Design and Development
The Duo Discus replaced the Janus as Schempp Hirth's high performance two seater trainer. Although it shares its name with the highly successful Standard Class Discus, any resemblance is only superficial. It first flew in 1993 and is still in production at the factory in Orlican in the Czech Republic. It has a 20 metre four piece wing that is slightly swept forward so that the rear pilot is close to the centre of gravity. Its best glide ratio was measured as 44:1. An optional 'turbo' retractable 2-stroke engine can be specified for extended gliding sessions. Over 500 Duo Discuses had been built by August 2007. Its chief rival is now the DG Flugzeugbau DG-1001. In U.S. Air Force service it is known as the TG-15A.
Read more about this topic: Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or development:
“A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.”
—Freeman Dyson (b. 1923)
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)