Schleicher ASW 24

Schleicher ASW24
Role Standard-class sailplane
Manufacturer Alexander Schleicher
Designer Gerhard Waibel
First flight 1987
Produced 1988-1993
Number built 249
Unit cost
US$40,000-50,000 (2010)

The ASW 24 is a modern single seat high performance composite Standard Class sailplane.

History

The ASW 24 was designed by Schleicher's Gerhard Waibel, with Delft University professor Loek Boermans undertaking the role of aerodynamicist. The prototype made its first flight in 1987, having entered serial production later the same year. It nominally remained in production until 2000, although only a score were built in the mid-to-late 1990s.

It entailed a large development effort, as it was a complete departure from the preceding ASW 19 and pioneered several successful innovations. The fuselage, airfoils, wings and empennage were completely new, as well as many systems, e.g. the electrical ballast management. The structure employed a large amount of the then still exotic carbon fibre. The OSTIV Award-winning safety cockpit made use of an organic shape, tall sidewalls, crumple zones and exotic aramid fibres for crash protection. A large wheel with a disc brake and a large canopy with excellent visibility were other strong points of the type.

The ASW 24 was moderately successful in competitions. It won a single World Championship in 2001, fourteen years after its market launch. As the contemporary LS7, the ASW 24 overstretched the technology available at the time: it has excellent performance in the cruise but less so in the slow flight range. The higher-than-usual thermalling speed revealed itself a disadvantage in the typical competition gaggles, and its performance degrades somewhat when subject to turbulence, rain or wing contamination. However, the addition of winglets and a change to the outer wing leading edge, making it slightly blunter, improved these characteristics significantly.

According to World Champion Sarah Steinberg, it needs to be always proactively flown in thermals, thus imposing a higher workload upon the pilot. Notwithstanding, the aesthetically pleasing ASW 24 is a comfortable, safe and pleasant sailplane with high cross-country performance that remains competitive up to national championship level in most countries.

The fuselage of the ASW 24 was the basis, with small modifications, for the subsequent ASW 27, ASW 28 and ASG 29. It was superseded in production by the ASW 28.

Variants

Specifications (ASW 24)

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988-89[1]

General characteristics

ASW 24E 275 kg (606 lb))
ASW 24B 160 kg (353 lb)

ASW 24E

Performance

205 km/h (111 kn; 127 mph) in rough air
205 km/h (111 kn; 127 mph) on aero-tow
140 km/h (76 kn; 87 mph) on winch launch
ASW 24B 44 at 105 km/h (57 kn; 65 mph)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era
Related lists

References

  1. ↑ John W.R. Taylor, ed. (1988). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988-89. London: Jane's Information Group. pp. 633–634. ISBN 0-7106-0867-5.

Further reading

External links

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