Schleicher K 8
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| Type designation | K 8 |
| Competition class | Club, formerly Standard |
| Number built | 1100+ |
| Crew | 1 |
| Length | 7.00 m |
| Height | 1.57 m |
| Wingspan | 15.00 m |
| Wing area | 14.15 m² |
| Aspect ratio | 15.9 |
| Wing profile: | Göttingen 533/532 |
| Empty mass | ca. 190 kg |
| Water ballast | N/A |
| Maximum mass | 310 kg |
| Wing loading | ca. 20 - 22 kg/m² |
| Maximum speed | 200 km/h (108 knots) |
| Rough air speed | 130 km/h (70 knots) |
| Stall speed | 54 km/h (29 knots) |
| Minimum sink rate | ca. 0.65 m/s (1.2 knots) |
| Best glide ratio | 27 at 72 km/h (39 knots) |
The Schleicher K 8 is a single-seat glider designed by Rudolf Kaiser and built by the Alexander Schleicher company of Germany.
[edit] History and characteristics
The K 8 was derived from the earlier Ka 6 design as a simple single-place sailplane with dive brakes using construction techniques similar to the Schleicher K 7, simplified for amateur construction from kits. Emphasis was on rugged construction, good climbing ability in thermals and good handling characteristics.
The prototype K 8 made its first flight in November 1957 and over 1,100 were built in three main versions. The original K 8 had a very small canopy. Side windows for improved visibility were introduced in the next version, and the K 8B, by far the most numerous variant, has a larger one-piece blown Plexiglas canopy. The K 8C features a longer nose, larger main wheel located ahead of the center of gravity and deletion of the larger wooden nose skid resulting in a roomier cockpit.
The cantilever high wings are single-spar structures of pine and plywood, with a plywood leading edge torsion box and fabric covering aft of the spar; their forward sweep is 1ø 18' and dihedral is 3ø. There are Schempp-Hirth air brakes in the upper and lower surfaces and the wooden ailerons are plywood covered. The cantilever tail unit is of similar construction to the wings, with ply-covered fixed surfaces and fabric-covered rudder and elevators, and a trim tab in the elevator is an optional fitting. The fuselage is a welded steel tube structure, with fabric covering over spruce longerons and a glassfibre nose cone. There is a non-retractable and unsprung monowheel, with optional brake, and a nose skid mounted on rubber blocks in front of it, plus a steel spur at the tail.
A motor glider conversion of the K 8B was developed by LVD (the Flying Training School of the Detmold Aero Club) similar to their conversion of a Scheibe Bergfalke IV known as the BF IV-BIMO, in which a Lloyd LS-400 piston engine mounted in the fuselage drives a pair of small two-blade pusher propellers rotating within cutouts in each wing near the trailing edge.
Karl Striedieck of the United States made a 767 km / 476.6 mile ridge flight in a K 8B to establish a World Out-and-Return Record in 1968.
[edit] Sources
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