On 12 Aug 2003 07:51:10 -0700, Kirk Stant wrote:
hard time getting any of them to join our club and fly our G-102 (GPS,
glide computer, O2, XC encouraged, 20$/hour or $500/year all you can
fly!) - they mostly seem to want to grind around in 2-33s or 1-26s
until they get bored or run out of money, then we never see them
again.

I noticed this sort of thing when I lived in Houston as a member of the
SCOH. They had a 2-33, several Blaniks, and a Grob 103.

The 2-33 and Blaniks were difficult to schedule during the flying
season. I was learning gliders at the time, and I decided to schedule
the under-used G103 instead. Instantly, my scheduling woes were gone.

I couldn't figure out why no one would fly the ship - it flew nicely,
thermalled well, and as a consequence of no one scheduling it, I had
a couple of very enjoyable multi-hour soaring flights whilst working
on my ticket, including a couple of memorable flights where I got it
slow enough in a thermal to go around with the hawks.

Admittedly, I like the Blaniks too, they handle very nicely even if
they aren't a cross country machine (and living where I do now, it's
more important to have something that will thermal on a fart rather
than the latest 50:1 super glass). But the 2-33? Very nostalgic and
all that, bit it steers like a cow.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"