"The Standard vs. Flapped decision is a bit harder. All of the Sages say 15 meter (faster/safer), I'm leaning Standard (simplicity). But it's not like I have Standard tattooed on my shoulder, or something I am going to lose sleep over. I'll reconsider how much "simpler" it really is. Perhaps it's like driving a manual transmission where you don't even think about it after the first day of ownership. And of course, I deal with flaps every day at work, it's not Rocket Science."

Do you generally fly a glider in trim? If so, flying a flapped machine, most of the time you just adjust the flaps when you change your flight condition instead of adjusting the trim. There are different views on whether to change speed first and flaps after or vice versa, so probably it doesn't make much difference. Personally, I slow with the elevator, then lower flaps, but lead with the flaps to speed up.

The only high workload time can be on take-off. Many gliders give you aileron control earlier if you start the ground run in negative flap, and then you want to change to positive flap once you have aileron control but before the flap change will bounce you into the air. Since you want to have your hand on the rope/cable release through most of the launch, this means moving your hand to the flap leaver and back again. You certainly want to be able to do it without looking down for long. However, again in most gliders this is not essential.

If you were to invest in a fancy flight computer like an LX9000, it is able to tell you in an easily intuitive way whether you are in the right flap setting for what you are doing, and if not what setting you should be in (when I flew a friend's ASH31 I asked about flap speed ranges, and he said just look at the LX - he was right, it was easy).

I recommend an ASW 27 - look what Bruno does with his, it is comfortable, safe cockpit, said to be delightful to fly, and well made.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2017 04:37:43 UTC, Jeff Morgan wrote:
After a 12 year soaring hiatus to advance my airline career, I am back in.. I rejoined my old club and got a flight review, and am happy to report the passion is still there.

However, I am at a crossroads, much like before. Our club is all metal ships. Between that and the club time limit per flight, cross country is out of the question. To progress I need to get my own ship sometime between now and next season.

The question is the best path. I know I want to fly XC. I have never had more fun in flying than my few XC flights (believe it or not, I find glider XC more fun than jets). Being very competitive, I *think* I want to race. But having never done it ... can't be sure until I actually do a race.

Being light on the glider experience (120 hours, 15 glass) I was thinking at least one year of cross country flying, probably two, before I have any business entering a contest.

So what glider to get? I find myself wanting Standard Class more than 15 meter just for simplicity and enjoyment. But flapped ships are not completely out. To some extent, I have to take what the used market has to offer over the next six months.

The Current Thinking is to go all-in and just buy a ship that is currently at the top of the class (which today means DIscus, LS-8, Ventus, or ASW27). That way I do all of my learning in the ship I would eventually (hopefully) race in 2019 or 2020. And if racing does not fulfill me, I still have a great ship.

But some doubts about the wisdom of that approach have crept in. Perhaps I should be looking at a ship less competitive but still solid for XC that would be traded later?

Something with 17 meter tips perhaps. The older Ventus gliders jumped to mind first, but they are long in the tooth and in the game of musical gelcoat chairs, the music would stop and I would be the guy left without a chair..

The 304CZ then came to mind. Being generally newer, gelcoat and trailer would likely be great, and still great when I sell. I could even do a few races with 15 meter tips "just to see". The downside, I would have to buy and get in tune with a new ship before serious racing.

Or maybe I am just over-analyzing this thing?