>Performance is THE main selling point of any glider. We know how to make them >all handle well nowadays and the detail differences amongst composite gliders >are negligible.
I don't think this is true. It may be partially true of pilots who are only interested in competition but I think the reality for many other people who buy gliders is different. Other factors which are right up there are: Utility. Does the glider do what you want it to do? I know someone who bought a glider because it was light and would not strain his back. If you wanted a self launcher or put a high value on a workable sustainer, then you would have a different point of view. I know of several pilots who have stated that they are simply not interested in spending 9 months learning how to fly a glider and would prefer something which was easier to learn even if this had a shade less performance. If you were a club, your values would be different to those of an owner operator, And so on… Maintenance. Some gliders are easier or cheaper to maintain than others. Some new gliders need their wings refinishing after a season or two while others do not. Nice handling: A glider should not fly like a block of flats. I took a friend to fly at a training site and they put him in a Twin Astir. I don't think he would have continued, but they put him in a Janus the second day. Resale value: German gliders on the whole have a better resale price than gliders from elsewhere and self launchers tend to hold their value better than plain gliders. From a club perspective, this is an important point. Safety: This is a vexed question. Do you want a glider which is easy to spin or something which doesn't spin? Most German gliders are very benign these days but the same cannot be said for all gliders. In some cases there is a trade off between performance and ease of handling where extracting the last point or two of performance may make the stall behaviour quite different. Price: Performance: If you are looking for a 2 seat trainer and if you are a club, then the K21 ticks all the boxes (several times). >As for gliding having it so wrong, ask the 1000 a year turnover people. This is also a somewhat unedified comment. You can substitute almost any other sport for the word gliding and get the same answer. Hang gliding, sailing, soccer… almost all forms of sport have had a falling participation rate over the last 20 years or so. People don't have the time, the commitment to learning, the money... whatever the issue is, they are not turning up. With ultralights, the issue is different. Ultralights are barely 25 years old can could be still on the front edge of the curve. Personally, if anyone had asked me to learn to land a Jabiru, I would have run a mile! _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
