At 03:52 19 August 2009, flgliderpilot wrote:

Out of curiosity, I searched but found no similar thread...

So what was your first glider, how did you find it, how long did you
fly it, did you keep it or quickly out grow it? Would love to hear
your stories...



I bought my Cherokee II with Internship money back in the spring of 2005.
Another guy in our club had owned it for a while but needed to convert it
into cash. I've been flying it as much as I can, which still isn't
enough, but about 20-30 hrs a summer. It's nothing pretty with old
fabric but it was built really well and assembles easy and the trailer was
in OK shape. I've spent this summer slowly re-working (restoring) the
trailer. Should've just built one from scratch. Getting in the home
stretch of that now and have been able to have the trailer operational for
the last two months.

I've pretty much fallen in love with the glider and don't forsee getting
rid of it anytime soon. I'm strongly considering putting new fabric on it
this winter, the old fabric and paint is showing its age. Will be a good
opportunity to go through the glider and make sure it is in good shape for
its next 20 or 30 years of flying. Be careful about falling in love with
an aircraft, it gets expensive.

I've done some pretty significant panel upgrades on it since i got it
including a few new varios and a Microair radio and the associated
electrical system. I also am working on installing a transponder but
haven't had a lot of time for that with the trailer work.


-Tony Condon
Cherokee II N373Y