Loner (oz9312)

About this Plan

Loner. A/2 competition glider model.

Quote: "Gliders needn't be drab - a little imagination from the builder can result in a very eye-catching colour scheme with no weight penalty. Tony's current version is trimmed in red, white and yellow tissue on the top surface, while underside has red tissue for the centre panels, yellow tips. Different, most attractive, and it helps the timekeeper, too! A modern A/2 for the experienced builder and flyer?not recommended for novices.

LONER has been developed to its present form over a period of six years, during which time many versions have been built and flown in countless competitions. The great aim for any designer of A/2s is to produce a design that can cope with the full spectrum of British weather and flying sites, and continuously realise the 180 seconds flight time demanded. The Loner is perhaps my most successful yet in this respect, but in all honesty it cannot be claimed to be the ultimate, and development will continue.

Loner is a compromise. It will certainly clear 150 seconds unassisted but this performance has been gained at the expense of towing stability. Loner can cope comfortably with wind speeds up to 25 mph (this is approximately 12 metres/second, supposedly, the FAI limit for contest flying, a ruling which is somewhat controversial in Britain at the present time) but at higher wind velocities care must be taken to avoid the model towing in on the glide turn side.

As far as thermal riding is concerned, Loner is adequate: it excels in the weather thermal when its good gliding performance proves an advantage. It will hold and tighten in the strongest of thermals found in Britain without any tendency to spin in, provided the small amount of washout stipulated on the plan is built into the outside wing relative to the turn. I always avoid using wash-in on the inside wing of Loner as this can force the model to turn out of strong lift. Difficulties were experienced at Wiener Neustadt because the wash-out was not built in at that time..."

Loner, Aeromodeller, July 1974.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Supplementary file notes

Article pages, thanks to RFJ.

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