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

Sorry, I heard 6 inches wider gear. I'm not sure if that's each side from center or total increase. Again the taxi was amazingly easy in Howell, and it was windy, and the taxiways are not perfect by any means (lots of elevation change on the airport), and it was blowing 20 knots all day.

That said, I wasn't used to 82 foot wings. Few are. They were both well over the taxi lighting and it was a 3/4 mile taxi to the runway. So maybe 100 sets of taxi lights along the way. If it was my 369k on the line I would have be very cautious taxiing at first. I'm sure eventually I would get more comfortable. Even a slight dip in the pavement caused eye opening movement in each wingtip. I have witnessed 2 sailplanes towed into runway lights (trailing edge first) and it still makes me nervous. But in this case I think it was unnecessary.

After a weekend which saw a significant number of pilots with no experience in the Stemme taxi out to the runway themselves, roll was clearly not an issue. I think that point says great things about the stability of the glider with its new increased landing gear width.

Sean