May 2001

You might notice in the header the website is now at a new location. Actually, it's where it's always been - - except that the Vintage Sailplane Association has purchased the domain name "classicsailplane.org" which will be the first screen you see if you use the "old" URL. The Cirrus website is now a directory within the Classic Division website, which emphasizes our relationship to the VSA.

The VSA and the Open Cirrus Association are grateful to the Soaring Society of America for providing the server space for this site!

This just in from Dean Aldinger: <yo-dean@home.com>
        Number 64 N11NC is back. First let me thank you for your efforts on the website. Many people responded to my questions about locating parts. Good work!!! This is a long story and I am not a fast typist so I will try to be brief.
        The glider was left out in the elements at Montague airport by Pat Ford the last registered owner. A few years later it was sold to Tom Carter for $3,000 as a project. Tom had it several years and didn't register or work on the glider. Tom contacted Jan Driessen the manager of the gliderport where I fly at Truckee Ca. Jan was the manager at Montague when Tom Bought the Cirrus many years ago . At that time Tom wanted to sell it for $2000 or something like that. Jan sent several prospective buyers to talk to me about the cost of refinishing and repairing the glider. The shop rate where I work at Williams Soaring Center is $65 per hour so it really didn't make any sense for such a neglected glider. Probably a year later, Tom calls again and says his wife wants this thing out of the back yard . I had just finished a 1100 hour project on a Ventus B 16.6 that I had bought heavily damaged . Jan thought I might now be interested in another project so he tells me about the $300 Cirrus. Jan begged me to go look at it. If I didn't want it we would put it on a post for a sign at the gliderport.
        I did buy it. I towed this rusted junk trailer, with a glider in it that I had only seen through the front hatch, back to my house and dumped it in the back yard. I then drove up to Truckee to find that I had missed a 500K day. A that time I was flying the Ventus and I was a partner in a Duo Discus so the Cirrus just sat for another several months.
        Now for the Cirrus project. #64 sat outside long enough for moss to grow on the porous gelcoat but it wasn't cracked. (much less work to refinish). The canopy was very crazed and the instruments and interior were worthless. After sanding most of the gelcoat off I found that the bottom of one wing had been scraped up several times and repaired reasonably well. The boom had cracked gelcoat and some minor glass work done. That was the extent of the damage. The glider had only 600 hours and was in good shape, just real ugly! I cut five or six holes about 6 inches in diameter to inspect the interior of the fuse and the bulkheads and controls. While I was in there I replaced the rudder dampener and installed a fin T.E. and statics in the boom. I cut out the cockpit bottom and made a removable pan. I glued the canopy to the fuselage and sanded and filled it to a true shape. I made a female plug off the canopy and gave it to our canopy man Ray Poquet who made the male plug to make me a one piece canopy. Three months later I had $2400 black piece of plastic for my $300 glider! I sawed off the old two piece canopy and the fixed instrument hood and started over. I copied the shape of our Duo to rebuild the fuselage. I then used the rebuilt fuse as a mold for a carbon canopy frame. The hardware I made in our machine shop to match the Duo. The instrument hood is now removable so I can get to the pedals and the instruments. I made a new fiberglass panel to hold a 302 and Palm Nav, new Winter ASI and mechanical vario, a new Dittel and PZL compass. The old panel must have had 10 holes in it! How times have changed. I have an old pellet vario I may put in as a joke! I had a new wind up cloth seat made and larger side panels with pockets. two batteries behind the seat and a new oxy system in the back. I bought a new 18meter cobra.
        The $300 Cirrus is now $26,000 and 900 hours. At our $65 per hour shop rate I now have $845,000 plus the original $300 in the Cirrus. Oh well, putting 1100 hours and another new cobra in a Ventus B is not very practical either. To solve all this modification problem I changed registration to Experimental. The FAA program letter required 5 flights and 5 hours at Williams. I did this in weak lift at Williams then took it to Truckee. The first flight at Truckee was 500K. Not bad for an old Cirrus but I did have water! I only flew it that one time this season because I like the Ventus in strong lift. This winter I will fly the Cirrus. It should be great in the lighter conditions. Williams can be good in the winter but we have poor local lift in the summer. The glider has been fun to fly and has created a lot of attention. Thanks again for your help I'll get some pictures to you.

The Cirri at McLean Aviation

    In May we had the pleasure of visiting Bob McLean in York, UK and examining the three wrecked Cirri that he now has - Cirrus No. 23, (FXG), Cirrus No. 13, (JJA, Originally D-8114), and Cirrus No. 128,1835 (CVF). If and when Bob gets around to this major project, he plans to use the fuselage from No. 23 and the wings from No. 128, leaving No. 13 unrepaired as a source of miscellaneous parts. The website has pictures of all three aircraft in their current condition, as well as a bit more detailed data on each of them.
       As to the continuing saga of wingspan of the several modified Cirri, we measured the wingspan of No. 23 and found it to be 18.57 meters - - considerably larger than the "official" wingspan of 18.34 meters. So there's no doubt that No. 23 is not a "Cirrus B" according to Schempp-Hirth's drawing No 50.002-B.
        Even more curious, one wingtip had a heavy ballast plug in it, made of what appeared to be plaster. Who knows why . . . . .

VSA Gets Domain Name for Classic Division!

The Cirri at McLean Aviation

Cirrus No. 86