DG-1000S spin

[pupuscalus]

Hello there,

Does the DG-1000 actually spin? Did anyone manage to do it in C2 or C3? With the classical procedure it seems that as soon as it enters and the nose points to the ground it's already done. The speed picks up and it is no longer a spin, no matter how much rudder and stick input she gets. I don't fly this glider in real life, so I have no idea if this is what she normally does. I tried in C3 to put the CG bias as further aft as possible and got the same result.
We're talking normal spin here, not the famous inverted one. As a matter of fact, I did the inverted spin quite easily, but not the normal one.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Cata.

[janjansen]

I dont know what the right answer is (RL) or the correct procedure, but I just tried, and funnily enough I can spin it easily to the left, but not the right. You do have keep giving rudder or it will exit the spin after a few turns. Tried with 2 pilots, no ballast, neutral CG

https://youtu.be/DLH4pQgS1YI
(fixed)
I may have to check my rudder calibration ?

[pupuscalus]

No joy here. With two pilots it's even worse. It stops after half a spin, speed picks up and becomes a spiral dive. No matter if to the left or right. I experienced something similar in RL back in the day, when practicing spins for the first time. We had a big instructor, really big. When students reached spin level, he got off and asked a lightly built instructor to step in. It was impossible to practice spins with his 100+ kilos, but people fought for him during strong XC days.

Cata

[janjansen]

I had the video set to private by accident, this should work now:
https://youtu.be/DLH4pQgS1YI

[wickid]

It is exactly according to the manual. It says prolonged spinning is only possible at aft CoG. The plane will self recover when the CoG is in the middle or forward. There is also a tendency to transition to spiral dive after 1 or 2 turns.

Flight manual page 4.19

[6266]

In your video you spin only with rudder, aileron neutral. I tried it before I saw your video in the way, I have learned it IRL in a K7:

Flying very slow a circular motion with less bank, controlled with rudder in rotary direction, slowing down more and more. When it begins to stall aileron full against rotary direction, rudder full in rotary direction and pulling elevator full. With the aileron down on the slow side (inner circle) the inner wing stalls, while the outer wing does not. That is spinning as I learned it, a stall on only one wing. It's a stable figure and ends only, when you release stick and pedal.

When I do it with the DG1000 in Condor, the aileron is so strong, that the inner wing doesn't stall, but the plane turns to the other direction.

Tried both directions with the same result. Tried then the inverted one (never did it before, not IRL or Condor) and it was very easy. Looked like a real spin.

Sorry, very difficult to explain in English for me, hope you understand nevertheless

[6266]

For to check that with planes of my time I tried the same with K8, Ka6CR, Blanik and finally Grunau Baby (K8 is the only Condor plane I flew IRL, for Grunau Baby I'm of course one generation too young ).

All planes show the same behavior. And if you wait with the aileron until the plane spins, the aileron set full in opposite direction changes the circle direction. I'm sure that will never happen IRL. Only the Blanik looks to spin correct if it spins to the left, but not to the right. But Condor is not first at all an aerobatic glider simulator so for "usual" planes that is an edge case and IMHO not worth to spent development time, but it's interesting to know that.

[pupuscalus]

Did a few more tests. Indeed, at full aft CG bias, she does spin in a stable manner. Normal and inverted. Tried also the Blanik. In my opinion, from all the planes I flew in C3 this one spins the most realistically (but maybe because my brain makes the connection with RL).


Cata.