Volume III, Issue 4
October, 1998

News from Canada! A query on the rec.aviation.soaring newsgroup immediately turned up a current address for three of our "missing" Cirruses!! Welcome to the mailing list!!

No. 18, C-FXGU:
Group 79 LTD
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B3A 3T3

(This is the ship that we thought was being flown by Tom Foote, but didn’t have an address for.)

No. 82, C-FMBX:
Bryan D. Florence
Regina, Saskatchewan S4N 0E4

No. 42, C-GJIR:
Keith Crawford
Mississauga, Ontario L4T 1A6

We have a new AD coming down. The NPRM was sent out June 9, 1998 with a comments due date of July 21.1998. I found out about it only from the posting on the SSA Government Relations website (thanks, SSA!!) but not in time to provide any comments. (Since the FAA has the records of the current owners of the fleet, why in hell can’t they address the NPRM specifically to the owners?!?) I spoke with one of the FAA staff in Mike Kiesov’s office on July 23 (by the way, in the past three years or so, I have NEVER found Mr. Kiesov in his office!!) and at that time they expected the final rule to be just like the NPRM. Expect it shortly.

Anyhow, it doesn’t sound to bad. First off, it only applies to SN 1 through 50. That means that it applies to only ten of the ships on this mailing list (the ten with SN’s under 50 in the United States), although the three affected Canadian ships and the one UK ship might be well advised to implement the AD just for safety’s sake, since it’s based on a factory Tech Note issued back in 1985!!

Briefly, the AD involves the connecting rod between the airbrake bellcranks. Compliance will be required within 4 months of the AD, whenever it gets finally issued. It’s based on the German AD 85-86 dated March 4, 1985 which, in turn, is based on Schempp-Hirth Technical Note 265-8, dated February 11, 1985. Queries on that should be directed to Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH, Krebenstrasse 25, Postfach 1443, D-73230 Kircheim/Teck, Germany.

If you want to get on with it, here’s the verbatim text from the NPRM for compliance:

"(a) Modify or replace the connecting rod between the airbrake bellcranks, and replace the existing 6 mm bolt with an 8 mm bolt. Accomplish these actions in accordance with Schempp-Hirth Technical Note 265-8, dated February 11, 1985"

There’s more to the AD than this, of course, but nothing that really tells you anything useful. Seems like we need to get our hot little hands on a copy of the SH Tech Note! If I get my hands on one, I’ll make sure to circulate in a special newsletter!!

More on rudder dampers from Peter King: "The easy way to check them is to stand behind the plane and wiggle the rudder with your fingers. If there is a dead spot in the middle, no matter how small, before resistance is felt, the damper is failing. The dead spot is where the flutter will take place. Sandor Nagy was reluctant to put one in. Even more so when he saw how slowly the rudder moved. When he landed after his first flight with the damper he commented that he wasn't even aware it was there in the air."

I flew at the first competition clinic at Chester a number of years ago. My flight leader was Doug Jacobs in his world championship 15 meter. I was wet. He was dry. I could climb with him until I burbled and he didn't. The guy is uncanny. On the run he was a faster, but his lead was only worth about 1.5 turns in the next thermal. At the end of the day he mentioned to Eric Mozer, "I didn't know an Open Cirrus was that fast". I'm not patting myself on the back. He wasn't trying and I was. But, I didn't keep him waiting either. The other two guys were not so lucky. The net result was that I had a day of private instruction with Doug Jacobs. Very cool. It was the plane that did it. I was just along for the ride. My point is that it is a lot better sailplane than people give it credit for. Perhaps too many people read the Bikle comparison test and think it has a 38:1 l/d. Hah!

- Peter C. King (No. 83)

Attached you’ll find a "new" section, "The Cirrus in Competition", which is suitable for adding to the Directory. From time to time, as data about the Cirrus attain a certain critical mass of credibility, we’ll try to prepare a suitable addition to the Directory so that it becomes a living history document.

We’re trying to upgrade the Directory with new data, and we have lots and lots of additional information. But we’re reluctant to send out revised copies for those for which we don’t have a picture!! That’s why we’re giving priority in the updates to those with pictures. So please send us a snapshot of your plane - glossy 3 x 5 print by snail mail or a JPEG file by e-mail, and we’ll add it to the collection!!

Of an intellectual kind!! Things like Peter King’s prolific articles on safety, maintenance, and competition; and Bob Wick’s great pictures of his restoration, just to name a couple. What are the rest of you doing?

Thanks to a translation by Ernest Klimonda of Fairfax, VA of part of Peter Selinger’s excellent book on Schempp-Hirth, we can now put to rest the mystery of the "Cirrus B". What follows is a rather heavily edited excerpt from Peter’s book:

The rudder of the later series "Cirrus B"[vice the V-tailed prototype - Ed.] was originally built without a trim [mass balance? - Ed.] . Experiences with the first series models demanded its inclusion. Rudder flutter and fuselage torsion appeared at speeds exceeding the red line - speeds hardly to be avoided during contests. [Editor’s Note: Is this a commentary on safety, or what/!?} Still, before the World Championship of 1968 the aerodynamic form of Harro Wodl’s world champion machine was tested by means of a wooden block [apparently as a horn on the top of the rudder - Ed.] . The hastened departure for the training period to Leszno, Poland prevented the exchange of the wood with lead and Harro Wodl knew it. With a certain feeling of victory he flew way too fast over the finishing line on the last day of the contest and his machine started to flutter. Fortunately for everybody he landed safely; the sturdy construction prevented the disintegration in flight.

Afterwards all "Cirrus" sailplanes, even those already delivered, had the rudder horn replaced accordingly. At a later date a kind of oil shock absorber was added to the control rods in the middle of the fuselage.

Thus all the Cirruses that we know of, that is all conventional tailed and with an aerodynamic balance horn on the rudder, are "B" models!

The debut of the Cirrus as we know it in competition was in the World’s in Leszno, Poland in 1968. (The V-tailed prototype had flown in the 1967 German Nationals.) Five Cirruses were entered, including No. 8 which won the contest under the control of Harro Wodl of Austria. Canada’s Charles Yeates flew No. 18 to ninth place.

The first year of the Cirrus in North America saw only one flying in the 1968 U.S. Nationals, and that was Gleb Derujinsky, flying No. 4, N1194. He placed 5^th overall in the contest, flown at Elmira, NY, and won the second contest day, on July 4, in a 104 mile out-and-return flight.

The 1969 U. S. National Soaring Championships might be considered the high point for the Cirrus in competition on this continent. No fewer than eleven were entered, and they placed first and third!

The following year, 1970, Open Cirruses were down to seven in the U.S. Nationals, and the highest placed machine was only third, when "Big John" Brittingham flew No. 15 to third place for the second year in a row!