Libelle suitability for beginners

The Libelle makes a fine first glass ship in my opinion. The one Hank is talking about (JR) was owned near me years ago and was my first glass flying.. In my opinion the handling differences between glass and everything else is over played.
You'll be fine! I'd stick with the 201 for a first glider for a low time pilot. You dont need the flaps of the 301 just yet. It's been a while but if I recall correctly the 301s had a balsa core and the 201 foam? Not a big deal, but something to consider during a pre-buy inspection.

On Sat, 15 Feb 2020 15:24:20 -0800, dtarmichael wrote:

You'll be fine! I'd stick with the 201 for a first glider for a low time
pilot. You dont need the flaps of the 301 just yet.

One of these days, if I'm lucky, I'll get to see a 301. It seems that
most of them are in the US: there aren't more than 5 or 6 in the UK and
none live anywhere I've been.

BEEN It's been a while but if I recall correctly the 301s had a balsa
core and the 201 foam? Not a big deal, but something to consider during
a pre-buy inspection.

Not quite: 201s were entirely balsa until s/n 110 (mine is 82). The
transition from the all-balsa 201 with no water and both-surface airbrakes
to the 201B with all-foam surfaces, top-surface airbrakes and water bags
as standard started with s/n 111 and was complete at s/n 182.

FWIW, the first few 201s had fixed undercarriages too (Standard Class
rules!) but I believe they were all converted to retracts when the rules
changed. I've seen s/n 5, which was converted, but never an unconverted
one.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

I bought a Libelle 201b before soloing and left it in storage until I got my PPG certificate. The next week I flew the Libelle with no prior single seat experience. I trained in a Blanik and had only one or two training flights in a Duo Discus. I had no problems and found the Libelle very sweet, particularly as a climber. Rudder pedal pressure is extremely light, I preferred to fly with thin soled shoes. On landing, don't touch down too fast or it will bounce. Very easy and light to rig. The detachable canopy can be a negative. Make sure nobody steps on it when you are rigging.

On Sun, 16 Feb 2020 00:00:27 +0000, Martin Gregorie wrote:

Not quite: 201s were entirely balsa until s/n 110 (mine is 82). The
transition from the all-balsa 201 with no water and both-surface
airbrakes to the 201B with all-foam surfaces, top-surface airbrakes and
water bags as standard started with s/n 111 and was complete at s/n 182.

I should have added a warning I was given about 201s with double surface
brakes: If you're forced to land out on long, thick grass or crop, try to
put the brakes away just before dropping into the long stuff or you may
find the lower brakes severely bent, though I suspect that remembering to
do this may be a stretch and this may make getting it into the trailer
'interesting'.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org