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Great Planes Spirit Elite

by Klaus Weiss..........reviewed 12/99

Heathcote Soaring League

In this age of Almost Ready to Fly and Ready To Fly models, Great Planes still offer a variety of 'builders' kits. One of their latest designs is the two metre Spirit Elite sailplane, based on the popular and contest winning Spirit. This model displays a departure from convention by Great Planes, in that it offers a new, blended airfoil section as well as flaps, ailerons and a sleeker fuselage. This design should give the Spirit Elite the potential of flight characteristics and the performance optimisation, generally only found in the larger wingspan, high tech, high priced counterparts.

With an increasing interest in the 2 metre sailplane class in Australia and a resurgence in the number of radio control Glider pilots here, this should prove to be a winning combination for Great Planes.

The Spirit Elite differs in several areas, from previous Spirit designs. The fuselage is a lot slimmer and longer in the nose and tail moments. Radio equipment requires the use of micro and mini servos. The wing in particular has a much thinner section, utilising the Selig/Ashok Gopalarathnam 7035 airfoil at the root, blending into the S.A. 7036 section at the tip. This combination should give the Elite a very good Lift/Drag ratio and excellent performance in windy conditions. Like the Spirit 100, the Elite lets you chose the type of wing you are going to build. There is the option of a dihedral wing with flaps and ailerons, or the polyhedral version. The polyhedral wing offers more stability and is generally easier to fly, so this alternative should suit novice pilots better. With the straight dihedral, full house option, there is a wide range of advanced mixing and programming opportunities available, for those who have computer radios. It will take a while to test and optimise the full potential of this sailplane, but at first glance, it sure looks a winner.