New open class gliders Lange Antares 23E and Schempp-Hirth Quintus M each had their maiden flight on 23-Dec-2011.
These gliders were introduced and displayed in April at the Aero show, and are now entering serial production (eight sets of wings are already built at last report). At least 10 of these gliders will be racing in the upcoming world championships in Uvalde.
Dear soaring friends, Soaring Cafe is now four months old and continues to grow. (see stats below) Rand and I would like very much to thank you for helping to make the Soaring Cafe a big success. We receive very nice emails complimenting us on the Cafe just about every day. When we go to…
I’m down here at the U.S. Sports Class Nationals at Chilhowee Gliderport, Tenn. Sunday was a no-fly day, so I took the opportunity to visit Dick and Sarah Butler at their home near Manchester, Tenn – about 2 hours by car from Chilhowee. As everyone in the soaring world knows, Dick Butler is building the…
Report from Germany – Dave Nadler 14-April-2011 New Open-Class gliders ! At the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, a few new gliders are on exhibit. Lange Aviation has an Antares 23E, which is a longer-winged version of the Antares 20E and features the Antares electric self-launch system. Antares 23E has 5 water tanks each side, including a new tank aft of the…
The Soaring Cafe has several topic areas which we like to call “booths”. We hope you will find several booths that interest you. Please suggest other booths that you would like to see and please remember that you are welcome to participate fully in our booths by contributing posts or comments. Use the links below…
The Cafe, continues to have a steady stream of regular visitors, as well as many new visitors each day. Rand and I regularly get very nice emails telling us how much people are enjoying the Cafe and find it to be their daily stop to catch up on what is going in soaring while enjoying…
For Bill and me, the first two weeks of the New Year have flown by in a whirlwind of work, flying, family, and. . .getting SoaringCafe off the ground. Like many new ventures, it’s been a lot of fun mixed in with the occasional frustration. Speaking of the latter, we spent the past week struggling…
The design of an open class sailplane from a competition pilot’s viewpoint is relatively simple. Such a glider should have outstanding straight line and thermaling performance, good handling qualities, and a comfortable cockpit. The pilot may also want an engine since outlanding a 28 to 31 meter span ship can often get very interesting as well as putting himself and his placing in the competition at risk. Unfortunately each of these criteria is normally compromised in the end when designing a sailplane for production or, to put it more directly, when the business side of the equation is considered.
