OP goes topless

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OP
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OP goes topless

Post by OP »

Pretty much what you'd think. More air over your arms and shoulders. However the nipple rash was unpleasant. If you're going to fly topless I suggest pasties of some sort.

That dog can hunt though. The speed and glide is immediately impressive. So fast. The VG system is effective. The bar tucks back and pressure becomes very light. For the first time I know what "on rails" means; unperturbed straight glides. Old glider was slightly divergent with the VG pegged. Thermaling is more demanding. I give 'yall props for flying these things so tight and near terrain. For now I'm going to stay far away from the hill. The thing goes upside-down very easily. During wing dings the energy retention allows you to push out over the top allowing the horizon to come around again. It also spins like a top. Spinning the SP2155 is labor intensive. You must remain pegged in a extended arm stall way on the high side for some time; the stall is lost right as you let it back in. This guy spins like a top. Just a bit of time on the wrong side and you are spinning. Recovery requires another 180°.

I launched at 4:30pm. No vario, 1:35minutes. I think it was a good day for a first flight. I didn't want to have to land the thing after a 7minute sledder. Long airliner DBF, turned F over the wires. The thing is trimmed in a stall, I tried to float in like I can get away with on other gliders; doesn't work this way I found. Slow rotation of flare, in a stall, cost a down tube. Sail didn't touch the earth, just straight down on the frame. Good thing is that I've already got a couple tubes waiting. Can't wait to fly it again.

Camera slipped sideways and ran out of memory pretty quick.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT4CJ17r2BA[/youtube]
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chadness
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Location: Simi Valley, CA

Post by chadness »

> The thing is trimmed in a stall

When I first flew my new T2 and slowly let the bar out in smooth air and it stalled and dropped out of the sky it was a WTF for me too.

So I spoke with the factory. This is deliberate. The explanation I received is that they are optimized for two modes of flight, thermalling with a little VG where this is the optimal trim setting and gliding with full VG where the trim is different anyway. You can move the hang point forward if you prefer.

The time to be most aware of this is during flare timing. As with all new-to-me gliders I fly I try to get a chance to do a full DBF and very gentle flare at altitude to calibrate for the actual flare when I am not close to the edge of the sky:)

Cool report. Thanks.
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OP
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Post by OP »

word to your mother chad.

This is how I feel the hand locations on different gliders have been working for me:

1. Falcon. Both hands on down tubes. There is no hand transition which is great for beginners. The glider has plenty of roll control with the speeds associated with that hand position.

2. Sport 2. Both hands on bottom bar. Wait until trim to preform a hand transition. Both hands low is required to keep roll control at that level which that much pitch pressure. One hand up and one down creates a hand angle that can't produce enough pitch.

3. Talon 2. ....? I tried the both hands down. However waiting until trim to transition is not an option. I'll try one up and one down as shown.

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JD
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Post by JD »

Assuming your glider really does trim just above stall (and it wasn't just wonky air) I suggest you move your hang point forward to the next hole if there is a next hole.

I also suggest that you practice your patterns at altitude:

Base leg turn
Final glide dive
Round-out to skim
Skim to trim speed
Hand transition
Back pressure to stall-mush
Pre-flare but no follow-through

If you do this a half-dozen times at altitude and you do this in turbulence as well as still air, it should make things a lot easier when the moment arrives. How you do your hand position is a personal thing as long as it gives you ample pitch and roll control.

Your comments about doings spins and aerobatics are the words generally associated with a pilot who will soon need a repack (or worse) because he tumbled. I hope that that younger pilots realize that you are exhibiting a classic case of Intermediate Syndrome. I am not "just saying" either. I suggest that you heed my words or get used to having a nurse wipe your ass for you.
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BudRob
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Post by BudRob »

OP,

Chad and Jonathon are correct in that your description of the landing means that your hang point is too far back. I can tell you from flying many topless gliders over the years that this is not uncommon, and seems to get worse as the sail ages.

I hate landing a glider that is trimmed at stall speed and have always moved my hang point forward until my "neutral point" was at least a couple miles per hour above stall speed. This allows an earlier hand transition and gives the pilot some control bar "push back" feel against your hands when the glider is ready to stall.

Move your hang point one notch before your next flight and it will land more like what you are used to and it my opinion, more like it should. From what I saw of your landing, you might need to go 2 notches; but start with one. Do it!
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JD
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Post by JD »

A note to anyone flying a topless glider with a Dacron sail. Dacron is composed of twisted strands of fiber that settle with age and the cloth will elongate. As a result your Dacron sail equipped topless glider will become increasingly tail heavy with age. In general the cure for this is to tighten the leading edge of the sail. I had the hang point on my 2006 T2 w/ Dacron sail all the way forward and it still wasn't enough. To get it to trim properly I needed to tighten the leading edge. This took care of the pitch pressure issue but created a new issue. The tip wands went out of adjustment. I tightened the tip wands by one hole and that took care of that problem as well.
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OP
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Post by OP »

GlideLA/BudRob,

You've talked me into it, I will move the point up a hole. Due to the unusual method of acquisition, I had a few folks test fly it for me. It is trimmed slow. Chadness and others thought that this is just the way they come. Faster trim makes the hand transition easier, more like the normal method described by GlideLA. Transition with pressure makes it difficult and more prone to error.


I wont be spinning the glider for some time/ever again. At first try and a lower bank angle the thing rotated immediately. I let it turn for about 90 before bringing the bar back it. Nothing happened, it was still spinning. For the next 90 I pulled it in quite a bit. The nose came down, the glider accelerated a lot. Another 180 beyond that was required until I could stop the spin and zoom up bleeding off the accumulated speed. Scariest bit was the low angle it spun. I could see a tumble or something else weird happening.

For the wing-dings. They felt fine. Probably should go back to just doing increasing steep figure 8s to get the feeling. Leaving the turns requires a long zoom to bleed the speed. A bit disorienting at first, I knew I didn't want to bleed too much speed too quickly.
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