Concept 70 opinions

Group,

Anybody have experience with a Berkshire Concept 70? Its a 15M glass ship with flaps and I am considering one thats available. Thanks for your input.

No airbrakes but 90 degree flaps. 21 built, moulds destroyed ( parts etc few and far between!)

see http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/PlaneDetails.cfm? planeID=62

Apologies to its current owner but the words 'bargepole', 'would not' and 'touch' spring to mind!

Ian

I have had a Concept 70 for several years. My experience with the Concept has been very positive and feedback from other owners has been as well. It performs at the level of a Standard Cirrus and is honest in it's flying characteristics. The cockpit is large and comfortable. In fact the tooling is not destroyed, although not readily accessible. I had the canopy damaged on mine a few years ago and replacements are available now from Thermotec.

I would be glad to talk with you - send me your phone number vial email if you do.

Ben Jeffrey N914RJ

One of our local guys (Atlanta, GA area), Ron Roberts had a Concept 70 for a long time. He liked it. Seemed to be a well built ship. Had a pretty large cockpit. It was capable of landing very short with it's landing flaps. I helped assemble it many times. I seem to remember that it went together easily. Maybe Ron will chime in if he reads this

I owned a C-70 for several years and watched over their construction for a few years as well. Aside from weight, they are delightful ships; very forgiving and extremely strong. The flaps slow the stall speed to about 35 mph which make for easy approaches, however the ship will float and you may have to dump some flap to touch down. An easy solution is to come in with partial flaps. The steel

around the pilot is superb protection. All in all the C-70 is an excellent sailplane.

Best wishes, Bill Nockles

I owned serial number 11 for 15 years. As stated in another reply it is very stable. One hand on the stick at 122kts. redline. The 90 degree flaps take a little getting used to, but once you get the hang you can spot land on a dime. The steel cage from nose to trailing edge of wing gives a lot of crash protection. I refinished mine with prestec in 92. The original 16 were built in NJ with epoxy over gelcoat. I will be glad to answer any questions you have.