A long time ago I had the opportunity to circle together with an ETA glider. I managed to beat him to the top with my old standard class glider because it's lighter and had a smaller turning radius than him. But then of course he flew away at 200 kph at what seemed to be level flight and I kept falling at just 150 kph. He had double the wing span and also double the glide ratio. That was fun, really impressive glider!
Reminds me the joke about that dumb pilots from [choose the neighbors country], being told they were about to land on a little bit short runway.. So they make a monstrous break with smoke and dust, very violent.. " - for sure this is an extremely short runway, but sooo wiiide !!"
I stumbled across this channel just few days ago and now I am binge watching all videos. I would love to learn to fly and I think glider is the coolest way to do that.
This is what I like about long wing sailplanes. They are such a beautiful ship to watch. They always appear graceful in flight. I'm curious about some of the flight characteristics like, L/D, best glide speed, handling when close to the ground landing.Are the wings set up for water ballast? Those dive brakes are massive. Are flaps part of the wing?
Very interesting and thank you for this clip. I would’ve also liked a brief description of the engine type and it’s power as well as a bit more on the braking system that you showed us. :-)
Stefan, that glider is just freaking gorgeous! I have a question….I wonder about the twisting along the span when ailerons are deflected…..are they partial or graduated or even since with that span given the chord there would be a massive twisting vector over span??. Cheers👌✈️
This must be quite strongly built so that the wings won't fold up and break off from the fuselage. There are surely enormous powers working when a strong wind is bending the wings.
I can only imagine turns are very tricky, where you must avoid a tight radius with those ultra long wings. The Wright brothers found this out with their very slow, large span early planes where the wingtip of the inside, or low wing dipped below stall speed, causing a stall/spin. I see this effect is pronounced with such a long span.
@@CMAenergy Well actually the angle of attack is similar on both wings but you need aileron to avoid falling into the turn because the inner wing creates less lift. That aileron deflection can reduce the stall angle of attack and so the inner wing can actually stall first and most gliders I flew had this tendency. If you use a slight side slip during the turn, outer wing trailing, then you reduce the amount of aileron deflection and rudder deflection which reduces the overall drag and it has less tendency to fall into the turn and less risk of stalling the inner wing. Stalling the outer wing would basically just bring you wings level during recovery where as stalling the inner wing can cause some serious upset attitude.
Holy cow! It doesn’t get any better than this… Bruno Gantenbrink and Nimeta…. Next level of craziness would be Hanna Reitsch and Sperber Junior…. provided we’d have a time machine 🤙😉✊👍
Imagine having a glider that has a lower wing loading in the air than on the ground…? 🤪 It’s a magnificent sailplane even without a sustainer but having one really puts the cherry on the cake, 🎂 such endless possibilities. ❤️
I enjoy seeing designs pushing the envelope and one could argue the benefits and even the necessity of a flexible wing! However seems a bit much to me, I can see the lower wing in a banked turn flexing more, the upper wing even appears nesrly straight! I bet it rides nice. :)
was ein geiles gerät aber ich glaube auch die doppelten bremsklappen alleine reichen bei dem ding nicht zur landung 🤣ich kenns nur von der 25 aber diese riesenflieger kriegt man ja eigentlich nie ohne wölbklappen gescheit auf den boden 😅
@@SteFly die Nimeta wird komplett zugelassen wie ein normaler Motorsegler. Die Zulassung ist aber noch nicht ganz abgeschlossen. Das SLW ist im Vergleich zum N4 20cm höher und das was man oben auf der Seitenflosse sieht ist ein zusätzlicher Massenausgleich gegen das flattern. Der neue Aussenflügel hat eine höhere Streckung> FB höher und der eta typische Tiefensprung wurde entfernt.
A fun fact I remember reading about Eta is that they had to replace metal rods for flaps an ailerons with carbon ones because of the expansion of metal at higher temperatures. With 15 m wingspan one wouldn't really notice but for this ship it became a problem. Can anyone confirm?
To oversimplify: when a wing produces lift, it also produces some drag called induced drag at the wingtips. Keeping them small and as far away from the wing root as possible makes a glider's wing very efficient by reducing the induced drag.
@@PaulFurber but that explains why gliders have thin wings in general, it does not explain why this one one has 31 meter wingspan vs others with 16 or 20 meters wingspan.. Its the only one of its kind, so why did they build this one.. and why doesn't anybody else fly such big wingspans
@@stijnvandamme76 I would suggest: (1) cost, and (2) Where can you land it? There must be a large area free of obstructions. Few airfields and fewer fields would be possible landing places.
Nice thing it has 1 to 70 gliding ratio and that's so cool specially with own flight motor . By the way? Do you have any idea to visit the gliders factory and make new tour again ??
Thought it now had modded tips? - so not truly an 'Eta wing' ?... Can remember how disappointed Hans Werner was when he could not fly with Janus Centka in the original Eta at Leszno in 2003...., of course he ended up in 2nd place behind a Nimbus 4 flown by Holger Bach.....
Yes, the wingtips or even the outer wings are modified compared to the Eta. But I don't know the exact details. Perhaps someone has more information about it?
Just beautiful but so was my old faithful 1-26B, ha. This kind of reminds me of the scene in There's Something About Mary when the serial killer has invented the 7-minute abs to outsell the 8-min ab videos. So, who is going to come out with a 32m glider?
This bird is magnificent, awesome, although I’d prefer a smaller, nimbler ship. Never flew in Namibia but don’t particularly like blue days without visual clues. Is it often like this? Is is more thermal or there’s also ridge along the coast? Thanks great video
Namibia, huh? That does look very VERY much like western NSW / Australia, some place around Dubbo. The colours, the look of the vegetation, the red sand ... If you told me that was Broken Hill or Mildura, I wouldn't think to question it. The glider. Crikey! I'd be scared to fly that. I'm too ham-fisted. I'd rip the wings off that in the first day ... 70:1 glide ~ that's just supernatural. The gliders I learned to fly, had a ratio about 16:1 ~ 20:1, on a good day.The joystick I could handle with my right thumb & forefinger. The rudder ~ I think I'd need power steering for that. It has an engine, you could do hydraulic assist .... I'm trying to imagine what the Dutch Roll would be like with 4 ~ 6x the span and mass and inertia I had... My legs are not that strong, they're really not. I know they're not optimal for performance, but I think I'd want differential ailerons on that. I either get Spoilerons, or I get a powered rudder. You want to do what? You want to put 2 or 3 tonnes of water in the wings, and then fly it? What's your Reynolds number? I think it's 9-1-1 in America. It's triple Oh in Australia ... Dunno what it is in Namibia ~
Any recommendations for gliders for big people? Hoping not only the wingspan is big but cockpit too. I'm 6'5" (196cm) and 285 lbs (130kg). Any gliders that I can safely fit in? Last time I flew was when I was 14, so was smaller at that time. Suggestions?
Sop what's different from gliders with ordinary length of wings? How does longer/bigger span of wings influence the flight characteristics? Does it make easier for a pilot to gain elevation (i.e more efficiently use ascending torrents of the Earth)?
It's mostly improving the glide ratio which improves the distance covered when gliding in a straight line and possibly improves climbing in big thermals. However I think you need good conditions for it, smaller craft with good minimum sink might perform better in trickier conditions.
What I noticed was that the wings flex so much and are so light that landing must be easy. They can support themselves with lift up until the aircraft has almost stopped. Im thinking once it stops the wings droop all the way to the ground on both sides. Might keep it upright.
@@wesk123 When I loop my Long EZ, (I think) the wings flex up 4-6" at 4 G. Dick Rutan said that the wings on Voyager would bend up till they touched but, of course, he never looped it. What a chickenshit, huh?
Notice when he's walking down the length of the wing that there are lots of hinges. The bending between hinges must be small enough so that it's no a problem.
I hope that in my lifetime we will have graphene and other "two dimensional" materials that will make wingspans like this more commonplace. I read once about an alloy of graphene into aluminum which greatly strengthened the aluminum. Someday.....
A long time ago I had the opportunity to circle together with an ETA glider. I managed to beat him to the top with my old standard class glider because it's lighter and had a smaller turning radius than him. But then of course he flew away at 200 kph at what seemed to be level flight and I kept falling at just 150 kph. He had double the wing span and also double the glide ratio. That was fun, really impressive glider!
Yes and thats all about gliding ration and excellent L/D at high speeds.
Amazing bit of kit .
Amazing bit of kit .
The sky is *not* the limit but the width of the runway 🙃
Great one!!
😁
I agree. With just a little deviation from centerline, the wing will hit the trees.
Just make wings that extend after taking off
“Now taking off from runways 09L, 09C and 09R, the Nimeta glider…”
Unbelievable! 😃
Rotflmao
Do they allow a person to use multiple runways with this?
Reminds me the joke about that dumb pilots from [choose the neighbors country], being told they were about to land on a little bit short runway.. So they make a monstrous break with smoke and dust, very violent.. " - for sure this is an extremely short runway, but sooo wiiide !!"
@@soliv27 LOL 😄
At Waikerie in South Australia you could have runways several hundred metres wide and long.
I stumbled across this channel just few days ago and now I am binge watching all videos. I would love to learn to fly and I think glider is the coolest way to do that.
Finally someone making à vidéo about this glider !
This is what I like about long wing sailplanes. They are such a beautiful ship to watch. They always appear graceful in flight. I'm curious about some of the flight characteristics like, L/D, best glide speed, handling when close to the ground landing.Are the wings set up for water ballast? Those dive brakes are massive. Are flaps part of the wing?
Very interesting! That thing is massive
wider span than a 737!
Very interesting and thank you for this clip. I would’ve also liked a brief description of the engine type and it’s power as well as a bit more on the braking system that you showed us. :-)
Stefan, that glider is just freaking gorgeous! I have a question….I wonder about the twisting along the span when ailerons are deflected…..are they partial or graduated or even since with that span given the chord there would be a massive twisting vector over span??. Cheers👌✈️
Good question
I'm also interested :)
Yes...scares me! But I suppose it's been working thus far.
Manufacurers today know how to make wings that will flex but not twist ...
Wow. So big and so beautiful!
Crazy cool! Thanks for posting that video. So envious :)
Thank u Stefan for this video!
What a beautiful sailplane.
It's enormous and it's beautiful... breathtaking... speachless...
This must be quite strongly built so that the wings won't fold up and break off from the fuselage. There are surely enormous powers working when a strong wind is bending the wings.
Amazing!
Wahnsinn,wie lang der Segeler am Ende des Videos zum Ausschweben brauchte. Das technisch machbare scheint nun ausgereizt.
I can only imagine turns are very tricky, where you must avoid a tight radius with those ultra long wings. The Wright brothers found this out with their very slow, large span early planes where the wingtip of the inside, or low wing dipped below stall speed, causing a stall/spin. I see this effect is pronounced with such a long span.
It is not the inside wing that stalls
It is the outer wing because of the angle of attack achieved,
@@CMAenergy Well actually the angle of attack is similar on both wings but you need aileron to avoid falling into the turn because the inner wing creates less lift. That aileron deflection can reduce the stall angle of attack and so the inner wing can actually stall first and most gliders I flew had this tendency. If you use a slight side slip during the turn, outer wing trailing, then you reduce the amount of aileron deflection and rudder deflection which reduces the overall drag and it has less tendency to fall into the turn and less risk of stalling the inner wing. Stalling the outer wing would basically just bring you wings level during recovery where as stalling the inner wing can cause some serious upset attitude.
Awesome and beautiful too. Thanks
Holy cow! It doesn’t get any better than this… Bruno Gantenbrink and Nimeta…. Next level of craziness would be Hanna Reitsch and Sperber Junior…. provided we’d have a time machine 🤙😉✊👍
Imagine having a glider that has a lower wing loading in the air than on the ground…? 🤪 It’s a magnificent sailplane even without a sustainer but having one really puts the cherry on the cake, 🎂 such endless possibilities. ❤️
I enjoy seeing designs pushing the envelope and one could argue the benefits and even the necessity of a flexible wing! However seems a bit much to me, I can see the lower wing in a banked turn flexing more, the upper wing even appears nesrly straight! I bet it rides nice. :)
A true bird in the air. Majestic.
Beautiful informative video!
Thank you 🙏
was ein geiles gerät
aber ich glaube auch die doppelten bremsklappen alleine reichen bei dem ding nicht zur landung 🤣ich kenns nur von der 25 aber diese riesenflieger kriegt man ja eigentlich nie ohne wölbklappen gescheit auf den boden 😅
Wie läuft das mit der Zulassung/certificate of airworthness???
Soweit ich weiß ist die Nimeta mittlerweile EASA zugelassen.
@@SteFly die Nimeta wird komplett zugelassen wie ein normaler Motorsegler.
Die Zulassung ist aber noch nicht ganz abgeschlossen.
Das SLW ist im Vergleich zum N4 20cm höher und das was man oben auf der Seitenflosse sieht ist ein zusätzlicher Massenausgleich gegen das flattern.
Der neue Aussenflügel hat eine höhere Streckung> FB höher und der eta typische Tiefensprung wurde entfernt.
Fantastic!!! Professional documentation !Regards from
Paraguay
Thank you! 🙏
I'm in love ! This glider seems just fantastic :-)
Until you have to detach the wings for transport and put everything into a trailer. Then you regret getting a 30m glider.
@@Jet-Pack Indeed ... I did think that also.... But as any extrem stuff it could fantastic but un reasonnable and a bad choice.
Passion for the project is amazing
A fun fact I remember reading about Eta is that they had to replace metal rods for flaps an ailerons with carbon ones because of the expansion of metal at higher temperatures. With 15 m wingspan one wouldn't really notice but for this ship it became a problem. Can anyone confirm?
Also the wing flex could have been a problem with the metal rods? I have also seen carbon rods in the HpH production facility for the TwinShark..
Very nice splendid and elegant Great Bird with a span like a jetliner ! 🛩
G,day Stefan from Sydney Australia.
That's some hot terrain!!!
🌏🇦🇺
Thanks John!!
at the end I was waiting for it to lean on to the wing. I guess one has to keep it very level on the ground especially when its going slow.
We have problems on many airfields with our EB28. 31m must be even more restrictive! Well done Bruno..
Beautiful sailplane. Would love to fly it.
And I was worried the first time I flew my D2C with 18M tips on a 24M wide runway with a road on one side and 2M corn on the other side. Foolish me...
Beautiful sail plane. Just asking: What is the point of having such a large wingspan?
To oversimplify: when a wing produces lift, it also produces some drag called induced drag at the wingtips. Keeping them small and as far away from the wing root as possible makes a glider's wing very efficient by reducing the induced drag.
@@PaulFurber Thank you very much.
@@PaulFurber but that explains why gliders have thin wings in general, it does not explain why this one one has 31 meter wingspan vs others with 16 or 20 meters wingspan..
Its the only one of its kind, so why did they build this one.. and why doesn't anybody else fly such big wingspans
@@stijnvandamme76 I would suggest: (1) cost, and (2) Where can you land it? There must be a large area free of obstructions. Few airfields and fewer fields would be possible landing places.
Absolutely amazing. What is the L/D.
I WONDER WHAT THE GLIDE RATIO IS ??? BEAUTIFUL
Amazing Glider and video. Do you make the drone footage with the DJI mini 2 zoom?
Wow........Amazing....I imagine it has very interesting capabilities!
Nice thing it has 1 to 70 gliding ratio and that's so cool specially with own flight motor . By the way? Do you have any idea to visit the gliders factory and make new tour again ??
Beautiful!
Lool, with that wing flex it's more like the ornitopter than a glider :)
Thought it now had modded tips? - so not truly an 'Eta wing' ?... Can remember how disappointed Hans Werner was when he could not fly with Janus Centka in the original Eta at Leszno in 2003...., of course he ended up in 2nd place behind a Nimbus 4 flown by Holger Bach.....
Yes, the wingtips or even the outer wings are modified compared to the Eta. But I don't know the exact details. Perhaps someone has more information about it?
The outer wing was modified in 2015 by Streifender, now the plane has 3 different wingtips
Very innovative
Mighty fine landing, too.
You can see by the wings if you are correctly centered in a thermal ;-)
Das ist ja voll elegant. Der fliegt wie ein Engel
Dont know alot, but that wing looks like its gonna snap lol. Amazing engineering!
Just beautiful but so was my old faithful 1-26B, ha. This kind of reminds me of the scene in There's Something About Mary when the serial killer has invented the 7-minute abs to outsell the 8-min ab videos. So, who is going to come out with a 32m glider?
Beautiful
interesting way to retract the wheel (at 0:42) 😆
Alter Falter, ich würde schon beim Start einfädeln, spätestens aber bei der Landung. Happy landings.
Great glider!
Does it have a record aerodynamic quality, or are there gliders with higher ones? Interesting technical characteristics: weight, speed
Dein Akzent ist so stark, dass ich die ersten 5 Sekunden dachte du sprichst deutsch
This bird is magnificent, awesome, although I’d prefer a smaller, nimbler ship. Never flew in Namibia but don’t particularly like blue days without visual clues. Is it often like this? Is is more thermal or there’s also ridge along the coast? Thanks great video
Amazing!
I just would like to know what's the material used on the wings
Doe’s the motor and music shut off? The wind and silence is the music
Amazing piece of engineering. What's the glide ratio?
"Yes"
1 flight around the world:1
70:1
@@TheErilaz Thank you.
Namibia, huh? That does look very VERY much like western NSW / Australia, some place around Dubbo. The colours, the look of the vegetation, the red sand ... If you told me that was Broken Hill or Mildura, I wouldn't think to question it.
The glider. Crikey! I'd be scared to fly that. I'm too ham-fisted. I'd rip the wings off that in the first day ... 70:1 glide ~ that's just supernatural. The gliders I learned to fly, had a ratio about 16:1 ~ 20:1, on a good day.The joystick I could handle with my right thumb & forefinger. The rudder ~ I think I'd need power steering for that. It has an engine, you could do hydraulic assist .... I'm trying to imagine what the Dutch Roll would be like with 4 ~ 6x the span and mass and inertia I had... My legs are not that strong, they're really not. I know they're not optimal for performance, but I think I'd want differential ailerons on that. I either get Spoilerons, or I get a powered rudder.
You want to do what? You want to put 2 or 3 tonnes of water in the wings, and then fly it?
What's your Reynolds number?
I think it's 9-1-1 in America. It's triple Oh in Australia ... Dunno what it is in Namibia ~
Wat a flex wing :)
are there detailed plans for such a glider?
Great video!
Wow, gorgeous! :)
WOW! I would love to own one of those!
Any recommendations for gliders for big people? Hoping not only the wingspan is big but cockpit too. I'm 6'5" (196cm) and 285 lbs (130kg). Any gliders that I can safely fit in? Last time I flew was when I was 14, so was smaller at that time. Suggestions?
I always wondered what kind of material the fuselage is made in this type of glider.
There is no substitute for span :)
more span
Hi Stefan, can you compare this glider performance with most modern 18meter gliders? How good or how bad are they competetive?
Beautiful plane.
Gorgeous
What a sight to behold.
Wow, thats so kool. 31 m is insane! (I fly an Enzo3 paraglider, with a measly 14.5 m wingspan)
more like 11m if you account the high arc
@@XC_Tom flat, obviously! Sometimes gets down to a few meters after a nice collapse on full bar 🥳🥳🥳
Amazing
PRECIOSO ¡¡ Beautiful ¡¡
Would Sir/Madam like a fuselage with their wings?
Amazing glider. Must be a nightmare to trailer and tow :P
"There is no substitute for span" - amongst others, I think Pat Beatty said that.
There is these days - wingloading - hence the Schleicher AS 35...........
@@soaruk3697 Pat Beatty was also rumoured to have said that there are only 3 factors affecting performance - wingloading, wingloading and wingloading
At the very end, the glider is stopped and balances on one wheel while the pilot gets out. How is this possible?
What is the glide ratio of this glider ???
Sop what's different from gliders with ordinary length of wings? How does longer/bigger span of wings influence the flight characteristics? Does it make easier for a pilot to gain elevation (i.e more efficiently use ascending torrents of the Earth)?
It's mostly improving the glide ratio which improves the distance covered when gliding in a straight line and possibly improves climbing in big thermals. However I think you need good conditions for it, smaller craft with good minimum sink might perform better in trickier conditions.
@@markoposavec9240 Yes! thank you.. i was thinking this way, too
Beautiful Amazing
Hi dude, where i can buy a glider with the engine...?
Please answer my question...
have a safe fly
The aspect ratio must be 'considerable'. What is the chord of that wing?
I'm curious what the average glide time is from a certain height.
I'd be curious to know how much it cost.
I have two questions. After stopping why doesn't the glider drop down on one wing. Also, how far up do the wings flex when performing a loop?
What I noticed was that the wings flex so much and are so light that landing must be easy. They can support themselves with lift up until the aircraft has almost stopped. Im thinking once it stops the wings droop all the way to the ground on both sides. Might keep it upright.
It must be quite impressive looping - I did it in an ASH-25 and I thought they were going to clap overhead!
@@wesk123 When I loop my Long EZ, (I think) the wings flex up 4-6" at 4 G. Dick Rutan said that the wings on Voyager would bend up till they touched but, of course, he never looped it. What a chickenshit, huh?
Magic...Glider⭐🛩⭐👍⭐🌞⭐
very nice video, who made the drone shots?
I wonder how far this can fly per liter of fuel, probably more efficient than a Moped😮
Great! We need süper cavitating attack angle, and a same süper cavitation nose
What about the ETA glider? 30.9 m wing span. Beaten here by 0.1 m?
How do the ailerons hinge? When the wing flexes wouldnt that cause binding ?
Notice when he's walking down the length of the wing that there are lots of hinges. The bending between hinges must be small enough so that it's no a problem.
These guys are the first ones taken down when energy prices start rising...it's filthy
We are the last ones - consuming only very little amount of fuel to get into the air 😅
Majestic, is what comes to mind.
👙 🍦
- - - - - - -
Namibia, what a treasure...
Thank you Stefan.
I have already seen such glider in a Tex Avery cartoon
I hope that in my lifetime we will have graphene and other "two dimensional" materials that will make wingspans like this more commonplace. I read once about an alloy of graphene into aluminum which greatly strengthened the aluminum. Someday.....
how does this land consistently without tipping and clipping the wings on the ground?