I'm 76 & took 6 hrs. flight instruction at age 17 in a Piper Cub & Aeronca & later, went on one 'glider flight'! When the glider pilot pulled the cord, releasing us from the tow plane, I couldn't believe how quiet it was compared to the powered planes! This electric model seems like the "best of both worlds"!
I fly a paraglider so I totally sympathise with the quietness! 🙂But I have never tried a glider plane, all this towing (and other) infrastructure was a bit of a turnoff for me. This self-launch idea is great.
@Josh B one of the ways could be by controlling motor position instead of speed (just like servo motor) which is not that hard if you measure rotor position Or to simplify imagine if you energized 2 motor coils on top and bottom it would attract magnets to it and keep propeller at known orientation
@@joshb6993 Motors can have a position sensor that gives the current angle the motor is at. The motor controller can say that if the angle of the sensor is not equal to straight up or straight down, keep turning slowly until the angle is straight up or straight down.
Wish I had the money. I learned to fly gliders many years ago in Waikerie, Australia, and much as I appreciated being towed up, the costs and tedium of waiting were something I often wished I could be independent of. The -petrol-driven versions of these offered that independence, but is also seemed a little too close to having a powered plane. These electric versions offer up the perfect solution.
That is a fantastic use of technology especially from a safety perspective, being able to climb again if you are not in a position to make a safe landing, and of course to extend flight time.
@@enterprise7585 Electric motors are even more reliable than gas/jet fuel powered ones. Just do proper maintenance of course. And a glider will require less altitude to be able to return to the runaway than a regular airplane due to a much better glide ratio.
@@enterprise7585Electric motors do not really break. Never heard of such a thing. It is much more likely to have a failure in the wiring, voltage regulation and especially battery pack. As for the battery pack you could split it to have redundancy - if one breaks you are left with half the capacity. The rest is of the components do not weigh alot and you can easily oversize them by a large factor so even at max power they are way under their tolerance and thus do not wear out.
In 1991 thru 1993 I was stationed in Germany and the Germans truly understand Gliders and Flight training. I should have joined then local glider club and gotten my cert. This is great stuff.
That’s a dream come true. Always wanted a glider with some type of motor to take off and land if you need it. Always thought the ones with the jet engines would be great but I love this one.
I believe this is better than the ones using a turbine, because you need at least 4 to have enough power to take off, and as any turbine, specially those very small ones, they don't operate very well below 70% spin speed, mostly because of the size. On the negative side, this glider is probably kinda heavy, because of the batteries .
I have an RC controlled model ASW Glider. exactly like your full sized one .Air Brakes, retractable landing gear..and the retracting propeller.....covered with doors when not in use....Ive owned it for quite some time now, had a couple of ...less than perfect landings but it still flys...Interesting watching the real thing... thanks for the trip..
Eines der schönsten Maschinen As34me war schön zu sehen wie sie vom Rumpfbau bis zur Auslieferung immer kompletter wurde wie ein Zeitlupenbau. Einfach super
@patrickfox-roberts7528 Invented by the Wright brothers. Still the best way to see the direction of the relative wind. Also, It cannot break down like mechanical or digital instruments and it reacts faster (no lag) than the turn and bank indicator to indicate if the aircraft is skidding or slipping. Last but not least, the pilot can watch the string while looking outside for traffic. No need to look at the panel.
What an amazing machine! Good harmonisation, good performance, particularly the 18m, and this wing span should go some way towards compensating for the battery weight compared with the 15m version. The only problem with this glider is that there isn't one with my name in the log book 🙄... Thank you Stefan for sharing this with us. I can see that you had a really good time. Cheers aus England 😀
Robert, The maximum Lift to drag ratio does not change, it occurs at slight increase in speed, the sinking speed increases in the same proportion. In competition sailplanes a lot of water ballast is carried to substantially increase the cruising speed between thermals. This ballast is drained before landing or in weak lift (meaning thermal or upslope wind vertical component) at the end of the day.
@@arturoeugster7228 I know all that, but all other things being equal, the machine with the longer span has a better performance than one with a shorter span. That's why Open Class gliders generally have a better L/D ratio than 15 Metre Class gliders. I prefer the flying characteristics of shorter span machines, but that wasn't the talking point.
@@robertschnobert9090Actually you don't need screw. Already more than 30 years we have existing tools for mounting the wings alone and with a self launching glider and a wheel ot the wingtip it's fine.
Thanks for sharing. Really interesting noise it makes whilst holding the prop in position. The two side struts transmit and amplify the noise. Very impressive power delivery and low consumption.
@@BoltRM actually I think it has to lock the prop with a constant signal, so that it doesn’t rotate during lowering and rising. And that’s why it is humming constantly
Ive done a few duel seat flights in small gliders as a cadet BUT the one aircraft towed glider flight I did in the 90's was amazing! - I recommend everyone try one as its so quiet and such an amazing view ! - hope they make a duel seater version of this which will make is available and easier to operated in more locations.
Impressive victory over gravity & the hire of airplanes ✈️ to get cruising altitude! And the ability to get the craft into proper landing 🛬 approachs! Cool 😎!
I think, this self-launch possibility makes this glider really interesting. I think some propeller optimization is still necessary to use the power of the motor more efficiently.
Wir haben gestern auch bei Schleicher Probeflüge gemacht, und das elektrische Antriebssystem hat wirklich überzeugt. Einfache Bedienung und satte Leistung! Und auch ein sehr nettes und kompetentes Team, das uns alles erklärt hat 👍 Kann ich nur empfehlen, das mal auszuprobieren 😃
Stefan, thank you for sharing these wonderful videos, very useful for us trying to keep up with the newer models! AS made an incredibly fast progress in the AS33, 34 and now the 35 it looks like. Fliegen Sie sicher und glückliche Landungen! :-)
yeah I also thought about this. But I did some calculations. the thing is, when you cover all the Wing area with Flexibel Solar Panels (because they can adjust to the airfoil and are lightweight) you would only charge on peak like 4.5 minutes of the max Continous power (25kw), if the charging process would be 100% efficent. so more like 3min per hour. more than nothing, but not great. Also it would reduces the Efficiency of the wing.
This just changed everything. Like a shuttle launch; This uses the same propulsion/return principles. Great re-use of a past rocket use to glider technology...Add some solar panels in glide mode to re-charge batteries; infinite flight?
Looks like they need some fluff in the air vent! I have the creaking in my glider too, I put just a tiny bit of vaseline on the canopy frame and it stopped it.
Cant find a better application for an electric motor! It only needs enough battery time to get you to altitude, so no worries for how long a charge lasts. Brilliant!
What a cool glider. My only bugbear would be 'low or no storage space'. i think ideally you'd want 300kg spare for touring. I'd love to be able to hope around the country. Needing to carry a charger is another I guess. Love the minimalist solution.
You can get rid of those creaking noises from the canopy by rubbing Irish Spring bar soap on the edges and it shouldn't hurt the longevity of the foam I don't think. Maybe an experiment should be done, but I used it on 4x4 trucks that had the same issue and it worked well. Very annoying and maybe worth a slight degradation in the foam rubber????? It also has a FINE FRESH SCENT! LOL
Nice elewaiter! 😉 Great video…First ten seconds of video I thought I was watching an RC glider clip, I was very impressed with the scale cockpit until I realised. 😜
Pretty amazing, I am glider rated but having' flown since my California days almost 20 years ago, lots of time in the Grob 102 & 103, really miss those days, don't have the same lift here in Washington, would have liked to hear what the cruise time would be if you were to ferry it back from somewhere.
Let's say you found some great lift and wanted to recharge the battery in flight. Would it be possible to pull the motor up to use some energy by wind milling the prop at the cost of some altitude? If not, they should work on that concept. Imagine how far you could possibly go if it were set up that way. In June of 1972 I was working at Piper Airfield in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, two weeks before the great flood. There was a Nelson Hummingbird, a piston engine powered, self launching sailplane, that needed a bit of sheet metal repair caused by the prop striking the skin on the top of the fuselage. Just a minor strike, nothing serious. I have been up in two sail planes, a brand new Schleicher and a Blanik. Great fun.
Or maybe a small door that leads to a small generator prop? I believe large jets often have a small prop that can be deployed for emergency electricity.
@@rm4po4 Yes, it is called a "RAT" for Ram Air Turbine. I even installed a small one that popped out of the front baggage door on a Piper Cherokee Six. It was a fan blade connected to a small alternator.
I don't think it'll work. The energy used to inefficiently charge via the propeller will be better used to let the sailplane do what it does best, sailing.
..... In the early '70's i was in Bamberg, Germany in the Army... A glider club was at a nearby airfield... They offered a ride, in a two person glider, for a reasonable price... A truck was at one end of the field with a huge winch like setup... a driver would tow the cable to the glider and hook it... the truck started the 'winch' and the glider pilot did his thing... about the time the cable was straight up, the pilot disconnected, and away we flew for about 10 to 15 minutes... very interesting as I could hear wind and the flexing of the glider, and related noises... My only regret was not doing it again and again ...!
Regarding high aileron forces, it sounds similar to the V3. I wonder if that might be because the most recent aerofoils maintain laminar flow extending so far aft towards the flaperons? If the aileron forces are much lighter on the ground then it is likely to be airflow resistance that makes the difference in flight.
I can't remember the forces on the V3M I flew in Namibia. It was not as memorable as at the AS33, that's for sure. Perhaps it's caused by the thinner wings and shorter leverage. The only funny thing is that a South African glider manufacturer is able produce a gliders with light controls.
Actually, for cross-country flights gliders usually add water ballast, so the batteries are a reasonable substitute. Although dumping them if the lift quits, would be very, very expensive!
ha ha ..that smile on your face at the end of the video was telling everything to those who accidentally miss the beginning ... no need to watch in fact and save time ..just kiddin
Amazing how you got up to the thermals with only a fifth of the battery capacity. Very smart design, makes me want to take up gliding. ETA: Reading up on the design. Wing-tip wheels! Duh! So many obvious nice-to-haves in this thing.
Thanks Stefan, these look great! Certainly looks simple and quick to deploy and stow (which is good for safety too). Did he mention which chemistry the batteries use? Hoping its something pretty stable like LFP or newer similar variants, which are good for cycle life and stability if damaged (unlikely to catch fire).
From the AS website: "960 Li-Ion metal-clad single cells connected in parallel and in series with a total capacity of 8.6 kWh, divided into 2 battery strings (one per wing) with BMS."
Well, let's do some math. The battery capacity is 8.6 kWh. The best lithium batteries contain ~150Wh/kg. So the total weight of the batteries for this glider is over 57 kg. Also add the weight of the electric motor. Let's count them all as 60 kg. Now let's compare with a classic internal combustion engine. 35 kW =~ 50 hp. You can find a 50 hp gasoline engine weighing ~ 15-20 kg. Now you can use the remaining 40-45 kg of weight for a fuel tank. 1 kg of gasoline is about 46 MJ (megajoules). But we also have to take into account the fuel efficiency of about 20% (let's take the worst case scenario). So, 40 kg of gasoline = 40kg*46MJ/kg*0.2 = 368MJ=~100kWh. So, we can summarize that a classic internal combustion engine will give us more than 10 times the energy density for the same weight. Which means that with gasoline we can use the engine 10 times longer and fly 10 times farther. Instead of increasing duration/range (after all, we're talking about a glider, not an airplane), you can simply reduce the total weight by reducing the tank volume. The added bonus of combustible fuel is that refueling is instant, compared to electricity. P.S.: Sorry for the bad English :)
Yes, that is correct. This installation the fuselage is too narrow for a self launching gas engine. The electric pylon and prop fit the narrow area, and there is alot of initial takeoffpower from the electrical system. There are gliders IE the ASH31Mi and the ASH35Mi that have a gas engine.
Don’t know which one I like better, this one or the jet engine propelled one?! The ability to self launch is a game changer!?!? Thank you for the video.
Great video. I definitely prefer the Me to the Es. On a side note are you going to post some more videos of your 7 day adventure, I have been unable to fly for 8 months and am living through your videos. Thanks for all your hard work :)
Thank you! There will be one last video about the 7 day travel by glider adventure. Unfortunately I had no time to edit this video up to now because work and other projects.
All I could find was. Brand new with no trailer or instruments, 125,000$ USD. So I assume his was more since it has an instrument panel. Most of what I could find was just people in message boards guessing on price based on what it is. I could not find any actual sales pages.
Or rather I should say that there are no sales pages with prices. You have to order one to be built by the company, and they require you to email them to get a quote based on options you want. The quote of 125,000$ is from a secondary company that sells airplanes from the manufacturer, found in the description of google search results, but going to the actual webpage doesn’t show anything that was said in the search result description.
I'm 76 & took 6 hrs. flight instruction at age 17 in a Piper Cub & Aeronca & later, went on one 'glider flight'!
When the glider pilot pulled the cord, releasing us from the tow plane, I couldn't believe how quiet it
was compared to the powered planes! This electric model seems like the "best of both worlds"!
Me too, 30-years ago I flew for the first time in a glider, and I thought the same thing when the tow plane left us - peaceful.
My mom had an Aeronca Champ and my dad had a super cub. I had a dragonfly .
I fly a paraglider so I totally sympathise with the quietness! 🙂But I have never tried a glider plane, all this towing (and other) infrastructure was a bit of a turnoff for me. This self-launch idea is great.
hi ron , just turning 70 in august and looking at getting back into a powered sailplane here in nz . wish you the best , cheers
@@JanPBtestno see by
It's so cool how the propeller gently stops in the correct position for folding, the clunk of those doors closing is pretty satisfying too
Indeed but what a noise! Solum Volamus
Am trying to figure out how they managed to get the blade to stop in the vertical alignment
@Josh B one of the ways could be by controlling motor position instead of speed (just like servo motor) which is not that hard if you measure rotor position
Or to simplify imagine if you energized 2 motor coils on top and bottom it would attract magnets to it and keep propeller at known orientation
@@joshb6993 Motors can have a position sensor that gives the current angle the motor is at. The motor controller can say that if the angle of the sensor is not equal to straight up or straight down, keep turning slowly until the angle is straight up or straight down.
How high it can fly?
Wish I had the money. I learned to fly gliders many years ago in Waikerie, Australia, and much as I appreciated being towed up, the costs and tedium of waiting were something I often wished I could be independent of. The -petrol-driven versions of these offered that independence, but is also seemed a little too close to having a powered plane. These electric versions offer up the perfect solution.
How much does this toy cost?
What u mean toy
@@lakingboss1045 how many dollars does it require to obtain one of those crafts
@@0my idk
@@lakingboss1045 maybe ask your boss. Lol. Jk. Peace bro.
That is a fantastic use of technology especially from a safety perspective, being able to climb again if you are not in a position to make a safe landing, and of course to extend flight time.
What if the engine stalls on takeoff? Do you think it's safe?
@@enterprise7585 Electric motors are even more reliable than gas/jet fuel powered ones. Just do proper maintenance of course.
And a glider will require less altitude to be able to return to the runaway than a regular airplane due to a much better glide ratio.
@@enterprise7585 less likely to happen than the tow planes single piston engine stalling on takeoff.
@enterprise7585 just as safe as a rope break if being towed and far safer than the cable snapping on a winch
@@enterprise7585Electric motors do not really break.
Never heard of such a thing.
It is much more likely to have a failure in the wiring, voltage regulation and especially battery pack.
As for the battery pack you could split it to have redundancy - if one breaks you are left with half the capacity.
The rest is of the components do not weigh alot and you can easily oversize them by a large factor so even at max power they are way under their tolerance and thus do not wear out.
In 1991 thru 1993 I was stationed in Germany and the Germans truly understand Gliders and Flight training. I should have joined then local glider club and gotten my cert. This is great stuff.
They're crazy about RC Aircraft too. 😳
They invented the sport of gliding and they are #1 in research and development of sailplanes.
That’s a dream come true. Always wanted a glider with some type of motor to take off and land if you need it. Always thought the ones with the jet engines would be great but I love this one.
Jet engines are bad at low speeds, so it's not the best for a self launch.
I believe this is better than the ones using a turbine, because you need at least 4 to have enough power to take off, and as any turbine, specially those very small ones, they don't operate very well below 70% spin speed, mostly because of the size. On the negative side, this glider is probably kinda heavy, because of the batteries .
Actually, there is jet engines too (although not for self launching): ua-cam.com/video/pIhKIWRMdwk/v-deo.html
@@SteFlywhat’s the price for a AS34 ME I can’t find the price anywhere
I have an RC controlled model ASW Glider. exactly like your full sized one .Air Brakes, retractable landing gear..and the retracting propeller.....covered with doors when not in use....Ive owned it for quite some time now, had a couple of ...less than perfect landings but it still flys...Interesting watching the real thing... thanks for the trip..
Eines der schönsten Maschinen As34me war schön zu sehen wie sie vom Rumpfbau bis zur Auslieferung immer kompletter wurde wie ein Zeitlupenbau. Einfach super
I love that despite all the decades of new tech there is STILL a thread on the canopy :)
@patrickfox-roberts7528 Invented by the Wright brothers. Still the best way to see the direction of the relative wind. Also, It cannot break down like mechanical or digital instruments and it reacts faster (no lag) than the turn and bank indicator to indicate if the aircraft is skidding or slipping. Last but not least, the pilot can watch the string while looking outside for traffic. No need to look at the panel.
Airplanes with parachutes, and now gliders with engines. That's the way to do it! 👍🏻🇺🇲
Motors... 👍
what a beautiful aircraft. you are so lucky to have this job. we can only dream of it.
What an amazing machine! Good harmonisation, good performance, particularly the 18m, and this wing span should go some way towards compensating for the battery weight compared with the 15m version. The only problem with this glider is that there isn't one with my name in the log book 🙄... Thank you Stefan for sharing this with us. I can see that you had a really good time. Cheers aus England 😀
Thanks Robert 🙂
@@SteFly ICH finde es unten immer schöner als open
Robert, The maximum Lift to drag ratio does not change, it occurs at slight increase in speed, the sinking speed increases in the same proportion.
In competition sailplanes a lot of water ballast is carried to substantially increase the cruising speed between thermals. This ballast is drained before landing or in weak lift (meaning thermal or upslope wind vertical component) at the end of the day.
@@chrisneu3487 Besonders wenn etwas schief geht und man wünscht dass man den Absturz am Boden beobachtet
@@arturoeugster7228 I know all that, but all other things being equal, the machine with the longer span has a better performance than one with a shorter span. That's why Open Class gliders generally have a better L/D ratio than 15 Metre Class gliders. I prefer the flying characteristics of shorter span machines, but that wasn't the talking point.
It's absolutely amazing what brushless motors can do these days! And, of course, your glider flights are amazing, too.
Were I a rich man and a few years younger. This is my type of (crew support independent) soaring. Had it only been available 50 years ago!
You still need a crew. Gliders can't be used by "lone wolfs" or antisocial rich men. Gliders are perfect to purchase in a gliding club. 🐦🌈
@@robertschnobert9090Actually you don't need screw. Already more than 30 years we have existing tools for mounting the wings alone and with a self launching glider and a wheel ot the wingtip it's fine.
Seems like the addition of some small retractable wing tip gear would be a good idea too and eliminate the need for someone to balance out the wing
Thanks for sharing. Really interesting noise it makes whilst holding the prop in position. The two side struts transmit and amplify the noise. Very impressive power delivery and low consumption.
I thought it was loyd for an electric motor, but suppose that could be the reason. Seems like it shouldn't vibrate so much?
@@BoltRM they could program the motor to just pulse, but have chosen to vibrate it constantly so people know it is alive.
@@knowledgebyte I'm guessing pulsing might increase odds of vibration & failure? I have no idea, total speculation.
@@BoltRM actually I think it has to lock the prop with a constant signal, so that it doesn’t rotate during lowering and rising. And that’s why it is humming constantly
Ive done a few duel seat flights in small gliders as a cadet BUT the one aircraft towed glider flight I did in the 90's was amazing! - I recommend everyone try one as its so quiet and such an amazing view ! - hope they make a duel seater version of this which will make is available and easier to operated in more locations.
Impressive victory over gravity & the hire of airplanes ✈️ to get cruising altitude! And the ability to get the craft into proper landing 🛬 approachs! Cool 😎!
I love it. Just minimal and enough for lots of fun
Wow! I miss flying so much that looks like a blast!
Omg, 80% battery remaining? I was thinking the battery would be around 15-20% at that point. That's incredible.
Motor was running for only a few mins before shutdown. Like 20-25 mins runtime is possible depending on power setting
Now this seems to be the perfect application of electric power in aviation!
I think, this self-launch possibility makes this glider really interesting. I think some propeller optimization is still necessary to use the power of the motor more efficiently.
Wir haben gestern auch bei Schleicher Probeflüge gemacht, und das elektrische Antriebssystem hat wirklich überzeugt. Einfache Bedienung und satte Leistung! Und auch ein sehr nettes und kompetentes Team, das uns alles erklärt hat 👍 Kann ich nur empfehlen, das mal auszuprobieren 😃
The perfect use for electric power in aircraft. Very cool.
Stefan, thank you for sharing these wonderful videos, very useful for us trying to keep up with the newer models! AS made an incredibly fast progress in the AS33, 34 and now the 35 it looks like. Fliegen Sie sicher und glückliche Landungen! :-)
Thank you! Really looking forward to fly the AS33 Me and the AS35, hopefully soon 🙂
@@SteFly ayo, isn't self launch glider just a plane, dawg? I'm confused cause a glider ain't supposed to have no propulsion dawg
@@SteFlywhat’s the price for the AS34 Me
That engine is really powerful. I can feel the vibrations on the computer.
Wonderful little aeroplane.
the part where the blade lines itself up is wild
that is some NICE engineering
Yes, very cool system 👍
Wow what a awesome power system, such simple controls and impressive performance
Wow... Very nice. You need some solar panels on the wings to recharge while your gliding..
にこにこしてパワフルと言ってるからパワーがあることが良く伝わった。プロペラの格納の様子も良く分かった。
I like this glider alot, the cockpit looks really finished with the nice finished, cloth interior.. most gliders lack that
I am 68 now but used to dream about building a similar vehicle when I was 16. I took glider flying lessons at the glider port in Hemet CA.
Throw some solar panels on it and it could go for a really, really long time
Google "Solar Impulse". 👍🏻
yeah I also thought about this. But I did some calculations. the thing is, when you cover all the Wing area with Flexibel Solar Panels (because they can adjust to the airfoil and are lightweight) you would only charge on peak like 4.5 minutes of the max Continous power (25kw), if the charging process would be 100% efficent. so more like 3min per hour. more than nothing, but not great. Also it would reduces the Efficiency of the wing.
@@janmuhlberger9631 Take off power is demanding..How much altitude could one gain in that time period 🤔
It would be way easier to just put an internal combustion engine and fuel tank
@@randbarrett8706 But that would be boring
This just changed everything. Like a shuttle launch; This uses the same propulsion/return principles. Great re-use of a past rocket use to glider technology...Add some solar panels in glide mode to re-charge batteries; infinite flight?
Looks like they need some fluff in the air vent! I have the creaking in my glider too, I put just a tiny bit of vaseline on the canopy frame and it stopped it.
Yeah the fluff is good, and/or the 'stack of drinking straws' kind of material. I'll try your canopy frame solution!
Good usage for the old ASW28 forms, Langes Antares 20E had this 15 years ago. With flaps. And much less noisier, water ballast and 20m
Enjoy yourself and Life itself, young man. Live, Live, Live Life!
Cant find a better application for an electric motor! It only needs enough battery time to get you to altitude, so no worries for how long a charge lasts. Brilliant!
Hi Stefan, thx for nice video. Electric self launch is future of gliding. But that future in now ...
It looks like the ASW28-18 with the Electric conversion. I owned one and it flew and handled beautifully even without flaps.
Yes, it is a ASW28-18 with the electric propulsion system and all the new mods. Great and easy to use glider.
Wow! Nice! Things are getting better!
Thank you, Stefan - very interesting video about this modern glider model. Looks very nice.
that is an amazing progress for gliders
Or a step back for aeroplanes? lol.
These are the videos that make UA-cam great. // Estos son los videos que hacen grandioso a UA-cam.
What a cool glider. My only bugbear would be 'low or no storage space'. i think ideally you'd want 300kg spare for touring. I'd love to be able to hope around the country. Needing to carry a charger is another I guess. Love the minimalist solution.
Wow, erstaunliche Leistung. Prima Entwicklung.
Божественно,Фантастика,БРАВО!!!
That is awesome wish I had access to one of those when I was learning in Wales.
You can get rid of those creaking noises from the canopy by rubbing Irish Spring bar soap on the edges and it shouldn't hurt the longevity of the foam I don't think. Maybe an experiment should be done, but I used it on 4x4 trucks that had the same issue and it worked well. Very annoying and maybe worth a slight degradation in the foam rubber????? It also has a FINE FRESH SCENT! LOL
A superb machine. Thanks for sharing Stefan.
Nice elewaiter! 😉 Great video…First ten seconds of video I thought I was watching an RC glider clip, I was very impressed with the scale cockpit until I realised. 😜
Pretty amazing, I am glider rated but having' flown since my California days almost 20 years ago, lots of time in the Grob 102 & 103, really miss those days, don't have the same lift here in Washington, would have liked to hear what the cruise time would be if you were to ferry it back from somewhere.
Great fun! I wonder if you could put a small generator on one end of the fuselage to trade excess lift for battery power. 🤔
Let's say you found some great lift and wanted to recharge the battery in flight. Would it be possible to pull the motor up to use some energy by wind milling the prop at the cost of some altitude? If not, they should work on that concept. Imagine how far you could possibly go if it were set up that way. In June of 1972 I was working at Piper Airfield in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, two weeks before the great flood. There was a Nelson Hummingbird, a piston engine powered, self launching sailplane, that needed a bit of sheet metal repair caused by the prop striking the skin on the top of the fuselage. Just a minor strike, nothing serious. I have been up in two sail planes, a brand new Schleicher and a Blanik. Great fun.
Or maybe a small door that leads to a small generator prop? I believe large jets often have a small prop that can be deployed for emergency electricity.
@@rm4po4 Yes, it is called a "RAT" for Ram Air Turbine. I even installed a small one that popped out of the front baggage door on a Piper Cherokee Six. It was a fan blade connected to a small alternator.
I don't think it'll work. The energy used to inefficiently charge via the propeller will be better used to let the sailplane do what it does best, sailing.
..... In the early '70's i was in Bamberg, Germany in the Army... A glider club was at a nearby airfield... They offered a ride, in a two person glider, for a reasonable price... A truck was at one end of the field with a huge winch like setup... a driver would tow the cable to the glider and hook it... the truck started the 'winch' and the glider pilot did his thing... about the time the cable was straight up, the pilot disconnected, and away we flew for about 10 to 15 minutes... very interesting as I could hear wind and the flexing of the glider, and related noises... My only regret was not doing it again and again ...!
Why not use the propeller as a ram air turbine (RAT) to recharge the batteries once gliding?
Probably will create too much drag. Unless you would want to do few long spins down and up around an updraft for few percents.
Very cool! Suggest adding wingtip wheels that retract 😊so no wingwalker needed
You could drop the heavy batteries by parachute. As a emergency dumping weight procedure.
EZ liftoff idea…retrac wing tip “ squashing hoop slider” manual, pull in from cockpit - weight 1-1/2 lb ea?
Regarding high aileron forces, it sounds similar to the V3. I wonder if that might be because the most recent aerofoils maintain laminar flow extending so far aft towards the flaperons? If the aileron forces are much lighter on the ground then it is likely to be airflow resistance that makes the difference in flight.
I can't remember the forces on the V3M I flew in Namibia. It was not as memorable as at the AS33, that's for sure. Perhaps it's caused by the thinner wings and shorter leverage. The only funny thing is that a South African glider manufacturer is able produce a gliders with light controls.
What is the battery maintenance requirements? How often do you have to change the batteries and how many charging cycles can be made?
I love gliders. I wonder how much run time it has and what the motor power rating is.
35kW maximum power
25kW maximum continuous power
8.6kWh battery capacity
Magnificent. My compliments.
This design is actually pretty brilliant. Weight of batteries aside I’m sure this aircraft is very efficient.
It's cost effective...
Actually, for cross-country flights gliders usually add water ballast, so the batteries are a reasonable substitute. Although dumping them if the lift quits, would be very, very expensive!
@@KlingbergWingMkII well, if the lift quits, turn the engine back on and gain altitude.
what a beautiful glider
ha ha ..that smile on your face at the end of the video was telling everything to those who accidentally miss the beginning ... no need to watch in fact and save time ..just kiddin
Amazing how you got up to the thermals with only a fifth of the battery capacity. Very smart design, makes me want to take up gliding.
ETA: Reading up on the design. Wing-tip wheels! Duh! So many obvious nice-to-haves in this thing.
Thanks Stefan, these look great! Certainly looks simple and quick to deploy and stow (which is good for safety too).
Did he mention which chemistry the batteries use? Hoping its something pretty stable like LFP or newer similar variants, which are good for cycle life and stability if damaged (unlikely to catch fire).
From the AS website: "960 Li-Ion metal-clad single cells connected in parallel and in series with a total capacity of 8.6 kWh, divided into 2 battery strings (one per wing) with BMS."
Now that's clever flying. The glider looks really good. What's the price ?
I could get used to a video every day:). They are great
Great, thank you! But I can't get used to film and edit one video at the same day :D
Wow, this thing is LOUD!!!
Beautiful, how much weight is added to the set, the aircraft would have larger dimensions to balance it, thanks. Good flights
Well, let's do some math.
The battery capacity is 8.6 kWh. The best lithium batteries contain ~150Wh/kg. So the total weight of the batteries for this glider is over 57 kg. Also add the weight of the electric motor. Let's count them all as 60 kg.
Now let's compare with a classic internal combustion engine.
35 kW =~ 50 hp. You can find a 50 hp gasoline engine weighing ~ 15-20 kg. Now you can use the remaining 40-45 kg of weight for a fuel tank. 1 kg of gasoline is about 46 MJ (megajoules). But we also have to take into account the fuel efficiency of about 20% (let's take the worst case scenario). So, 40 kg of gasoline = 40kg*46MJ/kg*0.2 = 368MJ=~100kWh.
So, we can summarize that a classic internal combustion engine will give us more than 10 times the energy density for the same weight. Which means that with gasoline we can use the engine 10 times longer and fly 10 times farther.
Instead of increasing duration/range (after all, we're talking about a glider, not an airplane), you can simply reduce the total weight by reducing the tank volume.
The added bonus of combustible fuel is that refueling is instant, compared to electricity.
P.S.: Sorry for the bad English :)
You said it perfectly … and I agree! 👍🏻
Yes, that is correct. This installation the fuselage is too narrow for a self launching gas engine. The electric pylon and prop fit the narrow area, and there is alot of initial takeoffpower from the electrical system. There are gliders IE the ASH31Mi and the ASH35Mi that have a gas engine.
Nett....und was kostet der vogel...??? 😊
Браво! Много красив, много модерен и много икономичен самолет! Добро пилотиране, браво!
Каква е цената на един нов такъв самолет?
Wow, definitely on my bucket list.
Put wing tip wheels in the vertical stabilizers, electric energized down, spring up. Does not use power in flight. Use again for landing.
Thanks for the video. Did I miss the price? What will this cost to buy?
neat, moving the prop to a pusher, mounted lower on the tail boom might give better (more nimble) flight characteristics
Beautiful glider!!
Textron is absolutely fabulous
The guy in the red shirt did an excellent job of steering the questions and bigging-up the products
I love you, Mr Langer 🌈
Hi stefan
I have a question
Can you travel from country to country by this glider ?
Thanks for sharing and you're outstanding pilot.
I would LOVE something like this... hopefully one day I'll have the money to own one outside of a simulator
Thank you for the 'ride'. A very good idea for self launching. What is the approximate glide ratio when the motor is folded?
I'm wondering if I will be able to fly this without lessons? I don't think you need a PPL for a sailplane, looks fun!
In Europe you need a SPL and also in the USA you need a license! It's also a plane and not to compare with driving a car 😅
Don’t know which one I like better, this one or the jet engine propelled one?! The ability to self launch is a game changer!?!? Thank you for the video.
Wow so they can do this with full size gliders now.. They have been doing the power system on R/C gliders only as far as I knew..
Not bad. Not only is it self take off and prolonged flight time, but I'm you may be able to go around if landing is interrupted?
Great video. I definitely prefer the Me to the Es. On a side note are you going to post some more videos of your 7 day adventure, I have been unable to fly for 8 months and am living through your videos. Thanks for all your hard work :)
Thank you! There will be one last video about the 7 day travel by glider adventure. Unfortunately I had no time to edit this video up to now because work and other projects.
What is the price of AS34
i was about to say something about that two blade prop being very noisy, then i realized it works best for packaging.
Almost a perfect machine.
You need to cover the wings in solar panels to recharge on ground and in the air.
Great video Stefan, thanks for sharing with us!
Awesome Stefan.. You are bringing in revolution in the field of glider aviation. By the way how much did it cost for this beautiful bird ?
All I could find was. Brand new with no trailer or instruments, 125,000$ USD. So I assume his was more since it has an instrument panel. Most of what I could find was just people in message boards guessing on price based on what it is. I could not find any actual sales pages.
Or rather I should say that there are no sales pages with prices. You have to order one to be built by the company, and they require you to email them to get a quote based on options you want. The quote of 125,000$ is from a secondary company that sells airplanes from the manufacturer, found in the description of google search results, but going to the actual webpage doesn’t show anything that was said in the search result description.
Neid pur. Ich denke, dass diese Art von Fliegerei ein absoluter Traum sein muss.