HI all,
Nick Said: "although people will tell you that the all-flying tail is deadly (where are these comments, by the way - surely they are overdue for this thread" Deadly would be an exaggeration, but it is notable that I cannot think of one manufacturer who still makes gliders with all moving tails(AMT), must say something eh? Coincidentally only this morning I was reading a safety corner article in AG October 1975 entitled "Harness Instruments Parachute", of a pilot who ended up under a parachute when his STD Cirrus bunted to inverted unexpectedly when it hit a thermal. At the time he was finding a dropped screwdriver on the cockpit floor, did not have his hand on the stick, AND had partially undone his strap's, the glider went inverted so quickly he was thrown out downwards THROUGH the canopy by negative G. He successfully landed via parachute, but came close to being struck by the glider on the ground; it crashed less than 100 feet away! It was repairable apparently. >From my reading there is nothing really intrinsically wrong with the all moving tail, but the stick free stability( Basically, the ability of the trim system to control pitching when the glider is disturbed by turbulence etc, and there is no steadying hand on the stick) is less than a fixed elevator/stab combination.(I presume an inertia effect of the larger "Elevator" causes this, any expert opinion would be welcome) George Moffat in his book also mentions the Nimbus 2, another all flying tail ship as having poor stick free stability and giving him a couple of frights whilst manipulating his map's cruising at high speed. So as long as you intend to keep your hands on the stick, or harness on at all times (preferably both!), it's really not an issue. I must admit I have not personally flown a glider with an AMT, but hope to one day, mainly to see what the fuss regarding AMT is about. The Balaklava club have converted their Mini Nimbus to a fixed setup(Due if I recall correctly to several incidents/accidents caused by PIO's), however one of the very experienced club members I spoke to who owns his own Mini Nimbus claims it does not thermal as well as it did before the conversion and prefers the AMT. Sorry about the delay Nick(-: Regards Dave
_______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
