The 1-34 has been busy over the past week or so when I've been out to fly it, so I've been taking instruction in the ASK-21. This is a 2 seat, fiberglass glider with a respectable 34:1 glide ratio. That is, it will travel 34 feet forward for every 1 foot it glides down, or to put it in easier terms, it will glide 1 mile and lose just 115 feet. 1000 feet of altitude will send you 8.6 miles. At least in still air. I use a more conservative 200 feet per mile estimate, which gives you 5 miles per 1,000 feet you descend.
In any case, it is on par with the 1-34 and is my first 'glass' ship. Everyone at Harris Hill adores the ASK-21, and I can see why. It's comfortable, capable, seats two so you can take your friends up, and has very benign stall characteristics. A perfect aircraft for us regular 'non-racing' pilots who don't need to fly bleeding edge aircraft to get max performance from the ship.
Since the 1-34 has been busy, I've almost taken enough flights in the 21 to get checked out in it. I've been flying with Ron Ogden, one of our club instructors, and a real pleasure to fly with. Nothing rattles Ron and he's extremely well versed and, importantly, able to convey the lessons in a way that makes you understand the point he's trying to get across.
Although the 21 is an easy flyer, I've still had a few things to work on. I continue to try to be aware of my weakness to lag inputting control corrections until too late - particularly on takeoff. You really have to be on the ball and get those wings level and nose pointed the right direction and keep them there or things go south quickly. Not that I've had any serious issues with this, but I know it is one of my weak areas.
In the 1-34, I noticed that I was wobbling a bit on takeoff as the wings would rock one way, then the other. I set out to concentrate on arresting this tendency as one of my highest priorities and have been making decent progress at it. Being aware of it is 80% of the solution. Doing something about it NOW is the other 20%.
It's challenging for me. On takeoff roll, the ailerons aren't that effective until you get a little bit of speed, then they're VERY effective. You have to feed in different amounts of control (more) at the beginning of the roll than after gaining some speed (less). In the 1-34, it is pretty light so you do this with as steady a hand as you can but you don't have to move the stick super far until you are now rolling over to the other side and in danger of banging the wing on the ground. Of course, there is a wheel out there to prevent damage but it's bad form not to be in control of the airplane and the wheel is there for those big wind gusts that even full control deflection can't fix. A proficient pilot keeps the wings level on takeoff.
On the 21, the glider is quite a bit heavier and the wings are heavier. You have to feed in quite a bit of control and hold it there a little longer than I'm used to in the 1-26 or 1-34.
Yesterday, I worked on that and managed to keep us more or less in the center on the second takeoff by consciously feeding in more and holding it a little longer. That worked pretty well.
On landing, Ron encouraged me to 'pick a speed brake setting and try to stick with it'. This is a little tricky, but the key to landing the 21. You have to A) look at the field on base leg; B) pick the approximate speed brake setting (1/4? 1/2? 1/8?) that you think will last all the way down base and the turn to final. Of course, you can adjust it as you go but the idea is to adjust it only in very small increments. Managing the energy in the glider to dissipate it just as you flare out and touch down is the point.
On the first flight, I was jockeying the speed brakes all around. Landing was fine, but then Ron challenged me to 'pick it and stick it'. If you can do this successfully, it removes the variable of having to continually adjust your pitch and the spoiler position to achieve the proper airspeed. A stable final approach always assures a good landing.
On the second flight, I managed to pick the right setting and keep it pretty much locked in that position all the way down to the landing. I hunted for the landing gear just a bit on the flare, but made the proper adjustments and we landed in the right attitude and pretty close to the spot I had intended to land on. Awesome!
Now, of course, the way it works with me is that I'll blow it next time out and end up sawing the spoiler handle back and forth trying in vain to get it right. Or I'll overshoot and land long. But at least I know what the right technique is. I'll need more familiarity and landing practice in the 21 to get it worked out, but I'm starting to really like this airplane.
If all goes well, in another flight or two or three, I'll be signed off to fly the 21. My goals for my flying this summer are to: A) step up to the higher performance aircraft, the 1-34 and the ASK-21; B) Become proficient at flying both aircraft in a variety of conditions. I'm making good progress towards part A of that goal and if I can get signed off on the 21, I've got a lot of summer and fall flying ahead of me to get comfortable with the 21.
I'm looking forward to a great summer in these airplanes.
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