Mike Lindsay wrote:
In article , Ben Flewett
writes
I disagree with the statement regarding maintenance.
A fibreglass ship will always cost less to maintain
than a fabric over metal ship.

I don?t believe a K13 is move forgiving than a Twin
Astir or K21 for training purposes. And, in the unlikely
event of an accident I would rather be in a glass ship.

Isn't it rather difficult to get a K21 to spin? So it must be next to
impossible to do spin training in the glass job?

An instructor asked me to do spin in a Janus. I can assure you there is
no problem entering spin in a Janus, that speed builds up quite fast,
and that you are happy to get out of spin as fast as possible.
But you are right, the ASK13 is perfect for doing spin. It demonstrates
spin much more clearly than the ASK21! However, and contrarily to what
has been stated above by our UK friends, here in France people have
generally sold all their ASK13 to buy replacement ASK21 or Twin Astirs
(at least those who were rich enough). Is it true that the K13 allows
to stay in the air in weak conditions when plastic gilders cannot?
Sincerely i doubt that, particularly if there is the lightest wind, you
will be out of luck, while with a Janus for example, you can still go
against the wind and use flaps in light thermals.


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Michel TALON