On Jun 11, 11:50*pm, Andreas Maurer wrote:
Speaking for Germany, the World class here has always been regarded as
a joke - and people flying PW-5s instead of standard or club class
gliders have been laughed at. No joke.

General consensus here is that someone who buys a glider with Ka-6
performance for the same price as a used LS-4 must be mentally ill.

I'd really love to know where all these mythical LS4s are.

Our two PW5s cost us NZ$25k each brand new, which would have been
around $15k or 13k EUR at the time.

If I recall correctly, they came out from Europe in the same container
as some gliders coming for the '95 Worlds. I also seem to recall that
people were still flying LS4s in the Worlds at that time.

The used glider alternative would have been a Libelle or Cirrus from
the early 70's.

Those certainly have more performance than a PW5, but they are far
less suitable for early solo flying and first cross country flying and
outlandings. The Cirrus has a belly hook and an all flying tail. Both
have much more marginal airbrakes than more recent designs.

We throw people in the PW5 after about 5 solo flights in the Grob
(back then) or DG1000 now. Would you do that with a Libelle or Cirrus?
I don't think so.

I'd certainly be interested to learn if German clubs do it with an
LS4.