What was my goal you ask?
I wanted to fly the highest performing machine I could lay my hands on. The ASW22 is in the super class of sailplanes, from 1 mile up it can glide in still air 60 miles. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it.
Whats it like to fly one of these machines?
Imagine having a seat on the front of an express train and you have leaver in front of you, if you push forward the track
goes down hill and it picks up speed. Pull back on the stick the track goes up and the plane climbs like a frieght train on
steroids. I have yet to fly this plane full of water ballast but even dry it wieghs 1300lbs with me in it. As for ride the long wings are like suspension, its a real Cadilac ride.
What is amazing is that the plane will keep a good glide angle at very high speed. At 100knots its still giving around 40:1 glide angle.
I miss the practicality of the Kestrel and the Libelle but boy do I love the ability to go places real fast in the ASW22. At
time of writing I have around 80hours in her. I feel now that I am finaly getting to grips with the plane, next season is 4 months away I cant wait!!
