Bruno Vassel's video: Walk Around a High Performance Glider

Walk around a high performance sailplane (glider) up close and see what one looks like from the outside. This is a 2002 ASW27B 15 meter (50 ft) wingspan glider. It has a published glide ratio of 48:1 which means it can glide 48 feet forward for every foot it drops. It has a max speed of 157 knots (180 mph) and a stall speed of 40 knots (46 mph). It is capable of climbing much higher than the human body can withstand without a spacesuit. My longest flights in this glider are over 600 miles in a day's flight. No - there is no motor, just the wind and thermals created from the sun and rising air. It holds up to 20 gallons of water in each wing (320 lbs of ballast) to increase high speed gliding performance and which the water can be jettisoned before landing. Gliders like this can be pulled up into the air by a tow plane, a winch, or auto tow. It is capable of 5.3+ g's and -2.6 g's and is quite fun to do simple aerobatics like loops or chandelles. The wings and tail come off in about 15 minutes and it can fit into a specially constructed trailer and taken to the next airport, or retrieved from a farmer's field if the pilot is not quite able to make it back. Yeah - gliders are pretty dang cool! Time to go check one out and get a flight for yourself. Thanks for watching. Bruno - B4