Gary,
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Sent: Saturday, 1 September 2007 10:46 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] pause for thought Steve, Without checking the Flytec site, please tell me what/why the size of the market has to do with anything? In the gliding world the majority of pilots learn to fly, join a club and fly club aircraft. In the PG/HG world the pilots learn to fly and if they want to continue, they purchase their own equipment. Each pilot owns their own glider or canopy along with a Vario. As opposed to each glider having a vario (or 2). From this the PG/HG market is significantly bigger. Given the size it's easier to spread the development cost and lower the manufacturing cost with volume. I would appreciate you explaining in simple terms why you endorse the viewpoint expressed in the Soaring Australia article that Emilis refers to. Having said this I don't endorse the viewpoint, but can see how someone with a limited view of the gliding world may come to such a conclusion. It could have been the club the instructor , age of aircraft any number of things. There are not may of us who will put in the hard yards pushing gliders around all day for a couple of flights. People are looking for instant gratification. Are the HG/PG instruments directly usable by GFA pilots? You seem to suggest that they are at least as good, and maybe better for our use? The PG/HG instruments can be used in sailplanes but need to be plumbed to the TE tube. Otherwise they are a little hard to use. I flew with a HG instrument for a number of years when I purchased my first glider. There a number of HG pilots that use there HG instruments when they fly sailplanes. They would be a bit hard to install in a panel, but there are a few sailplane instruments that also require a bit of work to fit. Are GFA pilots missing out on something here? If so what and why? Surely if they are usable in GFA type sailplanes, there are pressing commercial reasons why the manufacturers of these instruments should be promoting them to GFA type pilots. If all factors are equal then we are/could/should be part of that sizable market. This does not seem to be the case - can you also please explain this. I don't think the GFA type market is large enough to offset the development cost to convert them to std panel housings. In the HG world the size /shape is not as critical. 5-10 years ago saw a few manufactures purchasing screen, box and processors ready made and packaged. They wrote there own SW and painted it another color. This ready made equipment was build for some other purpose. They leveraged it to lower the development cost. If I wash cash strapped I would consider a low end HG/PG instrument. I would appreciate a detailed explanation here! Gary -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Trone CIO Sent: Saturday, 1 September 2007 9:33 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] pause for thought Hi Gary, The HG PG instruments are years ahead of sailplane equipment due to the size of the market. Check this http://www.flytec.com/ Cheers Steve From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Sent: Saturday, 1 September 2007 8:53 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] pause for thought Emilis, I picked up on these same points. I would be interested to have your thoughts here. Once upon a time hang glider varios had no TE compensation, due to the totally different dynamics of HG flight, as opposed to that of sailplanes - even if such sailplanes were 25 years (or more), old. I wonder if this is still the case? John Wharington (as one of several/many people involved in modern soaring instrument design), might care to elucidate on at least the "retro instruments" comment. Gary Stevenson -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Emilis Prelgauskas Sent: Saturday, 1 September 2007 5:23 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Aus-soaring] pause for thought The current (September 2007) Soaring Australia contains the following comments by hang glider pilot John Clark (Ps. 6 - 8) offered (somewhat truncated), without editorial, for thought : There were 6 of us on the first few days of the (sailplane) course. But by the end of the week there were just 2 of us. For some, gliding didn't come easy enough. Their lack of immediate success was a problem. For the young, reared on computer games, with mates back home doing something else, the commitment was too much and the goal too far away. They expected to book, turn up & fly. A difference between gliding clubs & hang gliding is, the average age of sailplanes is 25 years, many much older. I don't think I'd be prepared to fly a 25 year old hang glider. For pilots used to low cost modern varios with LCDs, integrated GPS, loggers, glide computers, sailplane instruments are very retro. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.1/982 - Release Date: 31/08/2007 5:21 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.1/982 - Release Date: 31/08/2007 5:21 PM No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.1/982 - Release Date: 31/08/2007 5:21 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.1/982 - Release Date: 31/08/2007 5:21 PM
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