The Schempp-Hirth Ventus-3 is a

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 ...

produced by

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 ...

. It replaces the highly successful

Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2 The Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2 is a sailplane produced by Schempp-Hirth since 1994. It replaced the highly successful Schempp-Hirth Ventus. Design and development The Ventus-2a and 2b are 15 metre sailplanes. The 'a' version has a narrow fuselag ...

Design and development

It was announced at the

AERO Friedrichshafen AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance at the exhibition center of Friedrichshafen, Germany right next to Friedrichshafen Airport Friedrichshaf ...

in April 2015 where a mock-up was suspended from the ceiling of the exhibition hall. The prototype flew on 29 January 2016 at Flugplatz Hahnweide at

Kirchheim unter Teck Kirchheim unter Teck ( Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the district of Esslingen. It is located on the small river Lauter, a tributary of the Neckar. It is 10 km (6 miles) near the Teck castle, approximately ...

in Germany. Production of the first seven turbo Ventus 3T started on 28 April 2016. These competed in the 2017

World Gliding Championships The World Gliding Championships (WGC) is a gliding competition held every two years or so by the FAI Gliding Commission. The dates are not always exactly two years apart, often because the contests are sometimes held in the summer in the Southern ...

and the 2017

European Gliding Championships The European Gliding Championships is a gliding competition held every two years. Gliding is a competitive sport and was even a demonstration sport at the 1936 Summer Olympics. It was due to become an official Olympic sport in the Helsinki Games i ...

. In the latter competition, pilots with Ventus 3T took the first three places in the 18m Class. A Ventus 3T also took first place at the World Championships at Hos%C3%ADn in 2018. Two sizes of fuselage are now available, Sport and Performance; the latter is larger. The Sport fuselage is available as a pure glider, or with a turbo sustaining engine, or a front-end electric sustaining (FES) engine. Currently the larger fuselage is only available for the self-launching 'M' and the turbo versions. The first version of the Sport fuselage with the

front electric sustainer Front electric sustainer (FES) is a propulsion system for gliders that uses an electric motor powered by batteries and a foldable propeller. It is produced by LZ Design d.o.o. in Logatec, Slovenia. The system uses a 22 kW compact outrunner ...

engine, Ventus 3F, first flew December 2017. The first version with the Performance fuselage, Ventus 3M, also flew in December 2017. Features include 'bug-wiper' garages recessed in the fuselage. There are two ballast tanks (one 58 litres and one 38 litres) in each wing which are filled from the wing-tip and two tanks in the fin. 15m tips are available. It has been designed to carry more ballast than the Ventus 2 and so its gross weight is 75 kg greater than its predecessor. Its maximum gross weight is now the same to the ASG-29.

Specifications (Ventus-3 Sport or Performance Edition with 18m wings)

Either the turbo engine or the FES engine adds 50kg to the empty weight given above

References

News
{{Schempp-Hirth Ventus-3 2010s German sailplanes Electric aircraft Motor gliders T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2016

Design and development

Specifications (Ventus-3 Sport or Performance Edition with 18m wings)

See also

References