For its feeling of pure flight, soaring is likened by enthusiasts to bird flightâquiet, without the aid of power to keep you aloft. Itâs just you and your piloting skill, riding the rising currents of air. When a sailplane or glider is towed or winched to altitude, it is truly a balance of the skill of energy transfer and light touch, of being at one with your surroundings and making the most of the natural environmentâs influence. As with other form of aircraft, the sailplane has enjoyed marked improvement and development throughout history from the wood- and linen-craft built and flown by Otto Lilienthal to the modern, sleek composite craft that seem to capture the smallest of rising air currents with little effort.
This sleek motorglider is essentially a stock KR-1 with longer wings and a bigger tail. For a wing curve, an RAF-48 standard KR-1 airfoil was used for the center section and the GA(W)-2 airfoil for the replacement outer panels. The outer wing section provides a clean and responsive curve for use with a spoiler/flap control, […]
The PIK motorized glider has a manually retractable engine and propeller. The Rotax 503 500cc two-stroke two-cylinder engine produces 43 hp at 6,200 RPM. With double carburetors and resonance exhaust system, the whole snowmobile engine has been redesigned and built to aircraft requirements. The propeller is belt driven giving a 1:2 reduction. When not in […]
The Orlik 2 first flew in 1938, and an improved variation, the Orlik 3 competed in the 1940 Olympic Games. It had airbrakes beneath the wings. The design briefly held a world altitude record in 1948 of 30,000 feet.
Vernon Oldershaw’s motorglider features a retractable power plant that can be used for takeoff and climb to soaring altitude. A 31-hp Yamaha snowmobile two stroke flat-twin engine drives a wooden pusher propeller and feeds from a N-gallon fuel supply. The shoulder-type wings are built with a spruce spar, plywood ribs, and plywood skin; the wing […]
Libelle 205 Kestrel Hornet 206 Mosquito 303 Glasflugel 304 Glasflugel was founded by Eugen Hänle in 1962 and carried the logo of a dragonfly (in German “Libelle”). In May 1975, financial problems lead to a co-operation with the firm Schempp-Hirth. Until 1979 GlasfluÌgel carried the name “Holighaus & Hillenbrand” and was then dissolved in 1982 […]
The biggest improvement for the G-103, the successor to the Twin Astir, came from modifications to the ailerons. Pilots reported a substantial improvement in feel (with the steel control pushrods) and overall roll re-sponse for greater aerobatic performance. The mains, which sits aft of the aircraft’s center of gravity in a fairing, features a hydraulic […]
The Katana X-Treme was born in Austria in 1990. The all-composite two-seater flies with 80, 100, and 115-hp Rotax engines, operating as both a sport plane (under the name HK36 Super Dimona in Europe) and as the Eco Dimona, a variant modified for surveillance and observation. This model features a movable Wescam camera and cockpit […]
DG300 DG600 DG800 DG1000 Gerhard Glaser, owner of a civil engineering business, and Diplom Ingenieur Wilhelm Dirks, founded the Glaser-Dirks Flugzeugbau GmbH company. In 1972, they built their first glider, the DG-100. Glaser-Dirks produced 105 DG-100 and another 222 units have been produced later at the Elan factory. In 1977 the 15-meter class sailplane DG-200 […]
A quick glance at the gross weight or wingspan of the Calif motorglider or sailplane should tell the enthusiast that the pair are not ordinary aircraft. With 66.9 feet of wingspan, the A-21SJ is the only production turbojet-powered sailplane in the world. It offers side-byside seating and all-metal construction. The engine retracts into the fuselage […]
Founded by Alexander Schleicher in 1927, the company is the world’s oldest sailplane manufacturer. The company makes both pure sailplanes and motorgliders, with entries in every category, from the entry-level ASW 21 to the remarkable ASW 28 and its 48:1 glide ratio. The ASW 28 series also offers a retracting engine and optional solar panels […]
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