Grob G103 Twin Astir

what is it?

The Grob G 103 Twin Astir is a glass-reinforced plastic, two-seat sailplane that was developed in Germany in the 1970s by Grob Aircraft AG as a counterpart to the single-seat G 102 Astir then in production. Construction throughout is similar, although to preserve the centre of gravity of the design, the wings were given a slight forward sweep. While many two-seat derivatives of single-seat sailplanes have fixed undercarriage, due to the added space restrictions created by the second seat, Grob devised a novel retraction system for the Twin Astir.

base stats

• speed 250 km/htop speed
• size 650 kgmax take-off weight
• built 291made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 50 years ago, in 1976.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 17.5 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.

no engine: No engine: it glides on rising air.

spec sheet

first flight

1976-12-31

number built

291

role

sailplane

origin

🇩🇪 Germany

makers

Grob Aircraft

engines

none (glider)

crew

2

length

8.1 m

wingspan

17.5 m

height

1.6 m

max take-off weight

650 kg

top speed

250 km/h

range

—

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.