Yesterday I did something I'd never done before, I transitioned to a new glider type. I've been flying the Schweizer 2-33, a high wing training glider with two seats and struts that keep the wings attached when you do stupid things, like students sometimes do.
At Harris Hill, after you solo, but often before you get your license, students begin flying the Schweizer 1-26 glider. They have very similar performance, I'm told, but the 1-26 is a single seat aircraft with the wings at about shoulder height, right through the middle of the fuselage.
Our model is the 1-26E, which means that it is constructed of all aluminum except for the horizontal stabilizer and the ailerons. It looks a little less clumsy than the 2-33, which feels like an old friend, and you sit down with your legs pretty much straight out in front of you. Not exactly semi-reclined like the more modern ships, but it's a step in the right direction.
I prepared for the transition by reading Bob Wander's "Transition to Single Seat Gliders - Made Easy!" book and took the transition checklist he provides with me out to the field. It was not a good soaring day, meaning there weren't many thermals, but the smooth and stable atmosphere reduced the number of variables I needed to deal with to fly the 1-26 for the first time. Very little wind and almost no turbulence.
After an overview by my instructor, Sean Murphy, I sat in the cockpit for the first time and familiarized myself with the location and function of the controls. I'd read the aircraft handbook already, and everything looked pretty straightforward. The main things to watch out for, I was told, were the sensitivity in pitch and inability of the glider to penetrate into the wind.
Since wind wasn't much of a factor, I concentrated on not causing Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO's). PIO's happen when the pilot makes the situation worse through a control correction. It can often amplify itself as the pilot chases the aircraft's position by making control inputs that, because they are late, only make the situation worse. A small pitch up is overcorrected into a nose down, is overcorrected into a nose up and so on. Obviously, on takeoff, this can cause a crash.
Fortunately, the 1-26 is designed to be a 'step 2' glider and I was watching out for this issue. We hooked up, I gave my thumbs up, and off we went for my first flight.
Turns out they are right about the pitch sensitivity. I didn't have any trouble controlling it and I braced my arm on my leg to provide stability. The light weight of the 1-26 without the size of the 2-33 put me in the air almost immediately and the towplane pulled me up to altitude very quickly.
After release, I ran through a couple of the test points that Bob suggests you do with any new glider. I stalled it straight ahead and found that the nose drops more sharply than the 2-33 and that the 1-26 accelerates much quicker when you point the nose down. I tried a couple of steep turns and found that the ailerons are much more sensitive than the 2-33 and also the rudder. That was good, I think, because it made it much easier to coordinate the turns.
The 1-26, due to its light weight and short wing feel like driving a sports car after flying the 2-33! I had to concentrate on making very small movements to keep from over-controlling it. Supposedly, this light control effort is more prevalent on higher performance gliders and I definitely liked it.
One thing that took a flight or two to adjust to was the feeling that I was nose-down when, in fact, I wasn't. I noticed that my speed kept slowing up to 40 mph because I was pulling the nose up to where I 'thought' it should be. When I focused on making the aircraft fly at 48 mph, the nose would be quite a bit lower than I was used to. By the end of the night, I felt like I had gotten used to this position.
Landing was a snap, but I need to work on pinpointing it. Although I flew the 1-26 four times, it was only on the last flight that I felt I had the proper airspeed control all the way around the pattern. Even so, I would arrive at my aim point at the right altitude but then float quite a ways down the runway. One of the pilots told me that if I'm flying 55 upon round out and the dive brakes aren't all the way open, go ahead and open them all the way.
I was worried that would dump all the lift and slam the glider onto the ground but he said, no, that might happen only if you are flying much slower. He's right and I'm looking forward to sharpening up my spot landing skills in the 1-26.
So that's it, another milestone in my glider life. The second type of glider I've ever flown and the first that was a single seater. I'd been told that the 1-26 was fun to fly and it sure was! I'm hoping to find some thermals next time out and test my steep turn skills.
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