DEVELOPMENT and DESCRIPTION

Design work on this Standard Class sailplane began in the winter of 1978 and the prototype, registered D-6680, first flew on 28 March 1980. Production began in the autumn of that year and by the spring of 1981 50 LS4s had been built out of 160 on order. The type took the first seven places in the Standard Class at the 1981 World Gliding Championships at Paderborn, West Germany.

The LS4 has a modified LS3-a fuselage married to a new thin-section wing mounted in the mid position, and with a double taper planform. It has air brakes in the upper surfaces, but flaps are not fitted. The cantilever T-tail has separate elevators rather than an all-moving tailplane,and the retractable monowheel has rubber suspension and a cable-operated brake. There is a rubber bumper-type tailskid with a semi-recessed tailwheel offered as an alternative. The pilot sits under a canopy that hinges upward and forward to open, and up to 140 litres of water ballast can be carried. The same glassfibre/foam sandwich construction as the LS3's is employed.

PERFORMANCE DATA 

Three Axis View Rolladen-Schneider LS4a

FLIGHT MANUAL download (PDF 0.59MB)

GGC's – VH-UKA 

VH-UKA was purchased from a private owner in December, 1984. It competed in the World Championships 1987, where it was flown by J. Widmer of Brazil finishing 10th in a field of forty four.

Originally an LS4 it was converted to an LS4a by the appropriate modifications and endorsements to the water ballast system. Like other German gliders of the period it originally suffered from gel-coat cracking due to the harsh Australian conditions, but has been subsequently refinished. It was later modified by the addition of a nose release.