Thanks Pete
Makes pretty good sense to me - and 220 kg all-up sounds far more likely to
be capable of carrying 100 kg of pilot and personal gear than 70 kg empty.
At one stage we were considering a standard for primary category (see CARs
1998 Parts 24 and 26) but there was no agreement on whether it should be
based on BCAR Section E - the predecessor of OSTIV, along with the German
DFS standard - or something more in the 220 kg class. [We also wondered
whether to make the existing hang glider industry standards, HGMA and the
European ones, a basis for a primary category standard but people were
concerned about being over-regulated if that occurred.] I guess the answer
is that if glider pilots want to have a form of recognition for anything
like this they need to make that feeling known at both an operational and
political level, and then keep on keeping on for as long as it takes. I
remember the HGFA took about 7 years from gaining access to 5000 feet until
they were able to have that raised to 10,000. However, there is still
Experimental now open to the GFA, far more easily than when Blue Wren and
MOBA were built - so if this gives people what they want, they will begin to
use it as they get familiar with the idea.
Meanwhile, what sort of soaring performance records have been done by the
sub-70 kg class ? Tomas Suchanek did a 354 km triangle (at 45 km/h average)
last December, while the Class 2 (rigid wing hang glider under 70 kg) record
stands at around 540 km in a straight line.
Sounds like I will have to restore the Nymph one of these days, and have a
real go at similar performances with an 18:1 sailplane that just might get
down to somewhere around 270 kg with a bit of care. Meanwhile, if somebody
else wants to rebuild it they can contact me...
Wombat
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Rundle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, 14 June 2001 9:21
Subject: Re: [aus-soaring] Fai definition of an "ultralight" glider
> Mike,
>
> I've found the FAI definition which is:-
>
> d. ULTRALIGHT a glider with a maximum takeoff mass not exceeding 220kg
>
> Thus why the Woodstock (which is a pretty conventional wooden sailplane)
> qualifies and I guess holds most of
> the world records for this category. Not for long I suspect as there are
> a number of glass ships coming out of Europe
> which are around 120kg empty with much higher performance stats
>
> eg. http://www.albastar.si/
>
> I believe that they launch them behind a trike, or even ultralight.
>
> rgds
>
> Pete
>
>
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