Windex 1200c status

Jim Pike

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Oct 19, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/19/00

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Replies to a previous post on this NG led me to believe the Windex aerobatic
Motorglider was "dead"! 8>(

After some further investigation I found the URL revived at
http://www.radab.se/

An email to them received the following reply:

BEGINING OF QUOTE

Thank you for your letter.

I will try to update you in what is happening in the Windex project.

WINDEXAIR AB took over the Windex 1200C project from Radab summer of 99 and
has further developed the kit to reduce the building time dramatically. We
do not have any US distributors. The Florida based Windex Corporation was a
free standing company that was closed down when the owner wanted to
concentrate on his other businesses.

We will start deliver kits this winter and delivery time right now is 120
days. Unfortunately we will not be able to deliver any engine kit until
later next spring. When it comes to the engine we do recommend our
customers to wait for the newly developed Zanzottera/König engine even if
it is delayed and will not be ready for delivery until this winter/spring.
We do have a few engine of the old König model.

Delivery time is defined as time from written contract with down payment of
30% until kit leaves the factory.

We are waiting with the marketing of the Windex until we have all parts for
the first 7 kits, excluding wing laminates and wing-spar. We have made this
decision to avoid delivery problems to our customers.

There are 10 Windex that has flown up until this moment + one WindExtrem,
four of them in the US, one in France and the rest in Sweden. WindExtrem is
special reinforced Windex 1200C without engine and has been flown in speeds
around 500 kph. At this moment there is three near completion, one in
Sweden, one in the US and one in Germany. The one in Germany is ungoing
"einstuck" JAR22 Aerobatic certification. There is four more under
construction, one in England, one in France and two in Sweden.

We have been using the last year and the knowledge from these aeroplanes to
improve the Windex kit and we can deliver a full Windex kits to you this
winter, (except for the engine kit), if you are interested. Exact delivery
date of the engine kit depends on when Zanzottera can deliver the engine.
If there is several orders the delivery time will become slightly longer.

The price from factory

Fuselage kit with ready made fittings 130 000 SEK
Wing kit, "fast build" 145 000 SEK
Engine/propeller kit 75 000 SEK
Tot. Price 350 000 SEK

Prices are excluding taxes, national fees and transport.
Shipping and crating is about 20 000 SEK to a major port in Canada.
The price of the Windex kit has been changed due to the decreased value of
the SEK.

The kit includes essentially every thing except instrument, paint, tools
and wood for the jigs.
All laminates that are not flat parts are pre made, all fitting are
ready-made and should only require trimming in and drilling at the most.
Fast build wing means that the wing is closed with all internal mechanisms
and spars mounted, but the customers need to cut out the control surfaces,
build the nose of the control surfaces, build root ribs and all things that
can be build after the wing is closed.

Windexair does not have a finish demonstrator at this moment. It might be
possible for us to borrow a Windex 1200C from Stockholm but we have to
arrange that with the private owner of the glider.

The Windex 1200C kits built in the USA has not had any problems with the
EAA inspections but it does not exist any official approval in the USA due
to the small numbers of Windex kits in the USA. The kit is design to EAA
51% rule and there have not been any problems in the countries that follow
the 51% rule, (so far France, Switzerland, Sweden and USA). In Germany you
need to do a "einstuck" JAR 22A certification to get the arobatic approval.

Changes made

Canopy frame

Changed from side hinged to fwd. Hinged to make more convenient to enter
and exit the cockpit.

Improved canopy jettison function with pins and a spring to control the
canopy movement under jettison.

Pre-made canopy frame to save building time (about 80 hours) and to get a
better finish.

Rudder pedal assembly

Changed from welded steel construction to prepreg autoclaved carbon
construction to save weight and to keep tighter tolerances.

Changed geometry to get more room for the feet and to improve the overall
ergonomics.

New pedal track system to minimises irritating play in the assembly.

Air intake - dynamic pressure probe assembly

Changed from welded steel and hand laminated fibreglass construction to
one-piece prepreg autoclaved carbon construction to make it easier to line
up build in to the fuselage and to minimise corrosion problems in the
dynamic pressure tube.

Battery

The battery is changed from a one-piece battery to 6 12V-2.5AH-battery
packs that can be moved individually between a position in the nose to a
position in the fin; this arrangement makes the system with balance weight
of lead absolute. The battery packs are easier to mount then the one-piece
battery.

We are using Hawker/gates Cyclone batteries for the battery packs, these
batteries has a guarantied lifetime of 15 years in standby mode.

Crash safety

A new bulkhead in front of the feet to protect the feet in moderate crash
loads.

New improved cockpit safety frame to increase the likelihood to survive
severe crashes even above 35G.

Cockpit

New control stick to improve ergonomics.

New throttle-and choke-control to improve ergonomics and to make it easier
builder to mount.

The wheel-brake actuator is moved from the rudder pedals to a bicycle type
brake-handle on the spoiler handle, this is to make it easier to control
the brake action when you are taxing on the ground.

Wheel-brake

Wheel brake is changed to Tost drum-brake to improve the function and make
it easier for the builder to mount.

Control system

New aileron idle-arms and bell-cranks to minimise the friction in the
system due to bending in the push rods and to get the correct aileron
movement.

New aileron push-rod guide in the right wing to minimise the problem of
lack of space between the guide and the spoiler push rod.

New side rudder horn to increase the force on the rudder pedals and to
improve the rudder feeling.

A new upper rudder hinge to give the builder the opportunity to make the
rudder a little bit taller. This operation takes a couple of more day to do
but improves the rudder efficiency almost 10% which is important for the
pilots that want to do a lot of high end aerobatics.

Wing

New spoiler-box in one-piece to improve the tolerances and function, the
boxes also becomes stronger and lighter.

New autoclaved false-, aileron- and flap-spars to make the wing lighter and
stronger, it also saves about 2 to 4 days of building time for the
homebuilder.

New one-piece wing-lets with built in roller blade wheels, saves about 2 to
4 days of building time for the home builder and it saves weight in the
wing tip which improves the initial roll rate.

New stronger fwd and aft wing fitting.

New easier locking of the main wing pin.

Best Regard.

Kåre Ljung
Head of Engineering, WINDEXAIR AB

END OF QUOTE

I am REALLY intrigued by this combiination of reasonable L/D, aerobatics,
and motorgliding in one compact, lightweight, goodlooking A/C.

I'd like to see an unbiased review on its flight characteristics. Anyone out
there care to supply one?

Jim

Tim Mara

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Oct 19, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/19/00

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I think their message may not be telling to whole story.....
As I remember it, it wasn't so much that the US distributor/owner wanted to
concentrate on his other business so much as that it was that one of the
major investors in this project in the US was killed in his Windex....
I think a further investigation of this incident might reveal a more
anyway.......that's the way I heard it....
tim

Jim Pike

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Oct 19, 2000, 9:00:04 PM10/19/00

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Here's the report. No fault found with A/C.
http://www.ntsb.gov/Aviation/MIA/97A091.htm

Jim

"Tim Mara" <t...@wingsandwheels.com> wrote in message
news:8sn8o...@enews4.newsguy.com...

> I think their message may not be telling to whole story.....

> As I remember it, it wasn't so much that the US distributor/owner wanted
to

> concentrate on his other business so much as that it was that one of the
> major investors in this project in the US was killed in his Windex....
> I think a further investigation of this incident might reveal a more
> anyway.......that's the way I heard it....
> tim
>

ire...@hever.co.il

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Oct 21, 2000, 3:00:00 AM10/21/00

to

Looks like he entered a flat spin of which he could not recover.
Seems to me the heavy engine in the tail might have caused/contributed
to the flat spin.
Did anybody else make stall/spin tests with the Windex 1200 ?
Dan
In article <oOMH5.35906$N%1.162...@news3.rdc1.on.home.com>,

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

stevi...@gmail.com

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Apr 14, 2017, 8:22:25 PM4/14/17

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On Saturday, October 21, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, ire...@hever.co.il wrote:
> Looks like he entered a flat spin of which he could not recover.
> Seems to me the heavy engine in the tail might have caused/contributed
> to the flat spin.
> Did anybody else make stall/spin tests with the Windex 1200 ?
> Dan
> In article <oOMH5.35906$N%1.162...@news3.rdc1.on.home.com>,
> "Jim Pike" <jame...@home.com> wrote:

> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.

My name is Steve Coan and I was the test pilot for every Windex that was built in the U.S. I did extensive flight tests and evaluation on the ship including spins and flat spins. I can tell you that Lars Bergstrom did not enter a flat spin. With his weight, the CG was very much sufficiently forward which would render a flat spin impossible. The notion that the engine mounted in the vertical stab could have contributed to entering a flat spin is "poppycock". Lars suffered from narcolepsy. Plain and simple: he fell asleep and entered a standard spin - to the ground. This was evident when I examined the crash site. The Windex 1200C is a might fine aircraft and I am looking to purchase another if I can find one!
Hope this helps.