Schleicher ASW 20 Sailplane
The ASW 20 first flew in 1977 and was an instant success, winning numerous world and national championships. Roy Mc Master, Karl Striedeck and John Seymour won jointly, with others, the world triangle distance record of 891.6 miles in 1994 in an ASW 20B. ASW-20's won 2nd and 3rd places in the 15 m. class at the 1983 World Championships at Hobbs, NM.
ASW 20
The ASW-20 first flew in 1977 and was an instant
success, winning numerous world and national championships. Built
for the 15 m. racing class, it features trailing edge flaps which
interconnect with the ailerons and allow the entire trailing edge
to operate as a flap between 9 and +5 degrees. The flaps also
act as ailerons, but deflect only half of the aileron amount. The
fuselage is similar to that of the ASW-19. Schempp-Hirth type airbrake's
are provided on the upper wing surface only and operate in conjunction
with the flaps at approach setting. The 20B model was introduced
in 1983 incorporating new aerodynamic developments in the form of
pneumatic ('turbulator') jets (about 860) placed in the lower wing
surface, drawing impact air from pilot inlets and exhausting it
into the boundary layer to delay under wing flow separation.
The B model has its gross weight increased to 525 kg. 1,157 lb. Other changes include automatic elevator hookup, an instrument cluster attached to the forward-hinged canopy, and a hydraulic disc brake. The 20C model has a slightly modified cockpit, an maximum gross weight of 454 kg. 1,001 lb and water ballast of 120 kg. 264 lb. Schleicher also introduced an 'L' variant, with span extended to 16.59 m. by use of detachable tip extensions, making the ASW-20L, -20BL and 20CL. In these, water ballast is restricted to 50 kg. 110 lb. And gross weight is 430 kg. 948 lb (BL) and 380 kg. 837 lb and no ballast (CL). With the extended tips, best glide ratio goes up to about 46.
The ASW-20 was also license built by Centrair in France in three variants. The ASW-20F and ASW-20FL are the Centrair equivalents to the 20 B and 20BL model while the 20 FP is an F model with NASA winglets designed to improve performance in weak conditions. Roy Mcmaster, Karl Striedeck and John Seymour won jointly, with others, the world triangle distance record of 1,435 km. 891.6 miles in 1994 in an ASW-20B. ASW-20's won 2nd and 3rd places in the 15 m. class at the 1983 World Championships at Hobbs, NM. Specifications are for the B model.
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Cockpit of the Schleicher ASW 20 Sailplane. |
Specifications
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Wingspan: 49 ft 3 in Wing area: 113 ft² Aspect ratio: 21.4 Wing profile: FX-63-131-K Empty weight: 573 lb Gross weight: 1,000 lb Performance Maximum speed: 170 mph Maximum glide ratio: 43 Rate of sink: 116 ft/min |