darryl ramm’s blog

DG-303 and Cobra Trailer (SOLD)
This glider was sold 2/15/2008.

Contact the seller by email here

I have a new ASH-26E motor glider and so I am reluctantly selling my DG-303 Acro. The DG-303 is a very nice handling and comfortable 44:1 cross country machine. This glider took me from a cross country novice to diamond distance flights in my first year of flying. It is simple, safe and easy to fly and handles beautifully. I am the second owner, and have owned this glider for just over two years. It had previosly sat in its trailer inside an hangar effectively unused for about three years.

This glider is a great cross country machine with everything set up and working and lots of extras from dual batteries, Becker transponder, hydraulic disk brake upgrade, one man rigger, custom made water fill equipment, solar battery charger and interior and exterior lights on the trailer, etc. This glider is setup ready for your cross county adventures.

• N46DX S/N 3E489A30
• Manufactured November 2000, delivered 2001
• Approximately 500 hours
• Current annual (next due March 2008)
• Located in Northern California

Standard Features and Factory Options

• Lower wings surface blown turbulators (known to work well, cleaned and tested)
• Retractable undercarriage, large 5.00 - 5 wheel.
• CG and forward tow hooks (many DG-300/303 in the USA only have the CG hook and can be more difficult to handle in a cross wind take off).
• Blue tinted canopy
• Standard (aerobatic) wingtips
• Winglets
• Factory fitted Roeger hook
• Cockpit trim weight set
• Registration number factory painted in grey on fin and under wing
• Cockpit ballast box and weight set
• 65 litre water bags per wing plus up to 5.5 litres in tail fin for balance (all in perfect working order)
• ESA triple probe in fin

Instruments and Avionics

• Precision vertical card compass
• Winter 80mm ASI, 0 knots, 6 O’Clock position, knots
• Winter variometer, +/- 10 knots linear, 3 sec response time
• Two MacCready rings for Winter variometer, nominal weight and at MTOW
• United Instruments 80mm 20,000′ altimeter, in. Hg
• Cambridge 302 computer/variometer
• Cambridge 303 Display mounted on right hand side PDA mount
• ProClip mounts for duak HP iPAQ 4700 PDAs (PDAs not included), custom mounted on instrument glareshield
• Goddard SPS-1 power supply/serial splitter to split Cambridge 302 serial NEMA output to dual PDAs
• G-meter with +7/-5G red line markings
• Becker AR 4201 VHF Radio
• Becker ATC 4401-175 Mode-C 175 transponder
• Becker boom microphone
• Becker speaker and wiring junction box
• ACK A-30 altitude encoder
• Microphone jack on panel (for oxygen mask microphone)
• 2.5 mm barrel connector power jack on panel for for Zaon MRX PCAS. (Zaon MRX not included)
• All panel fuses replaced with Klixon circuit breakers

Upgrades

• EDS-D1 Oxygen System, EDS electronic unit, regulator, hoses etc.
• Catalina M22 aluminium oxygen cylinder (typically lasts for several days flying with the EDS unit)
• Custom oxygen cylinder mount, much better than factory mount, won’t dig into your elbow
• Spare M22 aluminium oxygen cylinder to keep in trailer
• Provision for pee tube (simple, reliable, clean straight through cockpit floor type)
• Tost hydraulic disk brake upgrade (replaced standard cable/drum brake)
• Brass tail wheel installed (shifts CG for aerobatics and improved handling). Original plastic tail wheel hub included.
• DG angled rudder pedal plates to straighten rudder pedals are installed. Standard flat plates also supplied, easy to change.
• Wing tip wheels (replaces factory wing tip skids)
• Additional 12Ah battery custom mount on luggage shelf (total of two x 12 Ah batteries in glider)
• Spare pair of 12 Ah batteries (total of four, with Klixon circuit breakers fitted to each battery)
• All batteries are Panasonic 12 Ah in perfect condition
• Fragile factory battery connectors upgraded to Anderson PowerPole connectors, Klixon circuit breakers installed on batteries
• Hoses, funnels, etc. custom made water fill apparatus
• Glider has been exclusively maintained by Williams Soaring

Technical Notes / Airworthiness Directives

This glider complies with all current technical notes/ADs including -

• Lower mounting of the rudder, TN 359/21
• Landing gear control handle, TN 359/22
• TN 359/24, airspeed indicator markings and placards changed to reflect revised limits

The Roeger hook technical note is not applicable as this glider came with a factory fitted Roeger hook. Don’t think this is important? Then read this

Note: TN 359/24 revised limits (Vmo, Vne, gross weight and aerobatics) do not appear mandatory in the United States, however I have installed new limit placards and airspeed indicator markings. The technical note does restrict the glider to no aerobatics. For what is is worth I have previously flown all aerobatic maneuvers discussed in the flight manual in this glider including tail slides, snap rolls, inverted flight, spins etc. and have exercised the glider to about +6G and -3.5G. The new Vmo and Vne suggested airspeed limits really represent an insignificant impact on the glider performance. I’ll be happy to provide a current weight and balance measurement and copies of the flight manual for this glider so any purchaser can fully understand any water ballast limits.

Cobra Trailer

• Cobra aluminium top trailer
• 15 meter trailer, with storage for standard wing tips and winglets
• Blue trim option
• Tail wheel ramp
• Custom 62 Watt Uni-Solar solar panel installed on the trailer roof
• Battery tray and four MorningStar SunGuard solar charge controllers for simultaneous charging of up to four glider batteries
• One pair of batteries in-use in the glider and one pair charging in the trailer at any time allow continuous back to back days of flying with no AC power
• PowerSonic 33 Ah battery with MorningStar SunSaver charge controller for trailer auxiliary DC power
• Internal lights and rear floodlight for night time rigging/derigging
• Tail stop/brake lights replaced by LED truck lamps (standard Cobra tail lights are poor quality and leaked water)
• Custom high-mount 3rd brake lamp, LED truck lamp

Rigging, Tow Out Gear, etc.

• Full set of Jaxida covers, mint condition
• Franklin Fabrication canopy cover, aka Wings & Wheels Platinum Canopy Cover - great for keeping the cockpit cool before a flight.
• Factory cotton canopy dust cover
• Two Cobra wing stands
• Cobra tail dolly
• Cobra one man rigger (two inflatable wheel, manual adjusting type)
• Eccentric spar pin assembly tool (Cobra brand? looks very well made)
• Tool Tech wing wheel
• Tool Tech folding tow bar
• Rudder lock

Note: The vinyl film “6DX” contest numbers will be removed from the glider and trailer prior to delivery.