Buying a Cirrus

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
A Standard Cirrus, that is. Rafael and I are buying this, Leah and I are going to NE Ohio this weekend to get it. We're excited.

https://picasaweb.google.com/abcondon/N10LA?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPb6lbrxnqLwRw&feat=directlink

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Cool!

Don't hurt yourself.
 
Nice, Tony!
Looks like you will soon join the ranks of the "glassholes" (term I learned recently) :wink2:
 
Well, at least you won't have to worry about the fuel tanks exploding on impact. ;)

Have fun! You taking Ol' Blue or the Town Car?
 
Ol' Blue. Should be ~271,000 when we get back.
 
Just breaking her in.
 
Near Cleveland. We might be staying with friends Saturday night in Cincinnati depending on their availability and our timing. If there is a good opportunity to rack up more miles towards home on Saturday we will probably do so. 1900 miles in 2.5 days. woohoo.
 
Surprised no one made a joke about LOP or ROP operations...
 
tonycondon said:
Near Cleveland. We might be staying with friends Saturday night in Cincinnati depending on their availability and our timing. If there is a good opportunity to rack up more miles towards home on Saturday we will probably do so. 1900 miles in 2.5 days. woohoo.
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No big deal. I used to leave college after class on Friday and have driven 2500 miles by Sunday evening when I got back. And that was single-pilot - err - driver.
 
So that makes 4 gliders in the Condon household? 3.5 if you wan't to be specific. Wow, and some of my family members think that I am obsessed with Soaring...
 
For a while we had 6 motorcycles in this household. Now we're down to 3.
 
With hundreds of happy hours in a Std Cirrus and a couple of diamonds as well, I applaud your choice. Congratulations!
 
I thought you might approve Lance. yes 3.5 sailplanes. As my friend (who has ~15 on the registry give or take) says, "nothing exceeds like excess"
 
3.5 gliders at home... I need ot get my Fiance involved... I am having a hard time justifying my need for a 20K airplane with all our other goals at the moment..

It looks like the Cirrus has a full flying elevator. The only glider I have flown with a full flying elevator was a Janus A and it had almost no elevator feedback with speed.. It was crazy the Janus needs an elevator stick 3 feet long and an aileron stick 4" long.. LOL That pig youd hit lift, crank over the aileron, count to 3 and by the time it began to roll you were on the other side of the thermal... Also by then you have too much elevator due to it being so sensitive...

Being a cherokee owner I like that you choose a vintage glass ship as well.. My dream glass ship is a Libelle, but my shoulders are too wide due to the way the canopy is done and I am too tall. Hopefully once I get the PPL out of the way I will return to soaring as I miss it more and more. Been flying Hangliders instead which in some ways I like better, but it is by far more dangerous and maybe its time to rethink that hobby...

Let us know how she flys...
 
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I have also been lusting after a Libelle, however Rafael is my partner in crime on this ship and he is too tall for a Libelle as well. He knows he fits in the Std. Cirrus. What I really want is a good club class ship and you can't get much better than a Cirrus for that. Now we just need to get Pete a Libelle or ASW-15. Our other friend Adam has a Std. Jantar. Then we'll have 3/5 of a club class at any regional we decide to attend.
 
Does an LS3 qualify for club class? I always loved the look of that glider as well as thought the interconnected flaps and aielrons would be fun.. I suppose just by having the flaps it wont qualify..

I never had a chance to fly one however...
 
club class is based on the handicap range, no limitation on flaps. i do believe that motorgliders are not allowed. All versions of the LS-3 qualify.
 
Tony, have you flown a standard Cirrus with the teetering elevator ?
 
tonycondon said:
no i haven't.
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Never flown it myself, the club restricted the Cirrus with the teetering elevator to people with a lot more hours (as some folks had gotten hurt in them in the past).

You have a lot of elevator authority, but once it stops flying, it stops flying and the nose pitches down. This was mostly an issue with winch launches that required waiting until you have flow over the elevator before making any control inputs, so for the first 5 seconds, you were just a passenger, not a pilot. Shouldn't be much of an issue with aero-tow. Also, the stall behaviour was a bit different from later generations of glass-gliders and occasionally someone would fall out of a thermal upside down. Beautiful plane, ahead of its time. Doesn't tolerate hamfistedness.
 
What kind of plane would one need to tow something this size with?
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
What kind of plane would one need to tow something this size with?
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Depends a bit of what you want to do.

If the terrain is flat and you have enough runway, a LSA or touring motor glider with 100hp will do.

If you are in the mountains and you want to tow someone into the wave, well, the more the betta.
 
pretty much anything that has a couple hundred fpm of excess climb performance for the given airport/density altitude etc.
 
tonycondon said:
pretty much anything that has a couple hundred fpm of excess climb performance for the given airport/density altitude etc.
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Good to know. What's the rules on towing behind an experimental? Something you'd consider or no?
 
standard FAA experimental operating limitations prohibit towing of anything, unfortunately. I think Rutan managed to get a waiver around that when he was developing the Solitaire motorglider and wanted to aerotow it on some test flights. He got one of his other airplane designs approved for towing. Bear-something???

Anyway, I personally wouldn't have an issue getting a tow behind an experimental, if I felt that the combination would have a sufficient climb rate.
 
tonycondon said:
standard FAA experimental operating limitations prohibit towing of anything, unfortunately. I think Rutan managed to get a waiver around that when he was developing the Solitaire motorglider and wanted to aerotow it on some test flights. He got one of his other airplane designs approved for towing. Bear-something???

Anyway, I personally wouldn't have an issue getting a tow behind an experimental, if I felt that the combination would have a sufficient climb rate.
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Figured as much. It's a shame that you couldn't even have someone tow you with a plane you own. I'm starting to look into the glider area, might pick up the rating at some point.
 
tonycondon said:
standard FAA experimental operating limitations prohibit towing of anything, unfortunately. I think Rutan managed to get a waiver around that when he was developing the Solitaire motorglider and wanted to aerotow it on some test flights. He got one of his other airplane designs approved for towing. Bear-something???

Anyway, I personally wouldn't have an issue getting a tow behind an experimental, if I felt that the combination would have a sufficient climb rate.
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An RV has at least a couple hundred feet of 'spare' climb performance. ;) A 50KIAS climb would be pretty darn steep compared to a Cub on the front of the rope.
 
lately we've been towing with our cessna 175, hopped up with an O-470. woohoo that is a fun ride, 700 fpm average on tow with the Cherokee. Almost as fast as the 185. that pushes you back in your seat.
 
The comment on the all flying elevator brought back some memories. Very easy to get into PIO situations, especially flying fast. I have just about put my head through the canopy. Overall a great cross country/competition glider.
 
the glider was in great shape, all paperwork very organized, everything included going back to the original .5 hr test flight by Klaus Holinghaus and it getting imported. Trailer pulls great, 65-70 mph in overdrive when the road was flat. That's about all Ol' Blue can do without a trailer. Speaking of Ol Blue is over 271,000 miles now and running great.
 
tonycondon said:
the glider was in great shape, all paperwork very organized, everything included going back to the original .5 hr test flight by Klaus Holinghaus and it getting imported. Trailer pulls great, 65-70 mph in overdrive when the road was flat. That's about all Ol' Blue can do without a trailer. Speaking of Ol Blue is over 271,000 miles now and running great.
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Congratulations !
 
That's awesome!






Oh, and congrats on the glider, too. ;)
 
Pulled the fuselage out of the trailer, sat in it (I fit nicely) and made glider noises. Rafael came over and he did the same, then we looked at a wing, cooked supper, and BS'd all night. Leah has named her "Kate"

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The Standard Cirrus will give an honest 35:1 L/D.

Tony, when are you going to finish the rebuild/refinish of Leah's glider?
 
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