The Akaflieg Karlsruhe AK-5b is a single-seat club class glider designed and built in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

by members of

Akaflieg Karlsruhe Akaflieg Karlsruhe is one of ten flying groups (Akaflieg) attached to German universities. Akaflieg is an abbreviation for ''Akademische Fliegergruppe'', an academic group of students working with a German University. The ''Akademische Fliegergru ...

Design and development

Poor handling characteristics of the AK5 prompted Akaflieg Karlsruhe to design a successor with improved handling capable of being used as a first single-seater at the

gliding club. During development of the AK-5b it was decided to make changes to the construction by using

carbon-fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

, aramid fibres and

glass-fibre Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

. As part of the re-design, a new cockpit was designed with new crash-worthy canopy, equipped with a new opening and emergency release mechanisms

Specification (AK-5b)

References

External links

Akaflieg Karlsruhe homepage
{{Akaflieg Karlsruhe aircraft 1990s German sailplanes Akaflieg Karlsruhe aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1996