As I recall hearing, the L/D was 28/1 with the drogue
deployed.


Considerably less. Probably 15:1 with modified chutes (more area than
stock).

I spent several thousand man-hrs bebuilding/restoring S/N 12012 and
flew it for a couple of hundred hours.

Seems I recall
a concerted effort to remove them from the market in
order to save lives.

To my knowledge, only 1 person got killed - from a spin-in. Not much
to do with the ship as it is docile and very, very honest.

Another pilot slammed in after taking off with elevator disconnected.
Ship was essentially gone from stick forward but pilot only received
moderate damage to ankles / feet. He would have been very dead in a
modern ship.

Afaik by now all 12's have been converted to the 20 flap system with
landing setting.

Sissies. evil grin

Sure. Flaps only go down about 50 deg and made little difference in
flight path or landing skills. The extra drag was more than
compensated for by the lower landing speed and extra float. Every
little bit helped!



Pretty big ego concerning one's flying skills I guess.

Most of the pilots that flew them extensively were very conservative,
highly disciplined, albeit highly confident folks (Scott, Schuemann,
Herold, Greene, Smith, Nelson)

Basic landing technique in glass spoilerless:

1) Downwind abeam touchdown at 4-500 ft agl.

2) Speed 50-55 kts and held very closely, even in extreme slips!
Get fast and eat fence at end!

3) Set max-effort slip meaning that rudder is stalled and pedal is
held to
floor by air pressure. Ship rotates 50 degrees and a small amount
of bank
holds heading. May require using adverse yaw to get into this
condition or
slipping one way and then dynamically going the other way to get
into
stable, rudder-stalled slip.

4) Adjust pattern to arrive as low as one can over threshold, holding
55 kts
attitude

5) Hold slip through flair and continue to bleed speed.

6) Kick out slip and do a tail-low wheel landing.

7) Put flaps negative and brake to halt.

One can also slip hard mostly in the turns by rolling to 90 degrees
bank, feeding in full top rudder and pulling g to load wing. Very
effective way to descend from height.

Flaps can be slowly retracted post-flair to set ship on ground.
However, if too fast, you will not be able to land ( do not ask me how
I know!)

The real way to land short is to deploy #1 chute downwind abeam at
70-80 kts. Adjust pattern and point nose at threshold, holding a
minimum of 75 kts. As threshold is cleared, and you are close to
ground, deploy second (tail chute). Ship quits flying immediately and
will stop in 200-300 feet wth minor braking.

This method was used by Schuemann to safely fly X-C on the Appalachian
ridges for more than 2K hours accident-free. However, it is not for
the faint heart for the sloppy. Actions and timing are crucial. Must
be seen/experienced to be appreciated. The movies of this maneuver
are amazing!

While all of this sounds extreme and dangerous, it is most definitely
not. the techniqus were developed by some of the most experienced
analytical and conservative pilots in the sport. As I said
previously, I have actually tried all of these techniques, first at
altitude and then in many gliders to full stop landings. While it is
considerably more difficult than conventional landings, it is not
superhuman nor dangerous. If this were the case, most of the 12's
would be kindling wood and the pilots dead. Neither is the case!
There is a very large amount of empirical evidence in many different
locations in the wildest weather to support this hypothesis!

Armchair, wannabe R.A.S. theorists not withstanding!

Stalling in severe slips results in the nosefalling through and out of
the slip to a wings level recovery with very little effort or altitude
loss. Dragging a wingtip in glass during a Steady-State slip is
essentially impossible as the wingtip is never lower than the main
wheel. These gliders are severely rudder-limited. If the ship touches
down in a slip, it bounces up and straightens itself out (at least for
the '12. Never had it happen in any other ship!)

While I am high-time in power and glider and was flying more than
full-time (7 days /week for many months for many years) when I was
training for the '12, I do not consider myself a super pilot and
several of my less experienced friends were able to consistently land
their 15m / std glass ships spoilerless in less than 2000 ft.

Best, Mark