On Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 9:45:11 AM UTC+3, krasw wrote:
maanantai 5. joulukuuta 2016 23.44.13 UTC+2 Tim kirjoitti:

Maybe someday for if Europeans clamor for it, but from a North American perspective, the market for new Standard class gliders is dead.

Best,
Tim

Reason is that there hasn't been a new design since LS8, D2 or '28, so current market is saturated, and std. class gliders are particularly bad at carrying the weight of sustainer and stay competitive, hence 18m wing tip versions (which are even more heavy and less competitive in 15m configuration).

If someone would design a std. class ship that is 3-5% better than current ships plus 50kg lighter, and could carry a electric sustainer engine, market could very well be alive again. I see no reason why that is not possible. IGC class is there, you can always sell 50-100 gliders to top competition pilots. GP16?

Those gliders are all currently 100 on BGA handicaps. Diana is 103. Most 15m are on 104, 105+ is 18m and Open.

Looking in the other direction, the original Discus from thirty years ago is still a 98 handicap (only 2% worse!) and mid 70's Cirrus, DG100 are 90.

There was a big jump from 70s to 80s ships, but really very little advance since then, given fixed class rules. The Diana managed 3%, but I hear it's a little fragile? I don't think you'd want to make one a club glider, with all kinds of bozos jumping in, whereas LS4s and Discus are great in this role.