Sent to me in 2008: Tests were carried out on a lake in Germany by Walter Schneider and Wolf Lemke of LS fame. They ditched an LS1 prior to the World Championships in Finland because they were worried about the lack of land out options and the proliferation of lakes.
They assumed that landing wheel up would be the preferred option, but discovered that the glider 'bounced' off the surface and dropped a wing as the fuselage entered the water because of it's shape. They tried it again with the wheel down, deliberately put the tail down first and discovered that the wheel acted as a gentle brake and controlled the whole process much better. I've seen the photographs, so they may be available on some German web site somewhere. During the Worlds in Borlenge Sweden, a couple of gliders were put into lakes and all came out okay. I'm pretty certain they landed wheel down trying to put them up the beach. The major issue with such landings is that the glider sinks VERY quickly (regardless of wheel position) and the electrics can cause problems as you'd expect. It's certainly not recommended! _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
