Diana Sailplanes Diana 2
| SZD 56 Diana | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| SZD 56-2 Diana 2, training before World Grand Prix, Andes | |
| Role | 15 Meter-class sailplane |
| National origin | Poland |
| Manufacturer | PZL-Bielsko, Design Office B Bogumił Bereś |
| Designer | Bogumił Bereś, Krzysztof Kubrynski |
| First flight | 29 November 1990 (Diana), 12 January 2005 (Diana 2) |
The SZD-56 Diana is a 15 metre class glider originally designed by Bogumił Bereś at PZL-Bielsko. However, PZL Bielsko went bankrupt before it could be put into serial production. The rights to the design were taken over by a new entity, Diana Sailplanes, which developed the design further and called it the Diana 2. By 2011 the aircraft was being produced by Design Office Bogumil Beres. The glider first flew on 12 January 2005.
The Diana is a single-seat high-performance 15-metre class sailplane. It is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with a T-tail unit. It has an all composite carbon-aramid-epoxy structure. The spar-less wing has plate airbrakes protruding from the upper surface only with full-span flaperons. The Diana has a retractable main landing gear with a fixed tail wheel.
The Diana 2 features a number of structural innovations. The wing had been designed by Krzysztof Kubrynski, Ph.D., using numerical flow simulation methods (computer programs of his design). It uses a variable profile belonging to the KL-002 family. For fuselage-wing interference minimization reasons, the wing is thinner at the root. Also, the leading and trailing edges do not follow any straight lines, necessitating a production process that depends heavily on CNC technology. The new wing offers considerably better performance at high speeds and better immunity from surface contamination. The glider also features an unusual side-stick control system to accommodate the pilot in its unusually narrow cockpit. As the maximum possible water ballast that can be carried in the wings is almost 60 kg (130 lb) heavier than the empty weight of the glider, the Diana 2 has a very large range of wing loadings, from 28 to 58 kg/m² (5.7 to 11.9 lb/ft²).
Sebastian Kawa won his first three (2005, 2007, 2010) FAI World Grand Prix Championships in a Diana 2. Three pilots (Janusz Centka, Stefano Ghiorzo and Sebastian Kawa) have also flown the Diana 2 to first place in the World Championships in the 15m class (in 2006, 2010 and 2012).
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