'AS'
Yep. Thanks. I was just looking at that. Even in Europe, it seems there is precious little available in glass trainers for under $40k, let alone under $25k. Maybe if we just wait long enough, enough glider pilots will die off or age out, and enough clubs will fold up, and the popularity of soaring will drop enough, that those glass trainers will be so hard to get rid of that the prices will drop (assuming they are not crashed or damaged during this wait). I'm not holding my breath though.

As for glass trainers under $40k, Schiebe/Centrair SF-34's often come up for sale on the Segelflug.de site for well under $40k. The few that were built by Schiebe were designated the SF-34 Delphin. The much more numerous Centrair built SF-34 is designated the SF-34 Alliance. Hardly anyone in the U.S.. seems to know about them. Only 2 were imported to the U.S. and my club now has both of them, so if you want one, you will have to import it. It's a good looking glider with a reasonably large cockpit and a 485 lb payload, 16.5 meter span. Easy to fly. Thermals well and runs about like the ASK-21. Not quite as rugged as the ASK-21, but is approved for basic aerobatics. The landing gear does not handle heavy side loads well. Original finish on the A model was dull and sort of greyish white. Definitely not up to standards of Grobs and ASK's. Most have been refinished to a better qualityu at this point. The B models had some improvements in that respect and had some other improvements such as a better wheel/brake design. I have no idea about parts availability or support. I think Schiebe has gone out of the aircraft manufacturing business, but some version of Schiebe seems to still exist providing service to the huge number of motorgliders that Schiebe produced. Schiebe produced a few SF-34's in the early 2000's, so I would think they could provide parts still. We have had ours for over 15 years and have never had to buy any parts. Most of the parts that wear, such as in the control linkages appear to be common off-the-shelf aircraft components or are of standard aircraft construction so could be pretty easily reproduced. Tost still lists an improved drum brake wheel and a disc brake wheel for the SF-34.