Design
The LS8 is a flexible and relatively conservative design with high development potential. Although primarily designed to Standard Class specifications, it has lent itself easily to span extensions, motorisation, etc.
- Aerodynamic configurations: winglets are default for all spans; wing tips extending the span to 18 metres are an option available to some versions.
- Structure: wings, winglets, ailerons and horizontal stabilizer are carbon/foam sandwiches; the elevator has a mixed carbon/aramid construction. The longer span versions have a stronger main spar. The cockpit is a double fibreglass shell for increased crashworthiness.
- Control system: conventional, split elevator/horizontal stabiliser for longitudinal control and top surface Schempp-Hirth air brakes for glidepath control, ailerons with marked differential occupying the outer 50% of the wing’s trailing edge. Controls via pushrods with automatic coupling during rigging.
- Mass balancing: the aileron control system is mass balanced, with integral counterweights inside the wings. The ailerons themselves are also mass balanced in the longer-span versions, with up to 1.5 kg of lead added to the leading edges of each control surface. The elevator and rudder are 100% mass balanced.
- Sealing: all control gaps as well as the control runs inside the wings are fully sealed. The ailerons are sealed by internal Teflon boots. The resultant very low friction ensures exceptionally light stick forces. The horizontal stabiliser and rudder retain Teflon and Mylar strip seals.
- Ballast system: 'integral' ballast tanks with two tanks per wing in the LS8-a and subsequent versions. A smaller tank in the tail fin, with a capacity between 3.5 and 12 litres according to version and options, allows centre of gravity corrections.
- Wheel brake: operated by pressing on the rudder pedals (in DG-built versions also coupled to the air brake lever).
- Turbo: the -t variant brings an innovative solution to the sustainer problem. The reliable Solo 2325 engine is mated to a small diameter 'paddle' propeller that sacrifices a small amount of propulsive efficiency in exchange for much smaller drag if the engine fails to start. The hydraulic extender allows instantaneous extension. Both innovations make the 8-t one of the safest turbos available (DG-built sustainers have conventional electricity-driven spindle extension).
Read more about this topic: Rolladen-Schneider LS8
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