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#1
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G103 Acro airbrake handle
I would like to know the approximate position of the front seat
airbrake handle with wheel brake applied. If you are familiar with a G103 front cockpit please give me an estimate of the position such as "just past vertical" "45 deg past vertical" etc. Reason for the post is that my wife finds it impossible to apply wheel brake in the G103 front seat. It had been a long time since I had been in the front of a G103 and I found it very awkward as well. I could only get the wheel brake to come on if I turned my wrist backwards. It's like pushing backwards and downwards rather than pulling. In that glider the handle is 45 deg or more aft of vertical to apply the wheel brake. Is this typical or is something out of adjustment? Someone will probably ask about pilot height and build so my wife is 5 ft 9in, medium build, and works out far more than I do. She has no problem with brakes in my ASW 19 or our clubs G102. thanks Andy |
#3
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Chris OCallaghan wrote:
Smaller people using cushions often don't have the leverage to get the handle fully back. [snip] It takes a good bit of force to engage the brake fully. It's not difficulat for a male in a good seat position (right mix of leverage and strength), but can be very challenging for a small-framed woman. I have had four flights in the G103A. I am 5'1", 108#, and use cushions. I can *barely* muscle open the airbrakes all the way on the ground during preflight, and it is quite challenging, to say the least, on rollout...I have to sort of shift/turn upper body toward the left to do so. I have a similar situation in the 1-26, as I am so short that I have the seatback up as far as it will go to reach the peddles (can't use the bottom cushion made for the plane with the seatback in that position because it gets in the way of the stick!), and opening the divebrakes all the way ends up being an interesting, awkward contortion. Worth it, though!! :-) --Shirley |
#4
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I missed Andy's paragraph about his wife's height.
Inseam length is also important. The longer your legs, the further back you can sit and the more leverage you can muster. Perhaps bringing the rudder pedals all the way back, then adjust the headrest and cushions to suit... this might get her in a better position to handle the brakes. |
#5
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I would like to know the approximate position of the front seat
airbrake handle with wheel brake applied. Andy, The wheel brake on the G-103 is set so that it comes on just before the air brakes are fully open. If you move the wheel brake starting point forward, you won't be able to get full air brake deflection. I would stay with the factory specs and adjust seating position to allow full use of all controls. JJ Sinclair |
#6
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#7
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Andy,
If you are having trouble as well as your wife, you might try moving your hand to the base of the brake handle and wedging your forearm against the top of the handle. This gives a little more room for your elbow to move back. Women don't typically have the shoulder strentgh to accuate the brake this way, but I've seen a few average size guys do it. |
#8
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Many folks in our club complain of weak brakes in our G103. I did
some investigating and talking to other people familiar with the G103 and learned that the master cylinder is a BMW motorcycle part and that a full resevoir of fluid makes a noticable improvement in braking vs. filling to the minimum line visible in the inspection window. Unfortunately, the screws to remove the resivoir cap were corroded and "welded" in place so I could not test this theory myself. You'll need a small mirror to see the window as it is installed near a bulkhead. Also, it seemed on our ship that the braking lever on the master cyclinder could move further back and apply significant more braking force even when the spoiler handle was deployed in its full back position. The swage that activates the brake mechanism seemed too far forward IMO to reach maximum braking pressure. |
#9
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The swage that activates the brake mechanism seemed too far
forward IMO to reach maximum braking pressure. We are talking about exactly *what* constitutes the full open spoiler *stop*. If the wheel break is set too far forward, then the spoiler open stop becomes the *hard breaking* position of the spoiler handle. If the spoilers hit the full open stops(located in each wing), before full wheel braking has occurred, then you won't get all the wheel brake that is available in a properly adjusted systen. Solution; Set the wheel break to its maximum (full hard aft pull of spoiler handle) so that the spoiler actuating arms (in each spoiler box) are about 10 mm from hitting their stops. JJ Sinclair |
#10
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