The time has come; the Akaflieg Stuttgart finally has its own towplane again!
Last evening, the fs35 took to the skies with an ASK21 in tow. Thanks to its large wing area, the towplane lifted off early, almost at the same time as the sailplane. The tow was uneventful and didn’t pose any problems.
During the first tow, an altitude of 4500 ft (~1400 m) was reached in seven minutes. During the next flight, a so called “box” was tested, during which the sailplane is flown with a large deviation from the tow plane. Even at greatest sidewards deviation, the tow pilot only needed half of the maximum rudder deflection to maintain heading. Largely owing to the high control surface authority and ease of engine control, the towpilot, Stefan “Zischi” Zistler, considered the fs35 is the easiest towplane to fly.
For almost two weeks, the fs35 has been taking part in the Idaflieg Summer Meet in Stendal to conduct flight tests along with other Akafliegs. Some tests regarding engine and cooling performances were required before the aerotows could be performed. In the final week of the Summer Meet, differing sailplanes will be towed to further test the fs35’s towing performance and allow it to quickly be used for regular aerotows in the club.
