First flight.

I had an instructor take my ship up today. Mine is a heavily modified Libelle and Tim had a stock Libelle for 17 years so I appreciate his imput.

The first photo is a reminder of what the trailer looked like when I received it. I've painted it inside and out. The paint is only Rustolelum applied with a foam roller. The black and red pin striping is 1/4" wide 3M reflective. Safety First!

Tim can fly a brick! In heavy crosswinds he took off with nary a tip touch, climbed quickly and got released a 2,000 feet. He stayed up for 45 minutes and gave a glowing report. This thing is wicked quiet, then he realized the wheel was still down. Pull the wheel up and it's like slamming a tomb.

It climbed well, cruised nicely and penetrated in heavy air. He loves it! Tim said for twice the money you couldn't go wrong.

Nice.

It assembles easily in 15 minutes (less with practice) the trailer tows well, kinda heavy-slamming on my bumper but that may be the hitch moving in the receiver. The whole package weighs 1200 lbs. The plywood rear wall has been replaced with Lexan, wiring tuned up and paint applied.

I bought my last glider.

Dan

Before:

After:

Lookin' good!

Looks good man!

Very pretty. I'm envious!

In reply to Duke:

That makes two of us.

awesome

You forgot the propeller

That's a beautiful thing. Congrats!

What does this sort of thing cost? I'm entirely to used to how much cars cost and we aren't boat people so how are gliders @ burning money?

I've never been in a glider, it looks like a lot of fun and a cool new experience. Not sure how I'd feel about having no engine after flying all these years with two burning highly refined diesel.

looks great! I used to think I was envious.. now I know I am

Beautiful aircraft, but it needs more rotordome

Congratulations. That is a beautiful airplane. What are the modifications?

That is a very nice looking aircraft. The rear fuselage is just damn sexy.

Is that a Lake in the background of your 4th picture?

pilotbraden wrote: Congratulations. That is a beautiful airplane. What are the modifications?

The Glasflugel Libelle revolutionized competitive soaring in the 1970s with its design, but mostly because it was one of the first fiberglass ships. It has a drogue chute that pops out of the tail, the trim control is right on the stick; easier to use than the trim control on the left bulkhead. Small changes that make a big difference in comfort and control.

It has flaps, unusual at the time, and a retractable landing gear; very common now.

Will Schuemann looked at that and said "Cool design, but I can make it better". He reshaped the nose to be longer and pointier. The canopy has been lowered and made to be two halves, not just a one piece. The front half is faired into the fuselage and does not move.

Ever open a window in a car and get that woop, woopa helicopter sound in the back seat? That's air with no place to go, aka an air brake. Schuemann punched out the wall behind the pilot so any air that may leak into the cabin or hull has a place to go; it exits out the former drogue chute hole.

The chord of the wings have been changed but please don't ask me how.

Google "Schuemannized Libelle". With the ship I got a bunch of letters between Schuemann and the first owner (no emails then) and pages of math showing the research. I don't understand it, all I know is that it's now a 40 : 1 ship and cruises its besl L/D around 65 knots and it quite comfy at 90.

My ship is the first photo, stock Libelles are the second two.

Please ask any question you may have, I'll try to answer.

Dan

nocones wrote: What does this sort of thing cost? I'm entirely to used to how much cars cost and we aren't boat people so how are gliders @ burning money?

Like cars, speed costs money - how fast do you want to go?

http://www.wingsandwheels.com/wantads1.htm

Mine in stock form is ~$12 - 15k. I got a smoking deal on a hot rod.

I don't buy fuel but I have to pay the tow plane for getting me up. $15 for 1000 ft. $20 for 2k and 25 for 3k.

My friend Dave got his glider license two years ago. He added it all up once. It costs $500 to be a member, but that includes all you training. So, he added in the $500, the cost of every tow and $20 monthly membership from his first intro flight to the last check out and his investment was $2500.

Unlike cars and standing around a hot race track parking lot or pit all day, Mrs. 914 is onboard with this. The airport is 2 miles from my house, good group of people and she likes the social aspect of it also.

My brother wants a powered license, a local school quoted him $8,000.

Take the bride cross county on a nice day, have lunch and come home? They call it the $200 hamburger.

Dan

In reply to 914Driver:

That new nose and canopy look great. Does yours lift an inch or so for ventilation?

From my 3 minutes of research it appears that the original wing had turbulent airflow on the lower surface at speeds above 70 knots. Schuemann changed the leading edge to a more pointed design that took care of that, yet kept the climb charecteristics of the original. The only downside is an increase in empty weight.

Also the ailerons droop when the flaps are extended. Is that automatic when flaps are selected?

All in all that is a darn nice machine. Have fun.

Shameless plug for the local glider history connection:

The largest percentage of US WWII glider pilots trained near Lubbock, Texas. Their aircraft were to 914Driver's sailplane what schoolbusses are to Ferraris.

Silent Wings Museum

http://www.betsybyars.com/guy/soaring_symposia/72-modif.html

http://www.betsybyars.com/guy/soaring_symposia/71-prep.html

Thats cool man! Oh and nice e28 on the fourth pic down...

Oh, a car! I was looking for a swear word.

Fascinating articles. After the modifications, is the airplane certified or is it experimental?

Sperimental.

And the canopy doesn't pop open at the back.

Drag is bad.