I used to enjoy flying an SHK-1 a few years back.
Climbs very well, so bonus for UK conditions.

Performance is excellent for a wooden glider. Drawbacks:
Quite a heavy rig. Brakes are just about adequate...!!!
(unlike my spelling) It does have an extremely effective
tail parachute on the plus side.

K6e has a fantastic following, though i've not flown
one personally. Your nearly into Libelle money though
Chris.

Luke


At 22:06 17 March 2007, Chris Reed wrote:
Chris Davison wrote:
We are thinking of getting a wooden glider as a second
glider and are looking for something;

1) Cheap
2) Fun
3) Capable of cross country flying...so ok performance
(UK conditions) and comfortable.

Looking at things like a Dart 17 or Cobra 15. Anyone
got any thoughts, experience or alternatives??

Thanks Chris


You might want to consider a Pirat. I only have two
flights in this
model, but both were good fun. In particular, the cockpit
is
comparatively large, and the handling and visibility
are pretty good, as
is the seating position. The main drawback is the three-piece
wing for
rigging, but I've helped rig Pirats numerous times
and it's not too
onerous. Make a dolly for the centre section.

Performance is just sub-K6E I believe, so XC is perfectly
possible
though less good than a Dart or Cobra.

Biggest plus is the price - Pirats seem to be advertised
for GBP 2k to
3k, with trailer, so there's not much cheaper for reasonable
XC
performance in wood.