Phoebus A as a first glider

Steve,
Page 57 of the 1997 SSA Sailplane Directory says; "The 16.5 meter Diamond built by FFA was the first all glass fiber production sailplane, not using balsa or other wood sandwich between the fiberglass layers". Have you seen a core inside the 16.5 wing? The 15 meter wings were built by Glasflugel and did use balsa cores.
JJ

On Monday, April 16, 2018 at 6:48:25 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Steve,
Page 57 of the 1997 SSA Sailplane Directory says; "The 16.5 meter Diamond built by FFA was the first all glass fiber production sailplane, not using balsa or other wood sandwich between the fiberglass layers". Have you seen a core inside the 16.5 wing? The 15 meter wings were built by Glasflugel and did use balsa cores.
JJ

Hi, JJ. Yes, I have seen the foam core inside the Diamant wings on several 16.5 meter variants. Also have the repair manual. Section 4 page 6 shows a cross section of the wing skin. Agree that the wings on serial 1-10 were built by Glasflugel and are balsa core. But, the 16.5 and 18 meter are foam core. The key in the statement you quoted is "...balsa or other wood sandwiched between the fiberglass layers." PVC foam isn't wood. So, the Diamant became the first "all plastic" sailplane. It used another "plastic" as its core.

Cool history collected here on the Diamants.

http://www.b2streamlines.com/FFADiamant/index.html

Steve Leonard

Hi Steve,
16.5 Diamond was the first "all glass fiber" produced sailplane.........poorly worded entry!
I stand corrected,
JJ

On Monday, April 16, 2018 at 8:57:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Hi Steve,
16.5 Diamond was the first "all glass fiber" produced sailplane.........poorly worded entry!
I stand corrected,
JJ

Lots of entries that aren't quite right. Which side do you have on that Phoebus C wing? Left or right? I have a right that is not too bad. Trailing edge of the left one is torn up from a trailer roll onto its side.

Steve Leonard

I've got a Phoebus right wing, undamaged with :20 flying time (test flight) a large spool of wire broke loose in the ship and crashed into this brand new Phoebi. Right wing is all that survived! Looks like it's an A, because the aileron (missing) goes to within a foot of the wing tip. Could be made into a C by gluing on the tip glove...........don't know if the factory added extra cloth to strengthen the C wing. The Phoebi I've worked on only had 3 layers of 92110 on their skins. Anybody know if the A wing was strengthened to make it a C?
Cheers,
JJ

I purchased a C model 2 years ago. Trained in an L23,grob103, transitioned to a grob102 and then started to fly the Phoebus. Brunos site was a huge help plus 3 people in my club that helped guide me and get prepared for flying her. 8mwas lucky that she had been refinished before I purchased her and it was done right. There are things to watch for and pay attention too not unlike other ships. As long as you aren’t well over the 225 mark and over 6’ you should be ok. I was and made it a goal to lose weight and am now under 200.
Shoot me an email if you have more questions.

Kevin