Flying Characteristics.

July 20, 2000

I have not flown the Windrose for quite some time with my preoccupation with the Marske Monarch but on the last flight in june I was pleasantly surprised at the enjoyment I had. It is very easy to handle in calm weather but in gusty conditions it can be handful for the inexperienced. It certainly is a high-performance ship and capable of good cross country. The ailerons are quite stiff with zero flaps but with any degree of flaps its like power steering. The landing is very easy with full spoiler and flaps. Make sure the speed is kept up to at least 65 since this glider will spin.But do not go too fast since the drag created by the flaps seem most effective around 60 mph. The takeoff is still the difficult part for me. It requires a wind of more than 5 mph and a good runner. Make sure the tail wheel is on the ground for the launch otherwise when the CG hook is pulled the tail will slap down hard, compressing it! I use 60 mph on tow and most tow pilots report that it is as light as a 1-26. Under tow the glider is quite predictable. In thermals I have felt that the glider wants to overbank and in the past I have held quite a bit of opposite aileron but on the last flight I relaxed it and found it was just fine without the pressure, I have perhaps compensated with the rudder.

This is a photo of the windrose coming in for a landing, rather beautiful I thought. The spoiler is deployed and the flaps are down. Finally I am getting to enjoy the plane but it is very different and quite tricky to fly. In clam weather it is quite predicable after about 30 flights... but I have yet to retest it in thermally conditions which to date have proved a handful.

December 8, 1999: I made the aileron changes and took a flight today .I had the tow pilot fly at 60 mph and put on a few degrees of flap to give me more washout on the tips. The release from 3000 was uneventful. I practiced 360's with no flaps..... very stiff feel but with the more flaps you put on the easier the windrose ailerons are. This confused me and I may have reported the very opposite in other flights. But this flight was in calm air and afforded me the pleasure of testing a number of things. I did an immenent stall with zero flaps.... fine: I did not drop a wing. The pattern setup was at 1000 ft and I extended my downwind to give me a long final with a near perfect landing! I used about 3/4 spoiler and even threw in a sideslip. I am a little worried about the sideslip with the spoiler... but nothing fell off so in a jam I can use the side slip. I found that in circling I have a small amount of opposite ailerons .... and even in a high bank I am now comfortable with lots of flaps.Circling with no flaps is difficult!

August 30, 1999 I added seme turbulator strips I made out of 1/4 inch 220 grit sandpaper just ahead of the highest camber on the upper surface on the outer wing panels past the inboard ailerons. I had only one short flight but I did manage to go down to about 45mph on the stall which was a big improvement. I still would like to change the ratio to make it easier to handle the ailerons. I am still sensing proverse yaw..... so I'll change the belcrank slightly to make less differential. My takeoff was better this past Sunday... but there was quite a wind blowing.

August 25th, 1999

I had three flights on this last weekend, all over an hour each. The takeoffs are still very iffy if there is no wind. In a cross wind I haveto be very careful to keep that wing down.Tow speed is 65 mph.

The tows are quite acceptible. There is a lot of forward pressure needed. I use a small amount of flaps just to prevent an unexpected stall. I have been flying a little too high on tow but I have that corrected which helps lessen the forward pressure. I do take off some of the flaps when I am over 1000 ft from the ground.

Circling is a problem at slow speeds. It feels more comfortable with the flaps down a few notches.There is less tendency to drop a wing. I believe that in the turns at slow speeds the wing tips are stalling. Many times I need the opposite rudder to keep the yaw string in line. While circling I have been watching my GPS as to average speed. It seems to be about 48mph in the turn.Turns are executed better as one increases the speed.

I guess its time to consider a number of fixes. Possibilties include winglets, turbulators and a cuff. Suggestions are welcome!

I have also strongly considered removing the joggle in the trailing edge. I will definitely spend more time sanding the wings smooth, especially on the wing tips. I will start by filling the joggle on the wing tips and making the leading edge more rounded. A small winglet will also be added. Anyones input is welcome!

August 2, 1999

A cold front went through and I had a 2 hour flight. I only came down becuase I was tired. The windrose seems to still fly quite fast and the flaps down in the thermals seem to help..... at least I won't easily stall a wing. I still haven't really calibrated my airspeed but on my next flight I will explore the stalls a little more. On this flight I did a few gentle stalls with the flaps and it seems normal... no sharp break. The new bellcrank position seem much better although I would even like more mechanical advantage but this is not possible with the present setup.

My takeoff was messy.... dropped a wing... but I wrestled it up. I had some flaps... perhaps my wing runner dropped it too soon.The thermals where ratty... but as the day progressed it got better. Seemd to get better at turning in the thermals but it was disconcerting to be easily out climbed by the 2-33, however he could not catch me from one cloud to the next.

The landing was long.....somehow I messed it up. I actually got confused as to what was full spoiler...... so my plan for dumping the spoiler just as I was within a foot got fouled!

At any rate I feel more confident in its and my abilities.

August 1, 1999

The windrose is a very different glider. At first it really scared me.... now at least I am handling it better.

As I said the very stiff ailerons were a concern since the thermals overpowered the ailerons.... so I changed the ratio on the bellcrank by about 1/5th. I put in more differential but I may have overdone it.

Takeoffs have been a problem on tow of dropping a wing. I have tried putting some flaps on to start and lifting the tail which seems to help but it balloons off the runway easily which necessitates putting the flaps to a lesser setting. At a low altitiude I do not want negative flaps since at slow speeds it may induce a tip stall. The forward pressure on the stick is uncomfortable in the 1/2 flap setting and once above 500 ft I set it closer to zero which greatly relieves the forward pressure.

I am still finding the correct static port location and suspect I am still about 5 mph too high.

On my last flight August 1/99 I had two good flights in marginal lift conditions. I shoot between thermals will zero flaps and then slow up and use about half flaps for circling. Its a tough beast to control and its very easy to get the yaw string out of true.

Landing is really very good. With the flaps and a moderate speed it is very controllable. I use the spoiler to get another couple of hundred feet of sink and to control my glide path. If I go too fast in the landing I overshoot it. Once close to the ground I retract the spoiler and float in ground affect. On touch down I put on full spoiler which deploys the brake.

My confidence is building and soon I will have enough experience to make more changes

July 18th, 1999

Just completed a 4000 ft tow in a rather calm day. I moved the aileron pushrods connection to a smaller radius and increased the differential in the ailerons. This was a very good flight. The static port where changed further to the nose. The airspeed is now reading 70 when I am being towed at 63, so I have antoher change tgo make!. The best towing airspeed seems to be below 65mph (correct airspeed)otherwise there are great stick forces. On my next flight I will try a negative flap setting.

This particular tow was with no flap settings and had mild pressure forward on the stick. I have had two flights where the wing has dropped on take off and its been quite hard to get it back up. The wing runner really hasto run since I think the stall speed is about 51 mph. In the air the glider stalls straight forward with zero setting of the flaps and stall is about 51(below 60 indicated) which is rather high. I suspect my CL is about 1.0 or less. The actual sink rate seems very good.... less than 200 fpm. The handling in relatively clam air is very acceptible... with perhaps a too easy rudder.... I am thinking of attaching the rudders to the top of the pedals to give a better feel.

With almost full flaps it is very controlable and with the spoiler up the windrose comes down very effectively with 800 -1000 down. Speed must be maintained in the descent......on this particular landing I bounced. Having the brake coupled to the spoiler is a good idea and works well.

The seating is very comfortable and it was a joy to fly and land..... now to more wing profiling and sealing of the spoiler pushrods.

June 2/1999

Dave Wells just landed after the first flight. A no spoiler landing since there was not enough elevator to give a flair. But that was corrected on the next flight.

In the negative flap setting it will drop a tip and gave one quite a scare (Dave had no problem with it.... just my inexperience I guess) otherwise in the neutral and down flap position it will stall straight forward.Dave did caution me about this before my flirst flight.

The spoiler mechanism I designed does a good job of getting the aircraft down on a short field and I am very pleased with it. I used the basic large size for the 15 meter wing as recommended by Jim.... but added my own mechanism and gas strut to assist. Seems I hit it lucky as it works great.

The glider does not like flying out of trim (watch that yaw string) and at the moment the stall speed seems quite high... but the high speed sink rate seems very good. I put the static port in a bad position so my airspeed is off quite a bit.

The elevator has 18 degrees of travel for the up stick to counter the flaps and spoiler. It lands and is easily controlled with the flap settings full on.

The rudder needs to have the point of attachment at the top of the rudder pedals since it has very little resistance.... there is really no adverse yaw so the rudder is not needed most of the time except in strong turbulent conditions.

The ailerons are quite effective at low speed but at high speed or with a strong thermal under a wing it gets quite difficult to turn.... the rudder helps here.

Dave says that it is a easy glider to fly. I found it different and need more time in less turbulent conditions to give my assessment.