Question about sailplanes

[rcbarend 37]

I'm making a small freeware gauge (based on Slew mode) to simulate a cablestart for a sailplane.Can someone tell me at which typical speed and altitude the cable is released ?Thanks, Rob

[Guest moomox]

I guess it would depend on what you were doing for that trip. I would suggest 1000ft to 1500ft if you were just going to work around an airport. As for the speed. I would suggest 60 to 70 knotsAnyone else have some suggestions?

[rcbarend 37]

Thanks David,Those are the kind of values I would have expected.Rob

[rickalty 0]

Of course, it's also rather model specific. I learned to fly on a Slingsby T-21, and 70 knots is above VNE on one of those. We used to winch at around 35 knots, then put the nose down and accelarate in a mad sprint to around 40 to release. Cruising speed was under 35kts, and it stalled at about 30 (Yep, only 5 kts below cruising! - but you had to work at it to make it stall.)Ah, the childhood memories...... :-)Richard