Janus 2-seat glider as a club glider?

On Tuesday, January 15, 2013 1:07:15 PM UTC+13, Keith wrote:
I am interested in learning if other soaring clubs have a Janus 2-seat glider in their fleet, which model they have, its suitability as a club ship and whether they would recommend one to a club that was looking for a 2-seat cross country trainer.

If you have other personal experience in the Janus, your opinion would be appreciated.

My club had a Janus A for 15 years until a couple of years ago. I have 83 flights and 72 hours in it, mostly taking friends&family for rides. The only twin I have more hours in is the DG1000 (81 hours). Other twins I've flown include 50 hours in Blanik, 20 in Grob twins, under 5 each in K21, K13, K7, Puchacz.

A lot of people in our club didn't like the Janus. I don't really understand why. Sure, it was more sensitive and less harmonized than the DG1000, but nothing that was a problem for a competent pilot, and the better performance below 50 knots and above 80 made up for it.

WIth the belly hook, sensitive elevator, and solidly mounted wheel I wouldn't want to teach takeoff/tow/landing in it if another two seater was available. Of course it would be possible. Put in in +6 flaps and leave it there and it's as easy to fly in the middle of the sky as a Grob, and with about the same performance. Use the flaps as intended and it'll match or beat a Duo or DG1000.

In our club we've now settled on a couple of DG1000s to do everything from rides/ab-initio to cross country.

If your club is big enough to have a mixed fleet then a Janus (any model) is excellent for putting solo-standard pilots into for cross country training. There are few two seaters with better performance and certainly not for less money.

They're also great for checking people out before they fly a flapped single seater.