As an owner of a Std Cirrus, I agree that the pitch stability is poor,
however, as long as you are aware of that, it is a delight to fly. It is
very responsive to control input, and can be flown with the right wrist
resting on the right knee, and just finger movements needed on the light
stick.
It is an aircraft which needs to be flown all the time. You can't leave
it to its own devices while you have lunch, but then neither could you
in a good sports car !
John G.
David Lawley wrote:
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
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