Schempp-Hirth Ventus 3

Ventus-3
Schempp-Hirth Ventus 3 glider at Lasham Airfield
Role	18 metre-class sailplane
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Schempp-Hirth
First flight	2016
Number built	4

The Schempp-Hirth Ventus-3 is a sailplane produced by Schempp-Hirth. It will replace the highly successful Schempp-Hirth Ventus-2.

It was announced at the AERO Friedrichshafen 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 in Germany. The prototype was originally a pure glider but it has since been fitted with a sustaining turbo motor. Serial production started on 28 April 2016.

Production models will be available as a pure glider or with a sustaining engine, self-launching engine or a front-end electric sustaining engine. Two sizes of fuselage will be available called Sport and Performance; the latter is larger. The design of the Performance fuselage has not yet been finalised. Currently it is only planned to use the large fuselage for the self-launching 'M' version, though this decision may be revisited later if there is a demand for other engine options. Longer wing-tips will not be offered, but 15m tips will be.

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

General characteristics

Performance

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

General characteristics

Performance

The weight of the engine option should be added to the empty weights above

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Wikipedia