Bill Daniels wrote:

If it's a soft plowed field, would you be able to get a heavy 40 foot long
trailer to the glider? And get it out when it's even heavier with the
glider in it? It wouldn't work around here in eastern Washington state as
the vehicles would get stuck, and many farmers would not like the car and
trailer on their plowed field.

Is there any real difference between a 30 foot trailer and a 40 foot in this
situation?

I would expect a much larger and heavier trailer to be a much bigger
problem. The tow car has got to pull a lot harder, with a greater risk
digging into the soft dirt, You can't manhandle it as easily if it gets
stuck.

It's also worth pointing out that with the LAK's performance, it
shouldn't arise often.

That depends on the pilot ^ - nobody needs to land in a field if it's
important not to, and at 20 meters, many airports and private strips are
unusable. The fear of a difficult retrieve or damage when landing on a
small airport makes the pilot fly more conservatively, which reduces his
soaring pleasure, and I suspect that factor is about half of the reason
these gliders are so cheap. The other half is the irritation of dealing
with them on the ground, or paying for a hangar.


The LAK WILL be more of a problem in retrieves but if you think about it you
can deal with it.

Agreed! A prospective owner should consider the hassles and if there are
acceptable solutions to them, and not be let the "bang for the buck"
figure crowd out consideration of these issues.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
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