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Newsletter Volume
I, Issue 1
How about that header!?! Yeah, a little pretentious, perhaps, but this is a followup to my letter of November 20, 1995 to all known owners of Schempp-Hirth Open Cirrus sailplanes. The is a "report" on the response to that initial query. First, we must report that one ship is known destroyed: Helen Dick’s N240F, Number 74, was lost on April 17, 1976 at Hemet, California in a mid-air collision with a towplane, resulting in the loss of both pilots, including Helen’s partner, John Williams. Second, the initial letters to two owners were returned as undeliverable. They are: Patrick Ford (N11NC, #64)
and Henry Haake (N1216, #44)
If anyone has any idea of where these ships or owners are, please let me know. The Current Fleet Fritz and Burt Compton’s N7173C, #33 (Burt operates the Weeks Air Museum in Miami) operates out of the Miami Gliderport, southwest of Miami. This ship was flown in many regional and national contests; Burt was the "spark" that led to the creation of this mailing list! It also appears that this ship may be the only Cirrus still flying that is owned by the original importer! It seems that Tennessee is a hotbed for Cirruses! There are three at a single gliderport, and a fourth nearby. Peter King’s N6663 (#83), Walter Puckett’s N77CN (#105) and Sandor Nagy’s N2791 (#25) (during the winter only) are based at the Sequatchie Soaring, west of Chattanooga, TN). Although we didn’t get a response from the Georgia Lockheed Employees’ Recreation Club, Peter reports that their Cirrus, N757N (#36) is based northeast of Chattanooga at the Chilhowee Gliderport. Peter’s N6663 was in the article "Why WT Didn’t Go Over There" this year in SOARING; Peter also describes the Open Cirrus in an article on buying sailplanes available through the SSA’s Website (start by pointing your web browser to http://acro.harvard.edu/SSA/ssa_homepg.html). Peter’s written other articles about the Cirrus that appeared in SOARING, and plans to make a presentation on soaring in the southeast at the 1996 SSA Convention in Huntsville. Peter also has concerns about the rudder dampers on Cirruses, which the FAA has not apparently picked up on. He noted: "I have touched five birds and none had an operating rudder damper, including one that had just completed an extensive annual at Ridge Soaring. It’s a Type III VW steering damper." (JCK Note: I replaced the damper in N8169 in 1991, foolishly having one air-shipped from Germany at a cost of DM200 - not realizing that they were just VW dampers! Wish I’d had this information then!!) Peter also reports that all the "Sequatchie Cirruses" have double surface mylar on them, with which they are pleased. Walter Puckett (a cardiologist in Chattanooga) has owned N77CN for four years, and has put about 600 hours on it, while getting his diamond goal and distance badges in it. Walter also reports the intention of someday being able to transition from Sequatchie around Knoxville to get onto the Clinch Mountain ridge and fly up toward Pennsylvania for a 1000K. Cliff Oliver (A CPA in San Antonio) flies N99VJ out of the Boerne Stage Airfield, 20 miles NE of San Antonio. He’s had #5 for about three years, and a total of about 200 hours in sailplanes including about 50 flights in #5 (all cross country!). Cliff and #5 were on the cover of the September, 1994 issues of SOARING, over Medina Lake, about 20 miles from his gliderport. Cliff also reports that #5, once owned by Al Bickle, is a combination of three Cirruses that were in various forms of disrepair; even the wings are from two different sailplanes. (NOTE: I wonder if some of the "nonresponding" ships on the FAA register might be parts of #5??) Cliff’s currently changing out the wheel bearings (and looking for a good wheel brake!) and over the winter, possibly replacing the front canopy. Kay Berry (a retired USAF pilot in Lewiston, ID) has owned N3839 since 1991, and has put about 185 of the 1500 hours on the ship. Kay’s military flying was mostly in reconnaissance/fighter aircraft, and finds that, in retirement, soaring has proved to be a challenging way to meet the needs of a lifetime love of aviation. When the ship was just two months old, in June, 1969, it was heavily damaged but the repair was excellent. Kay’s not sure how many people have owned it, but it also was featured on the front cover of SOARING! (When, Kay???) To add a little bit to the information provided in the November 20, 1995 letter, N8169 was also seriously damaged by its first owner, a Mr. Sick who flew with the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association in Maryland, within a few months of importing it. The repair was apparently satisfactory, although there is now some discoloration of the gelcoat in two or three places where significant amounts of wing skin were refinished. I bought it in 1988 from Tom Head in Lewisville, NC who was flying it at the now-defunct Meadowlark Gliderport. Since then, I’ve done a major restoration on the original Schreder trailer (a mistake, in my opinion, since I spent more than a brand new, better designed, trailer would cost!). This winter, I’m rebuilding the panel to accommodate the current instruments without so many blank holes! Personally, I’m soon to be retired from 30 years civilian Federal service (if I get to go back to work long enough to file my retirement papers!). I started flying gliders in 1966 at what was then Godfrey Field in Leesburg, VA, and over the years have owned a 1-26, a 1-23, a couple of K-21s, and my Cirrus. I’m also a CFI(G) and a designated SSA instructor. The Original US Fleet Jan Scott, founder of the Vintage Sailplane Association,
kindly provided a copy of part of "Segelflugzeugen; Vom Wolf zum Mini-Nimbus",
by Peter F. Selinger that covered the Cirrus. Unfortunately, the text is
in German, and since my only German skills derive from passing the "translation
option" when I was in graduate school, I do not trust my translation! (Any
takers? Let me know and I’ll send you a copy of the German. It’s only about
four pages.) The data from those original sales, as listed in Selinger’s
book, are reproduced below "as is":
Notes: 1. Known destroyed 1976; owned by Helen Dick and John Williams 2. "Current" owners recipient of this letter 3. Registry numbers in parentheses were not listed in Selinger’s book, but are registry numbers reported by FAA for the corresponding Werk Nummer. 4. Significance of German registry unknown. There were apparently 178 production numbers assigned by the factory (although it’s not clear if 178 ships were actually produced), and there were a total of 29 "original" sales into the US (none of them the Yugoslavian variants). Of those 29, 21 were reported to Burt by the FAA, one of which we now know to have been destroyed. That leaves the whereabouts of 8 of the originally imported machines unknown; crashed, exported out of the US, or unregistered. That leaves 20 on "our" list, and the whereabouts of at least two of them (# 64 and #23) unknown (Our letter of 11/20/95 to the owners of record was undeliverable.) That leaves 18 as the suspected current US fleet, and I’m enclosing a copy of those names and addresses. Of those 18, we have confirmed the existence and ownership of 7, or 39% of the current fleet, not a bad rate of response! Desiderata It’s interesting that Derek Piggott, in his 1991 book "Gliding Safety", includes the Open Cirrus in his list of recommended "first gliders" for ownership...see page 97, et seq. His criteria include cost, ease of flying, and performance. In the general category "older glass fibre gliders" he reviews the ASW15, the Cirrus, the Standard Cirrus, the Hornet, the Club Libelle, the Astir CS and variants, and the Sport Vega. This was particularly interesting to me, since I can recall that, after years of flying Schweizer iron, I approached my first flight in the Cirrus with some trepidation, only to discover what a delightful and easy to fly ship it was. Our club, Skyline Soaring, has discovered the advantages or computer connectivity; nearly 30% of the membership now has an e-mail address, permitting them to very quickly stay up to date on what’s going on club-wise. We have our own website now: http://www.ssl.umd.edu/Skyline_Soaring_Club/skyline.html. And, of course, the SSA has it’s own website. If you have an e-mail address, please post a note to me a jkellett@shentel.net and I’ll add you to our informal "mailing list". Next Steps Peter King and Walter Puckett both indicated that they were planning to go to the SSA convention in Huntsville, as do I, so one next step would be to get together there. I plan to be there early to attend the CFI revalidation clinic. I’ll be glad to coordinate the logistics of a meeting then. As we get closer to the date, when the agenda is known, anyone interested should let me know their druthers about time/date (e.g., breakfast, lunch, dinner, other....and on which day(s)). If anyone has any leads on the whereabouts of any of the fleet, even if they are just rumors, please let me know and I’ll do some research. I’m mailing this to all of the original mailing, except the two that were returned as undeliverable. Peter mentioned that he’d done the ADs on the spoiler balls elevators. I assume everyone is aware of the two Ads. If not, holler. Others who have completed or are considering improvements (e.g., gap sealing, new canopies, etc.) could consider writing up a very short fact sheet, including sources and prices of suppliers, and I’ll pass it along to others. It would be interesting to collect "genealogies" of the US Cirruses. The repair records, flight loads, and sequence of owners could make a useful collection of experience for use when someone wants to modify or repair or purchase or sell a Cirrus. I invite all to glean through your logbooks and share the results with the group. Finally, I’ll prepare another "newsletter" sometime after the Convention. Since this is very much a "non-organization" as yet, we’ll see what transpires in the next few months. Sincerely,
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