LAK-12 Question

I have a little time in a friend's Lak-12 flying XC out of Turf, AZ.

Nice glider, if a little crude compared to similar German offerings.
But everything works.

Cockpit is big and comfortable, except for a "roger hook" type thingy
at the rear of the canopy that would probably have put a dent in my
noggin on a hard landing - but then I sat way back with the backrest
removed. No real comfort issues during several 3- 4 hour flights.

Flies nice, but it is a 20 meter ship, so adverse yaw is an issue.
Real good weak weather ship. Never got to fly it ballasted, but
chasing my friends in their 15 meter/std ships, I would gain on climbs
and lose on fast long glides in typical strong AZ conditions - exactly
what you would expect for an unballasted 20 m ship. On weak days, it
would easily outclimb smaller ships, and late afternoon/evening final
glides were wonderful - felt like you could go forever!.

Landing took some care due to adverse yaw and long wings. Also, wheel
is too far aft (IMHO), so it is easy to put on nose using the
effective wheel brake (very un-german in that respect!).

Now the bad part. ONE PIECE WINGS. Real heavy to rig/derig, huge
trailer.

So solve the rigging issue (one man rig, lots of friends, hangar) and
it's really got a lot of bank for the buck!

I think it would be a great ship for the midwest (lots of runways/big
fields to land in) but I worried about landing out in small narrow
desert strips with it.

If offered, I would fly one again in a heartbeat!

Kirk
LS6-b "66"