Streifeneder Albatros

The Streifeneder Albatros (Albatross) is a German mid-wing, gull wing, T-tailed, single-seat, FAI Standard Class glider that was designed by Hansjörg Streifeneder and produced by his company Glasfaser Flugzeug-Service GmbH.

The aircraft was first exhibited at the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in April 2001.

Design and development
The Albatros was intended to take advantage of a number of aerodynamic refinements to achieve a higher performance than other standard class gliders. These include a new type of fuselage wing fillet that creates laminar flow in the junction, upper and lower surface wing and aileron boundary layer blowing and an airfoil designed by Professor Loek M. M. Boermans of the Delft University of Technology. The aileron blowing varies with airspeed. The company claims that this creates 95% laminar flow on the wing underside and produces 10% less profile drag than the Schleicher ASW 24.

The aircraft is made from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer, fibreglass and Kevlar. Its gulled 15 m wing employs winglets and uses triple-panel upper surface airbrakes for glidepath control. The high-mounted tailplane has electric trim and a ballistic parachute is fitted. 115 kg of water ballast is carried. The landing gear is a suspended and electrically retractable monowheel.