The Politechnika Warszawska PW-5 ''Smyk'' (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
: "Little rascal") is a single seater
sailplane
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplan ...
designed at the
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...
(Polish: "Politechnika Warszawska") and manufactured in Poland. It is a monotype
World Class
World class is a superlative that can refer to:
Names
World class forms part (or all) of the following names:
Sports and Competitions
* World Class Championship Wrestling
* World class manufacturing
* FAI World Class
* World Class Tag Te ...
glider.
Development
The PW-5 was designed for, and won a competition held by the
International Gliding Commission
The International Gliding Commission (IGC) is the international governing body for the sport of gliding. It is governed by meetings of delegates from national gliding associations.
It is one of several Air Sport Commissions (ASC) of the Fédérati ...
for a simple, low cost sailplane that would form the basis for a new competition class, the
IGC World Class
Competition classes in gliding, as in other sports, mainly exist to ensure fairness in competition. However the classes have not been targeted at fostering technological development as in other sports. Instead classes have arisen because of:
* t ...
. Unlike other soaring competition classes, the World Class designation would guarantee that all pilots participated on an equal footing, and that pilots could not gain advantage by spending large amounts of money. The PW-5 was unanimously chosen from 42 design proposals in IGC international World Class design competition. In November 1989, the IGC issued a worldwide call for proposals. By February 1990, it had received 84 requests for design specifications from 25 countries. By August 1990, the IGC had received 42 design proposals from 20 countries. In September 1990, after reviewing the proposals, many of which came with models, the IGC recommended that 11 designs from 9 countries proceed to the prototype competition. In October 1992, the IGC inspected and tested 6 prototypes from 5 countries at Oerlinghausen Germany. After further review and collecting manufacturing data, in spring 1993 the IGC declared the PW-5, designed by a faculty/student team at Warsaw University of Technology, the first World Class glider.
The glider was designed at the
Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering of the
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...
under the supervision of
Roman Åšwitkiewicz. It was originally built by
PZL
PZL (''Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze'' - State Aviation Works) was the main Polish aerospace manufacturer of the interwar period, and a brand of their aircraft. Based in Warsaw between 1928 and 1939, PZL introduced a variety of well-regarded air ...
at its factory in
Åšwidnik
Åšwidnik () is a town in southeastern Poland with 40,186 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, southeast of the city of Lublin. It is the capital of Åšwidnik County. Åšwidnik belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, ...
and first flew in 1993. By the end of 2000 the new private company PZL-Bielsko1 was established by the original members of the design team from Warsaw University of Technology and the DWLKK company. A new factory at
Bielsko
Bielsko (german: Bielitz, cs, BÃlsko) was until 1950 an independent town situated in Cieszyn Silesia, Poland. In 1951 it was joined with BiaÅ‚a Krakowska to form the new town of Bielsko-BiaÅ‚a. Bielsko constitutes the western part of that tow ...
produced a modified version of PW-5 glider called B1-PW-5.
Żaczek, Jarosław. "World Class Glider B1-PW-5" undated
, retrieved 1 August 2008.
Because its cost was comparable to the cost of the older Club class gliders of higher performance it did not sell as well as expected and the World class competitions were not very popular as well. In total fewer than 200 PW-5s have been built, though over 70 have been exported to the United States, where there is a keen following.
Design
*The structure is all glass-epoxy
Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...
composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials
...
*The wings are of trapeze contour with bow-shaped ends, shoulder-set on the fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
, having a monospar structure with sandwich shells
*Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.
History
Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth.
The company was initially called "Sportfl ...
-type air brakes extend on the upper wing surface only
*Fuselage shell of glass-epoxy composite monocoque
Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell".
First used for boats, ...
structure, stiffened with frames
*Fabric covered rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...
*Fixed undercarriage
Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include:
*The landing gear of an aircraft.
*The ch ...
consisting of main wheel behind the pilot, with shock absorber
A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...
and drum brake
A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum.
The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...
, a smaller front wheel and a tail skid with a diminutive wheel to prevent scraping on the ground if overrotation takes place
*Two tow releases, for aerotowing
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...
and winch-launching respectively
Variants
There are presently two versions of the PW-5. The Bielsko version, identified as B1 PW-5, has a few safety- and performance-related improvements:
*Automatic hook-up of all controls upon assembly
*Tow release for winch-launching
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...
moved forward; this follows a winching accident in New Zealand
*Ballast holder in the tail to allow centre of gravity
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...
corrections
*Total energy probe on the vertical empennage
The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
There is a project in progress for building a motorglider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...
designated PW-5M based on the PW-5.
The PW-5 has a two-seater derivative, the PW-6.
Specifications
References
Citations
Bibliography
Johnson R, An FTE of the PW-5 World Class Sailplane, Soaring, April 1997
* Carswell D, The Low Time Pilot in the PW-5 World Class Sailplane, Soaring, April 1997
* Thomas F, Fundamentals of Sailplane Design, College Park Press, 1999
* Simons M, Segelflugzeuge 1965-2000, Eqip, 2004
External links
video of PW5 wave soaring
{{World class sailplane competitors
1990s Polish sailplanes
Glider aircraft
Warsaw University of Technology
Aircraft first flown in 1993