Cockpit Size and Comfort

On Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 10:31:39 AM UTC-4, kirk.stant wrote:
On Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7:00:23 AM UTC-5, PBA wrote:

I flew one for a year and loved it. Heavy on the controls but climbs and penetrates well. I would only lose a little flying with a Ventus and and LS8 if we were at 65 kts or less....

Unless you were thermalling, the only time a Ventus or an LS8 will be flying at 65 kts or less is in the pattern... ;^)

Seriously, a G-102 is a nice club ship, but probably not the best for a first XC ship - if only because it can be a pain to rig and derig (BTDT). I would recommend the LS4 as probably the absolute best (and a much more comfortable cockpit than the G-102, IMO), but they can be rare. Next, ASW-19, Pegase, DGs, etc all have comfortable cockpits - the best advise was given earlier - try them out. Someone mentioned that the Pik-20 had a big cockpit - yes if you are tall and thin, but it's a bit narrow and you have to have room to move the flap handle, so definitely check it out first.

But comfort is what you make of it. I'm pretty hefty (5-11, 240) and fit just fine in my LS6. I just have to make sure I don't have to fold a chart inflight! But it's a racing glider and I like it nice and tight...

Anyway, it's the condition of the trailer that really counts!

Kirk
66

Ask 20 glider pilots this question and you'll get 20 different answers. So, FWIW...

I'm 6'0", 200 lbs, with shoulders and a back that developed their shape thanks to 30 years of swimming. I'm not super wide but the upper back is where I run into issues.

I owned a Grob Astir CS, and it's without a doubt the roomiest cockpit. But, I've flown all of the following and managed to fit pretty well (LS 3,4, 6, and 8). ASW-20, 27 and ASG-29. Libelle 301. Discus and Discus 2b. The only one that was a definitely not for me was a Ventus 2a, but you already knew that.

So, I think the advice to pick your price point first, then go sit in a few gliders that fall into that range makes the most sense.

As far as the Grob was concerned, my two cents. It was actually quite easy to rig if you took the time to figure out a few minor tricks. Those have been covered in prior threads. The other point is that the Grob always wanted to have at least some water. With 20 gallons, it still climbed very well and it ran much, much better. Dry, it was a struggle to keep up with other standard class ships on the run (note that at that point in my soaring career I was probably only 180 lbs, so I had even less personal ballast).

Erik Mann (P3)