First Glider

[Jon]

hey, i know this has already been posted but im wondering if anyone  has any info about a 15 being a first glider. cheers
 :laugh:

[Joshy]

I bought my 15 as the first glider.
Had about 25h expirience.
That was in 1990.
Now I have this nice little toy since 15 years.
And I have in the meantime 5500h expirience.
About 1500h flown on the 15.
Yesterday added 8h and nearly 600km.
( Did not come home, just 30km left... )

From my fist day´s:

- the 15 is very agilely
- the elevator is habituation needily
- don´t forget the gear...
- very good climbing, good in weak thermals
- outlandings in short fields very easy due to the large airbrakes

- has to be flown, not very self stably
- aerotow on the center hook is tricky until you are in the air
( my tip: when you have crosswind, begin ground roll with airbrakes... )
- outlandings in high grass/corn not recommendet due to the tail

All in all: a fucking geil glider!


BR,

Joshy

[Jon]

OK i think i want one, im solo very soon, so i think i will get a 15. Should i get some hours in the K21 solo before i convert? how much for a asw15 in the UK?

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

Jon15 wrote:

OK i think i want one, im solo very soon, so i think i will get a 15. Should i get some hours in the K21 solo before i convert?

What type(s) of trainers did you fly? Maybe it's a good question for your club chief instructor. Note: instructors at my club are not very font of the fact of being owner of a glider without GPL. It's good to verify that's OK to fly your plane solo without distrubing people.

how much for a asw15 in the UK?

About 12.500 euro's in europe. It depends of:
[ul][li](good) trailer[/li]
[li]damages in the past[/li]
[li]status of the paint work[/li]
[li]hours flown (eg was it a club working horse?)[/li]
[li]instruments[/li]
[li]chute[/li]
[li]and so on[/li][/ul]

If you find a candidate, ask a glider technician to take a look at it. If it's good one he has the AD's (You can find them here on the site also).

Post edited by: johan, at: 2005/07/14 17:17

[Jon]

im training in the K21    "If it's good one he has the AD's (You can find them here on the site also)." What are the ADs, airwothyness directives?
 :huh:

Post edited by: Jon15, at: 2005/07/14 19:15

[Johan van Ravenzwaaij]

Jon15 wrote:

im training in the K21  

As said: ask your local (chief) instructor

"If it's good one he has the AD's (You can find them here on the site also)." What are the ADs, airwothyness directives?
 :huh:

Yep, you are right

[Gil Kinzie]

My 15 is my first glider, I love it.

[Chris Williams]

My 15b is the second glider I have shares in (also a skylark4!) and I would say it performs better than the skylark and can stay up in almost the same lift I found mine to be very enjoyable to fly the first time. As for price I guess I got mine for £4500 with basic instruments but I think they should be about £7k in the uk for a decent one!!

[Korey Curtis]

My first glider was the ASW15B and I LOVE IT. Its the best glider out there for the cost. Honest, straight forward and will make love to you in flight. What more do you want?

[labatt67]

I bought an ASW 15 in june and I've made 4 flights with it. Very low experienced with the ship but a lot of fun! Two pratice flight, an 4h15 and 80km flight in difficult condition and a 1h20 flight with only 0kts thermals in the day ...(yes I wanted to fly!)

There is a lot of good comments about this ship here. The ship has a very good  factor fun VS performance VS low cost ship! Easy rigging system (same system as ASW 20) and the wings are very light (like an LS 4). I have a bit more than 100 hours, in 2-33, L-13, L-23, Pilatus B4, Bergfalke III and Lark IS28B2 and I found the ship easy to fly. In the first takeoff, I was especially surprise by the high rate of roll.  Yes, the glider is pitch sensitive but I've had a lot of flight in Pilatus B4 and it's worst than the ASW 15. The ship does not fly alone, you have to fly it everytime. The yaw string quit the center very fastly and the rate of climbing is affected a lot if you don't fly it. In the last flight, I flew with an ASW 20 and a LS 4 and I can say that the ASW 15 climb very well for the 1/4 and 1/3 price! (I've made a lot of jealous this day ) I have not tried spin yet, but the stall is very easy to reconize and recover.  Ex: My first try to stall did'nt work (I've made it too gental... a big big mushroom stall)

Be prepare for the risk of a yaw to the right in the beginning of the roll during the takeoff, especcially with a crosswind from the right. You will have on this web site a lot of discuss about that, the best things to do is to read it but, don't forget to talk about this subject with your favorite chief instructor or with an experienced flight instructor for his opinion. Each person I've talked about this had a different opinion, but the more experienced had the best advise for me.

Also, be prepare to have the impression to be sit on the ground during the touch of the landing.

In conclusion, low time with the ship but I really love it!