I can certainly say that flying a composite glider (Grob 103A Twin Astir II
Acro - Viking TX.1 http://pages.eidosnet.co.uk/~avsearch/g103twinastir2.htm
) less than two miles from Cardiff Wales Airport I was reliably informed by
ATC only produces very intermittent, very hard to trace returns, dependent
on the gliders profile to the radar mast.
I guess you could say we were flying the RAF's only stealth aircraft...
We had several proximity complaints from 747 pilots, especially as we could
not be observed on their traffic avoidance sytems. The finals to Cardiff
Wales Airport lops the corner off the matz I used to be operating within
(Usually cleared strictly to 2000ft only within the strict matz) with
individual authorisation being sought to leave this area.
So with the wind and the launch point in the correct direction I had a good
1200 ft cable launch (solo) popping up from nowhere up alongside a 747 on
finals, I could certainly just make out the whites of the co pilots eyes
staring at me, I quickly waggled the wings and banked hard right, not
without giving the observing PAX a friendly wave whilst executing :-)
cheers
Paul.
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: RE: Off Topic: The "Evils" of homebuilding
>
>
> I know from watching a motorcycle cop look quizzically at his
> radar gun as I drove by (over the posted limit) that my
> plastic Lotus Elan likewise was "invisible" to radar. Of
> course police radar devices are toys compared to the stuff
> that paints our aircraft in flight so this doesn't imply that
> composite aircraft (sans transponder) are invisible or even stealthy.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob Housman
> A070
>
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