News
The AS Design Team Introduces Itself
LTR: Joschka Schmeisl, Paul Anklam, Andreas Storch, Ulrich Simon, Tobias Mörsel, Manfred Münch
With the new AS 33 Alexander Schleicher breaks with the decades long tradition of including the designer’s name in a new aircraft’s model designation. This shows even more emphatically that new developments from the Schleicher design division are products of teamwork. At the same time the depth of development expertise within Schleicher is significantly increased through the use of new technologies such as, for example, modern CFD software.
Tom Claffey wins in Australia with his ASG 29
Narromine: 1st Place in 18m and Open class
Last year’s winner and ASG 29 pilot Tom Claffey also won the 57th Australian Multiclass Nationals in the 18m and Open class categories this year and with a significant points margin. Eight competition days were flown and Tom had two day wins.
More information: Soaring Spot
Photo: Gliding Australia
Sergio Andrade has flown the first 1000 km FAI triangle in Brazil with his ASH 30 Mi
The gliding season in the southern hemisphere starts
Sergio Andrade and Itamar Lessa in the ASH 30 Mi
Despite having many good cross country pilots in Brazil, nobody had yet flown a 1000 km FAI triangle. Located in low latitudes, despite having areas with good thermals, days are simply not long enough. Nevertheless, thanks to a detailed preliminary planning, ASH 30 Mi pilot Sergio Andrade was able to carry out this project successfully on November 3, 2018.
ASG 29 and ASH 31 Mi pilots very successful
Many new national champions
Again this year especially the ASG 29 pilots have been able to achieve exceptional competition results. The national championships of various countries around the world particularly stand out in this respect. We send our sincerest congratulations to these pilots for their remarkable successes. learn more
Sebastian Kawa and Christoph Matkowski are World Champions with the ASG 32 Mi!
Previously this year Sebastian Kawa also became World Champion in the FAI 15m racing class with an ASG 29. Rasmus Ørskov won in the Club Class.
World Champions 20m two-seater: Sebastian Kawa and Christoph Matkowski
A long and “hot” competition is over. The 2018 World Championship in Hosin (Czech Republic) demanded a lot from the pilots. The sailplanes were in the air on 12 of the possible 13 competition days and the up to 450 km long tasks were often completed at average speeds of over 130 km/hr. learn more
New: B-Version of the ASK 21
Well proven training two-seater receives a makeover
An extremely robust structure, very pleasant handling characteristics and simple ground handling made the ASK 21, Rudolf Kaisers first GFK design, not only a huge success but also the standard for training two-seaters.
It’s surely a novelty when an aircraft is produced over such a long period of time without any changes and is still in high demand. It is perhaps only explainable by the fact that Rudolf Kaiser put all of his past design experience into the ASK 21 and gave its many advantages priority over performance consideration.
In gliding clubs it is often the most flown type among all others. The ASK 21s possible total lifespan of 18,000 hours is unique among sailplanes and also speaks to its outstanding quality and robustness. learn more
Alexander Schleicher presents
the AS 33
Almost thirteen years after the first flight of the highly successful ASG 29, our development team is happy to introduce its successor, the
The continuously improved ASG 29 is still a fully competitive 15/18m sailplane in the competition scene. Nevertheless, we have decided on a new design since the latest innovations in the area of aerodynamic simulations show that additional and decisive performance improvements can be achieved. Over countless hours of work using a commercial CFD program our engineers were, among other things, able to optimize the 3D airflow around the fuselage/wing intersection and at the wingtip.
Dipl.-Ing. Martin Heide has retired
37 years of designing aircraft at Alexander Schleicher
Edgar and Uli Kremer, Joschka Schmeisl, Martin Heide and Peter Kremer
When Martin Heide came to Alexander Schleicher Segelflugzeugbau in 1981, the type designations ASK and ASW had already been known for a long time in the world of soaring. The young University of Stuttgart “Akaflieger” found his place alongside Rudolf Kaiser and Gerhard Waibel in the design office.
The flight testing of Gerhard’s just finished ASW 22 became an opportunity for a thesis to complete his studies at the University of Stuttgart’s aircraft design institute. His collaboration with Rudolf Kaiser was to last another 4 years until Rudolf’s retirement. Subsequently he and Gerhard Waibel led the AS design team for another 18 years until in 2003 “ASW” also left Schleicher to retire. learn more
Sergei Morozov wins the US Sailplane Grand Prix in Florida
ASG 29 pilots Jerzy Szemplinski and Sean Fidler place second and third
This time two Canadians finished in front at the 2018 US Sailplane Grand Prix in Orlando, Florida. Sergei Morozov won first place with a significant lead in points at the end of the competition. He was able to win three of the five valid competition days. His fellow Canadian Jerzy Szemplinski finished in second place.
American pilot Sean Fidler in third place completed the ASG 29 trio on the podium. learn more
World Record flight by Keith Essex in the ASG 29 Es
500 km out and return at an average speed of 255 km/hr in New Zealand
US pilot Keith Essex has established a spectacular 500 km 15m class out and return world record in New Zealand with his ASG 29 Es: in conjunction with a flight of 1300 km he achieved an average speed of 255 km/hr over a 500 km section of the course, thereby setting a new FAI world speed record for out and return flights.
Keith has sent us a few impressions and additional information about the flight: learn more