Grob Astir CS G102, Flight Manual

Page: 14 / 48

FLIGHT MANUAL ASTIR CS
Rev. 9 28. Nov. 2005
14
Retractable Undercarriage
The undercarriage control lever is located on the right of the cockpit. When retracted or
lowered, the wheel should be locked in place by pushing the control lever in
towards
the fuselage side.
Air-brakes
The lever for the air-brakes is situated on the left-hand side of the cockpit. Before
beginning a launch, check that the air-brakes are closed and locked. One should avoid
trying to land with full brake out, since the effectiveness of the brakes means that the
glider is descending fast.
Wheel brake
The lever for the wheel brake is located on the stick.
Trim
The built-in trimmer can be progressively adjusted. The control lever for it is positioned
on the left-hand side of the cockpit behind the airbrake lever. Trim range from 32 kts —
97 kts.
Flight with water-ballast
The glider has the same all up weight as a standard 2 seat glider, when loaded with
water-ballast and a full cockpit load. The slow flight and stalling characteristics of the
fully loaded glider are a little different from one flown without water-ballast. The stalling
speed will be increased to 38 kts. Also larger control movements will be necessary.
The glider will spin cleanly but will recover immediately spin recovery action is taken.
The pilot is advised to have extra height when slow flying or approaching to land while
carrying water-ballast.
Use of Water-ballast
The water-ballast tanks are situated in the front part of the wings, from the root
outwards. Each wing can hold 50 litres. The tanks are filled through an opening in the
top surface of the wing. This is covered by a plug, which can be removed by screwing in
a bolt. The water is drained off through an opening in the underside of the fuselage
behind the wheel-box. To open the valves of the tanks, the control lever on the right-
hand side of the cockpit should be pulled backwards. It takes about 3 minutes for the
tanks to empty themselves.