Yesterday, I finally received my ATOS VX. I have been waiting anxiously, like a five year old for Christmas to get my hands on this thing. It was cloudy with zero lift but that seemed fine with me. I just wanted to see if I could still tow and fly it and smooth air was just great! Only problem was there was also zero wind.
Got another ATOS pilot to help me set it up and got Davis Straub to help with a pre-flight. Then I sat and tried to will the wind to pick up. Well, I have very little influence with the weather gods so eventually I decided to show some kahonas and give it a go. Wrong move!!!! Launch and flight were totally perfect as I might have suspected in these conditions. This is a sweeeeet glider and I think I'm going to like it a bunch...... but the landing pretty much sucked. I had been told that to land these things, you pretty much just slowed them down and run it out. That probably works better if you get the flaps all the way on. Some how I managed to only get them about half on and my groundspeed was correspondingly fast. REALLY FAST!!!! Anyway, glider and pilot are fine and I bet I get those damn flaps full on next time. Think I might try an "old fashioned flare" too.
I'll give a better pilot report after I've put a few hours on it.
Happy flying,
Paul
New Toy
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
New Toy
Woo hoo! "He who dies with the most toys - wins!" Congratulations,
Paul. Sorry March sucked for Florida. If it makes you feel any
better, this weekend looks cloudy and rainy here - but some people are
headed up to Jack's. Non-flying days allow me to garner spousal
attention points and do maintenance or play with other toys. (Putting
the outboard back on the sailboat after winter maintenance today.)
Can't wait to see your new machine when you guys get back! - Hugh
On 25 Mar 2005, at 19:10, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> Yesterday, I finally received my ATOS VX. I have been waiting
> anxiously, like a five year old for Christmas to get my hands on this
> thing. It was cloudy with zero lift but that seemed fine with me. I
> just wanted to see if I could still tow and fly it and smooth air was
> just great! Only problem was there was also zero wind.
>
> Got another ATOS pilot to help me set it up and got Davis Straub to
> help with a pre-flight. Then I sat and tried to will the wind to pick
> up. Well, I have very little influence with the weather gods so
> eventually I decided to show some kahonas and give it a go. Wrong
> move!!!! Launch and flight were totally perfect as I might have
> suspected in these conditions. This is a sweeeeet glider and I think
> I'm going to like it a bunch...... but the landing pretty much sucked.
> I had been told that to land these things, you pretty much just slowed
> them down and run it out. That probably works better if you get the
> flaps all the way on. Some how I managed to only get them about half
> on and my groundspeed was correspondingly fast. REALLY FAST!!!!
> Anyway, glider and pilot are fine and I bet I get those damn flaps
> full on next time. Think I might try an "old fashioned flare" too.
>
> I'll give a better pilot report after I've put a few hours on it.
>
> Happy flying,
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
Paul. Sorry March sucked for Florida. If it makes you feel any
better, this weekend looks cloudy and rainy here - but some people are
headed up to Jack's. Non-flying days allow me to garner spousal
attention points and do maintenance or play with other toys. (Putting
the outboard back on the sailboat after winter maintenance today.)
Can't wait to see your new machine when you guys get back! - Hugh
On 25 Mar 2005, at 19:10, Paul Tjaden wrote:
> Yesterday, I finally received my ATOS VX. I have been waiting
> anxiously, like a five year old for Christmas to get my hands on this
> thing. It was cloudy with zero lift but that seemed fine with me. I
> just wanted to see if I could still tow and fly it and smooth air was
> just great! Only problem was there was also zero wind.
>
> Got another ATOS pilot to help me set it up and got Davis Straub to
> help with a pre-flight. Then I sat and tried to will the wind to pick
> up. Well, I have very little influence with the weather gods so
> eventually I decided to show some kahonas and give it a go. Wrong
> move!!!! Launch and flight were totally perfect as I might have
> suspected in these conditions. This is a sweeeeet glider and I think
> I'm going to like it a bunch...... but the landing pretty much sucked.
> I had been told that to land these things, you pretty much just slowed
> them down and run it out. That probably works better if you get the
> flaps all the way on. Some how I managed to only get them about half
> on and my groundspeed was correspondingly fast. REALLY FAST!!!!
> Anyway, glider and pilot are fine and I bet I get those damn flaps
> full on next time. Think I might try an "old fashioned flare" too.
>
> I'll give a better pilot report after I've put a few hours on it.
>
> Happy flying,
>
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
-
Paul Tjaden
- Posts: 398
- Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:28 pm
New Toy
In a message dated 3/26/2005 8:48:12 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, steven_kinsley@yahoo.com writes:
?
Or Is landing it based on the theory that by running you are unweighting the glider and therefore the stall speed goes way down?
?
?This is the way it's been explained to me but I have my doubts.?I think in no wind conditions I'm going to have to have good, basic landing skills including good flare timing and possibly running a few steps, too. After the storms passed today I tried a couple more flights. The first (with a light head wind) worked pretty well but by the time I launched again the wind had really laid down and I had another wack. VERY embarassing!!! It?IS ?pretty cool to cruise around and only loose about 130 feet per minute. Still haven't flown it in soarable conditions. Maybe tomorrow?
?
Paul
?
Book says it's around 19 mph, similar to my Litespeed and no, I can't even get close.Are you supposed to be able to run at the full flap stall speed? Do you know what that is?
?
Or Is landing it based on the theory that by running you are unweighting the glider and therefore the stall speed goes way down?
?
?This is the way it's been explained to me but I have my doubts.?I think in no wind conditions I'm going to have to have good, basic landing skills including good flare timing and possibly running a few steps, too. After the storms passed today I tried a couple more flights. The first (with a light head wind) worked pretty well but by the time I launched again the wind had really laid down and I had another wack. VERY embarassing!!! It?IS ?pretty cool to cruise around and only loose about 130 feet per minute. Still haven't flown it in soarable conditions. Maybe tomorrow?
?
Paul
?