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#1
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Apis motorglider
Does anyone have experience flying the Apis MC motorglider? What are
its performance and handling like? Any problems to watch out for? Thanks, Key |
#2
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Apis motorglider
On May 4, 8:26*pm, key wrote:
Does anyone have experience flying the Apis MC motorglider? *What are its performance and handling like? *Any problems to watch out for? Thanks, Key JJ making fun of you for flying a motorglider. Darryl |
#3
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Apis motorglider
"Darryl Ramm" wrote JJ making fun of you for flying a motorglider. Perhaps, but when there are no active glider operations close by, being able to go fly when you want to, where you want to, not having to drive a couple hours to fly, without having to depend on finding someone to give you a lift up, a self launching glider makes a bunch of sense. It is the way I'm probably going to have to go. -- Jim in NC |
#4
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Apis motorglider
I have an APIS MC. What would you like to know?
Mark |
#5
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Apis motorglider
OK- I have a few minutes so I will give you my impressions of the
aircraft. First, the aircraft is built very well with a lots of attention to detail. Cockpit is very comfortable but it is tight and could be longer in the trunk area. I am 6ft and OK. Plenty of leg room. Plenty of width. Panel is DG style and enough room for 7x 2-1/4 size instruments. Rigging is fiddle-ish. I have not managed it without at least a modicum of help. If you are going to fly alone, you will need a remote control self rigger to move things about. The trick is that the wings need to be in anhedral to fit into the drag pins, then the tips come up to align the mains. Derigging is quick. I timed myself from taxi to trailer through driving away at 40 minutes. Avionic is a very good trailer. The engine installation is the crown jewel of the aircraft. Just beautiful. The 447 is a tried and true powerplant. I have never had trouble with starting or relights, and I make it a point to do one relight a flight even if I don't need it. The only issue I see is that the toothed belt driving the prop is sealed inside the mast. No way to change it. I hope is lasts a long time...... I get generally 500fpm. The engine should be turning 6000+ rpm's and I get only 5800 so I think the factory prop is too coarse in pitch, but I am not ready to change it yet. Also the engine temp runs very cool, rarely getting above 180C even on hot days. Good for longevity but I think that there is a lot of power there still not being utilized. By lb/hp it should do better. I am Still messing with the carburetor. I am roughly getting 1000 ft per liter of fuel. I have recently put turbulator zigzag as recommended at 65% MAC and that dropped 3 kts off thermaling speed. 30 deg bank and 40kts. I think the rudder needs turbulators as well. Rudder forces at low speeds are initially high, then release giving more yaw than you asked for. Feels like I am pulling a high drag bubble. It swims in yaw a bit in cruise as well. That should be correctable. More to come. Flaperon forces are high. You are pushing a big wing through the air. I climb with most anything, Run is not bad up to 80kts. The trim is unsatisfactory. It is a simple spring arrangement. (I was spoiled by Glasflugel's push button trim). You can adjust it for enough back trim or enough forward, but not both. The elevator has a deep recurve on the trailing edge, so the stick forces go up with airspeed. At redline, the forward pressure is prodigious. I don't think I will fly in that speed range often though. That is all that comes to mind. Questions or comments? Mark |
#6
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Apis motorglider
On May 5, 8:25*am, Mark Jardini wrote:
The trick is that the wings need to be in anhedral to fit into the drag pins, then the tips come up to align the mains. Similar adjustment required to rig any modern glider. With a fixed height one man rigger the adjustment can be easily made with the trailer ramp jack. Raising and lowering the fuselage is the same as lowering or raising the wing tips but it has the advantage that you can monitor the alignment while you make the adjustment. The only issue I see is that the toothed belt driving the prop is sealed inside the mast. No way to change it. I hope is lasts a long time...... Can the belt be inspected? How is it replaced? Andy |
#7
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Apis motorglider
Andy
Avionic does not have a "jacked ramp". The cradle has an over center cam that lifts the aircraft off its main wheel. Agreed, the jack would be better for rigging purposes. The belt can be seen and inspected through it s length. The center portion of the mast is enclosed trapping the belt within by some mid shaft cross sectional enclosings. I can only assume this is one of those fiberglass impregnated toothed belts they use in cars that last 60k miles. My guess would be you send the mast back to be opened and reclosed or you buy a new one..... Mark |
#8
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Apis motorglider
On May 5, 10:19*am, Mark Jardini wrote:
Andy Avionic does not have a "jacked ramp". The cradle has an over center cam that lifts the aircraft off its main wheel. Agreed, the jack would be better for rigging purposes. The belt can be seen and inspected through it s length. The center portion of the mast is enclosed trapping the belt within by some mid shaft cross sectional enclosings. I can only assume this is one of those fiberglass impregnated toothed belts they use in cars that last 60k miles. My guess would be you send the mast back to be opened and reclosed or you buy a new one..... Mark And for those Cobra trailers with hydraulic jacked ramps and heavy motorgliders, I'd rather trust the hand cranked gears in my one-man rigger or the person holding my wingtip than trust the hydraulic jack with the weight of my motorglider while tweaking the jack height. I slide in a triangular wooden block as a safety device under the ramp scissors. If the jack fully collapses, I don't think the jack has the leverage to jack up mu ASH-26E again. Darryl |
#9
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Hydraulic ramp jack
I've routinely used the hydraulic jack to align the wing pins on my
ASH-26E. And to keep the wings at a comfortable height, that means it's operating near the bottom of its range. Really nice during disassembly to have one hand on the jack and the other on a main pin, then slowly lower the fuselage until the pin starts to rotate. I did disassemble the jack assembly recently to replace an O ring in the jack. The base plate was warped due to the horizontal force being applied to lift the glider from a completely lowered jack. Straightened it out in a hydraulic press, and might try to reinforce it next winter, but it will likely last another 5-10 years if I do nothing. -Tom On May 5, 11:09*am, Darryl Ramm wrote: And for those Cobra trailers with hydraulic jacked ramps and heavy motorgliders, I'd rather trust the hand cranked gears in my one-man rigger or the person holding my wingtip than trust the hydraulic jack with the weight of my motorglider while tweaking the jack height. I slide in a triangular wooden block as a safety device under the ramp scissors. If the jack fully collapses, *I don't think the jack has the leverage to jack up mu ASH-26E again. |
#10
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Apis motorglider
On 5/5/2010 11:09 AM, Darryl Ramm wrote:
And for those Cobra trailers with hydraulic jacked ramps and heavy motorgliders, I'd rather trust the hand cranked gears in my one-man rigger or the person holding my wingtip than trust the hydraulic jack with the weight of my motorglider while tweaking the jack height. I slide in a triangular wooden block as a safety device under the ramp scissors. If the jack fully collapses, I don't think the jack has the leverage to jack up mu ASH-26E again. I routinely lower my Cobra hydraulic ramp jack to the bottom to assemble my ASH 26 E. It has no problem raising the fully assembled glider from the bottom to the height needed to lower the gear. I've done that for over 400 rig/derig cycles. -- Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (netto to net to email me) - "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl - "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz |
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