On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 8:25:10 PM UTC-8, Sean Fidler wrote:
Tough call. The easy part of your question is...why buy a new standard class glider, ever? ;-). I certainly wouldn't. Less high speed performance, less climb, higher landing speeds and not really any easier to rig or less expensive.

I agree, but I'm not considering a standard class. Maybe you thought the Discus 2c is 15m? It's 18m, although 15m tips are available.

I wish I could take these sailplanes for a test flight, but I'm just not quite ready to fly a machine of this class. I'm sure I will be in a year, but then that would make it 1.5 to 2 years before I could take delivery of one.. It would be tough to wait that long. Maybe I should wait until I'm qualified to take a test flight, then see if I can find a used one. If I can't find a used one with a FES, I could possibly buy a used one in Europe and have the FES installed before it's shipped to the US. That would be a logistical challenge, I'm sure.

How much experience would a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's representative, require before they would let me test fly their aircraft? Is that something that buyers normally get to do?