And in a higher performance glider Jim Hard would not have had nearly the
achievement that he attained in a 1-26!

Mike Schumann

"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
news:fvdSg.2751$422.1077@trnddc03...
Surfer! wrote:
In message , John Price
writes
snip

Always buy the most performance you can afford.

That you have the ability to fly. There's no point if you start by
scaring yourself silly with tender handling and/or a complicated ship.

Yes, some people do find the transition from a slower, easier to land
glider to the higher performance glider intimidating, and don't develop
their cross-country skills because prospect of a field landing becomes too
worrisome. And some will pursue cross-country a bit too exuberantly, not
realizing the difficulty the higher landing speeds and their limited field
selection abilities will cause them. I'm glad my cross-country career
began in a Ka-6e. It saved me from myself a couple times.

But, low performance isn't just for inexperienced pilots. There is an
advantage to a very good pilot that wants to fly as hard and as long as
possible: at the end of the day, you are not nearly so far from home. Jim
Hard's exploits come to mind. If he was doing those kinds of flights in a
15 meter glider instead of a 1-26, it would be costing him a lot more in
time, money, and burned out retrieve drivers.

--
Note: email address new as of 9/4/2006
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

"Transponders in Sailplanes" on the Soaring Safety Foundation website
www.soaringsafety.org/prevention/articles.html

"A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org