Chris Prince wrote:
I'm not a frequent reader of rec.aviation.soaring, so at the risk of
asking a common question, I'll pose my question. I fly cross country here
in the meaty middle (cheesy middle? ) part of the US-- mostly Wisconsin,
often Minnesota, sometimes Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan. I often
land off-field (in 50 cross country flights, or attempts, I've landed
off-field on 26 flights).

I'm curious about the "back-story". Who retrieves you all those times?

snip

I want to change ships. Presently, I fly a Schweizer 1-35. While I enjoy
the heck out of flying this ship, and have it pimped out just right , I
have reached max gross weight on the ship, and want to add more toys. For
example, I want to take my ship out West to do some mountain flying, and
thus need to add an O2 system. While some people decide to fly over max
gross weight, I don't choose to do so.

The SSA Sailplane Directory shows a 260 pound payload for the 1-35,
which seems enough to carry plenty of toys. The gliders I'm familiar
with have a *lower* payload, so I'm not sure a different glider will
improve the situation. If you are likely to be close to the max cockpit
weight, you better carefully weigh any glider before you buy it and
determine the allowable cockpit load, or you will probably still have
the over-gross problem.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* Sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org