Cirrus vs ASW

At various times I have owned a Cirrus 75 and a Nimbus
2, both with all flying tailplanes. Interestingly we
once compared the Nimbus 2 tailplane to that belonging
to an adjacent Standard Cirrus in the workshop during
a C of A and found they were exactly the same. The
Nimbus has a much longer tail boom though. The tailplane
usually either goes on properly, or jams in the up
position if you fail to engage the elevator drive hook,
so it is obvious if you have got it wrong. As for all
types a positive control check is recommended before
flight.

The Nimbus was definitely the twitchier of the two
types as it seemed to suffer from aero-elasticity,
i.e. if you pulled back on the stick the wings bent
up first and then the fuselage followed about a second
later. Nevertheless I found it quite easy to fly and
even did some cloud climbs in it.

By comparison the Standard Cirrus was very easy to
fly, subject to the usual provisos for all-flying tailplanes.
Don't be put off this lovely glider by all the scare
stories!

Derek Copeland
-------------------------

At 00:00 21 March 2006, Robert Hart wrote:
Jeff Runciman wrote:
Thank you for all of your help.

It turns out the ASW is 50,000. The Cirrus makes
me
a bit nervous with the tail (attaching and flying)

I've not had much to do with Cirrus's - but I have
had to deal with the
same all flying tail plane on a borrowed Nimbus 2 whilst
my 2c was in
for repairs (see
http://www.hart.wattle.id.au/alice/a...ice3mar04.html).

I too was somewhat twitched at the stories I had heard
about the all
flying tail and its sensitivity, so my first launch
had me waiting in
some apprehension - which was completely unwarranted.

Whilst the all flying tail does mean that you shouldn't
let go off the
stick at high speed (or even for long at low speed)
it does not make the
aircraft unstable in pitch. It's certainly more sensitive
in pitch and
PIOs are easier to do - but remember a PIO is a PILOT
induced
oscillation and not a problem with the aircraft!

As for rigging and making sure the elevator is correctly
attached, it is
a bit difficult at first, but after a couple of goes
it didn't present a
great problem.

I did however do an extremely careful loaded control
check as part of
the DI (get someone to hold the all flying tail to
restrict its movement
and then firmly move the control column) to ensure
that it truly was
attached and not just 'resting'!

I would suggest you don't rule out a Cirrus just because
of the
'stories' about the all flying tail. It is my experience
that these are
exaggerated - but do of course contain a kernel of
truth as noted above!

Robert