A ls-4 is a very good glider for low time pilots. At my gliding club
in Holland they use for people who are flying solo and have about 20
solo launches on the Junior (training on the twin II astir and the
blanik). I know that the friesian aeroclub (FAC) uses the ls-4 as
their first single seat solo aircraft (after the first 5 solo flights
in the twin II astir).

You can't realy compare the ls-4 with the ls-3 because of the flaps.
The ls-3 has an airfoile that is highly sensitive to rain. Workload
with the ls-3 during tow is also high because you have to begin at
negative flaps and after gaining some speed you have to change to zero
or +5 flaps. The workload is even increased by the fact that most
ls-3's only have centre of gravity tow hooks. There is a modification
for the ls-4 (maybe also ls-3?) to fit a nose hook. You should also
change the flap setting during landing (from +5 or +10 to zero, to
keep the ailerons effective). The ls-4 has very good aileron
effectivity even at low speeds (read at the beginning of the tow)

Diederik

(Mark James Boyd) wrote in message news:412e8f46$1@darkstar...
iPilot wrote:
BTW. While writing the requirements, I had LS 4 in mind. It seems to be a
good candidate for that purporse.

Perhaps DG, who has taken over the assets of LS but doesn't want to
produce the LS4, could be persuaded to transmit the production rights
to a manufacturer in a low-wages country? With all the LS4's already
flying, it would make a great monotype Word Class glider...

Hmmm...8 fatal accidents in LS-3 or LS-4 in the USA in 24 years.
0 in the Russia. Of course, there are likely a TON more LS-3/4s,
and flying for a lot longer. Interesting, half the LS fatals were
high timers ridge flying...

So I'm gonna say both the AC-4c (maybe with back opening canopy)
and the LS-4 might be good World Class competitors, if retract
were allowed.

Never flown an LS-4 though. Good for a low time pilot? (20-50
hours?) I suppose the easiest way to tell is to call an
insurance company, and get quotes for a typically priced
LS-4 and AC-4c, and compare...