(Andreas Maurer) wrote in message ...
Three years ago (in March 2001), when I asked them when the S2 was
scheduled to fly, the answer was "this summer" (the summer of 2001).

Last year (March 2003), the answer to the same question was "this
fall" (the fall of 2003).

Go figure.

Sailplane manufacturers seem to be overly optimistic on delivery dates
in general. It happened with my Stemme S10VT (ordered 12/86, initial
delivery date summer 87, actual delivery May 88), but the problem is
not Stemme's alone.

When I was at the 1997 SSA convention, I heard a song "Honey we need a
new glider, the one we've got's obsolete." The song, not oriented to
Stemme, went on with several verses that went something like:

"The man called today and said they really are going to ship next
month."

The final verse concluded,

"The man called today, and they really are going to ship next month --
because the next model is coming out the month after... so guess what?
Honey, we need a new glider, the glider we're GETTING's
obsolete."

So it seems like an industry wide problem. If one is cynical, he could
say sailplane manufacturers lie. I prefer to see it as highly
unrealistic optimism.