Gliding over Berlin

S10-VT over Central Berlin - photo: Andreas Deffner

The Philosophy

Soaring at Its Best - But Power Has its Own Appeal


Uncompromised performance, independence, safety and convenience - is the philosophy behind the high-performance S 10-VT motorglider. Independence and the immeasurable feeling of freedom make soaring the high art of sport aviation. The S 10-VT is equipped with a powerful aircraft engine and aerodynamically clean fuselage to assure a maximum level of safety. Features such as the retractable twin undercarriage and the revolutionary propulsion system put the S 10-VT in a class of its own. As a side-by-side 2 seater, the S 10-VT enables you to share the joy of gliding with a friend while enjoying every comfort. The S 10-VT embodies the perfection every member of the STEMME team has worked for. It uniquely combines the qualities of a high-performance sailplane and a comfortable power plane without compromises.

This was proven not at least with the sensational flight of Klaus Ohlmann in the Andes: 2463 km of pure gliding in 14 hours in Dec. 2000 with a STEMME S 10-VT.

The huge wingspan of 23 meters in combination with the high performance HQ41 wing section and the "clean" fuselage, offer a glide ratio potential of 50:1 and a minimum inherent sink rate of only 0.56 m/s (112 ft/min). This performance makes the STEMME S 10-VT one of the very best performing sailplanes ever built. The S 10-VT is the easiest to handle and most good-natured open class sailplane. The new design of the flap/aileron interaction leads to a high degree of maneuverability in slow flight. And 18.7m² of wing area enables the S 10-VT to exploit poor thermals with ease.

The state-of-the-art HQ laminar profile is a special developedment for the wings of the S 10-VT to achieve an outstanding soaring performance. It was designed by the distinguished experts on airfoil profiles, Horstmann and Quast at the Aerodynamic Design of the DLR Braunschweig, Germany. The use of artificial turbulators underneath this profile prevent formation of the drag inducing laminar separation bubble. Accumulation of bugs or rain on the wings will have very little effect on gliding performance.

The unique propulsion system and the twin-undercarriage offers a fully fledged power plane which enables taxiing, take-off and landing without outside help. You can take full advantage of this independence to spend your precious time soaring - not waiting for other people and ground procedures. The S 10-VT takes you to the thermals very quickly - high cruising speeds put even distant soaring opportunities within easy reach and will get you home again after a day's soaring. The highly reliable "5-Sec-Restart" gives you safety when soaring cross-country. With negligible drag or trim change even low height restarts are easy - and should the engine fail to start, a normal glider circuit and field landing can be performed.