Harry wrote:

would you recommend this ship for a recently licensed pilot ??? comments welcome!

regards
Harry

We had 2 ASW24 in my club, I had flights in both, one of them has winglets and not
the other one. This last one was recently destroyed in an accident. I find some
pecularities of these gliders are not really suited for beginners, but they are
nevertheless very good and safe gliders, as proven by the fact that the pilot
who had the accident was able to walk out of the glider and ask for help at the next
house. What I dislike in these gliders is the lack of efficiency of the ailerons
at low speed, probably due to their small size, especially at the beginning of ground
roll, where they have a marked tendency to drop a wing. The fact that they have only
a CG hook (but maybe specific to the 2 in my club) doesn't help. Beside that this
ship is a relatively high performance ship and as a consequence, as in any such ship,
speed increases quickly with nose down attitude, which may make speed control difficult
for a beginner. In my club there is a sequence of glider types through which you have
to go as your experience grows, namely ASK21, ASK23, LS4, Pegase, ASW24, Discus, LS6.
There is not a true transition between ASW24 and Discus, they are considered as equivalent
as far as pilot's skill and experience is concerned, however I find the Discus is easier
to fly than the ASW24. The pilot who had the accident is the owner of a Ventus 2a he
could not fly this day because a missing annual and some people suggested that one of
the factor lending to the accident was his lack of training on a ship with a handling
significantly different from his usual glider.