A aviation & planes forum. AviationBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » AviationBanter forum » rec.aviation newsgroups » Soaring
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Apis motorglider



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 5th 10, 04:26 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
key
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 06:28 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Darryl Ramm
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,403
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 08:09 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Morgans[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,924
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 02:54 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Mark Jardini
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 48
Default Apis motorglider

I have an APIS MC. What would you like to know?

Mark
  #5  
Old May 5th 10, 04:25 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Mark Jardini
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 48
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 06:09 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Andy[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,565
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 06:19 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Mark Jardini
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 48
Default 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  
Old May 5th 10, 07:09 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Darryl Ramm
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,403
Default 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  
Old May 6th 10, 03:27 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
5Z
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 405
Default 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  
Old May 6th 10, 04:11 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Eric Greenwell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,096
Default 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

 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Apis M pictures Robertmudd1u Soaring 0 February 20th 04 07:40 PM
Apis M has arived Robertmudd1u Soaring 0 January 31st 04 02:50 AM
Apis report Apis Gliders Soaring 0 September 10th 03 08:34 PM
Apis goes East Apis Gliders Soaring 0 September 3rd 03 02:01 PM
Apis at Oshkosh Apis Gliders Soaring 0 July 21st 03 03:34 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:40 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 AviationBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.