? I mean, it's not like you need type ratings!

Cookie


On Saturday, January 3, 2015 6:29:47 PM UTC-5, Bill D wrote:
On Saturday, January 3, 2015 10:03:27 AM UTC-7, Cookie wrote:

My airplane transition pilots always seemed to like the 2-32 because it flies more like an airplane than it does like a glider.

Which would seem to be precisely the reason one would NOT want to use a 2-33 for transition. If it flies "just like and airplane" then what's the point of the transition? A trainer that flies like a real glider results in a transitioned pilot who knows how to fly a glider.

On Saturday, January 3, 2015 4:53:10 PM UTC-7, Cookie wrote:

But really, is there all that much difference from one glider to another? I mean, it's not like you need type ratings!

That's a difficult thing to get one's head around. Experienced pilots who have flown many types seem to feel most gliders handle pretty much alike but to beginners, the differences seem huge.

I think an airplane pilot transitioning to gliders needs a machine that provides the greatest commonality with what they will fly in the future so they can build on their transition experience rather than start over. A 2-32 or 2-33 just doesn't give them that.

ASK-21's are expensive and therefore somewhat rare in the US but they do represent an excellent common denominator for the existing fleet of high performance gliders. I would advise any airplane pilot transiting to gliders to seek out a place where they can use one.