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Caboolture Gliding Club

Soar like an eagle on silent wings in a friendly, cooperative club atmosphere from our base at Caboolture Airfield on Queensland's beautiful Sunshine Coast. New members and visitors are always welcome.

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Schweizer SGS 1-35

   29-Jun-10
  

       Kevin Rodda arrived back at Caboolture today with his recently purchased Schweizer SGS 1-35 sailplane VH-WUC.  It was a 6,500 kilometer road trip (Brisbane, Dubbo, Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Mt Isa, Longreach, Roma, Chinchilla, Kingaroy, Caboolture, Brisbane) that included 3,040 kilometers of towing from Alice Springs to Caboolture. 
  
WUC is the only 1-35 sailplane located outside of USA/Canada ... it was imported new from the factory in 1977 by Keith Woodward and was flown at Tocumwal until 1988 (350 hours and 250 landings). It was then stored in its trailer in a hangar at Tocumwall for some 20 years before David Riley towed it to Alice Springs where it was again stored in its trailer in a hangar until it was collected by Kevin on 26-Jun-10 to be towed back to Caboolture.    
        
 
WUC in its trailer at Alice Springs
    
 
David Riley making sure that the load was secure and that the trailer's lights, brakes etc are all OK for Kevin's trip from Alice Springs back to Caboolture (39 driving hours).  
    
 
Trailer and glider ready for departure from Bond Springs airstrip (Alice Springs Gliding Club).  
     
 The SGS 1-35 is an all-metal American 15 meter class, single-seat, mid-wing, t-tailed, high performance 38:1 sailplane (built by Schweizer Aircraft Corporation of Elmira New York).  They were first flown in 1973 and a total of 101 were completed by the time production ceased in 1982.  Because the 15 meter class allowed for flaps, the SGS 1-35 is equipped with plain flaps that can be selected from −8 to +32 degrees for soaring and inter-thermal speed and +32 to +82 degrees for landing (it does not have air-brakes). 
Over eighty SGS 1-35 sailplanes are still in service.  It is a very safe glider, experiencing relatively few accidents in over 50,000 flight hours. It is a low cost to own/maintain aircraft, and is well suited for cross country and sport flying.  It can out-climb most 15m gliders due to its low weight and has a respectable speed range.
 

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