So the Discus 2 is 20 years old this year.

While announcing the new neo-winglets for the LS8, DG stated that similar improvements to standard class gliders can be achieved through upgrades compared to a completely new development. The economic risk is far lower, though. The LS8 is back in production since 2017. A similar upgrade is available to the ASW24 whose successor never really made it into the Standard class ranks.

Same goes for Schempp-Hirth who added the FES to their D2c design. This model became quite popular in the last years. In 2017, the 2nd place in 15m-German nationals was achieved in an D2a.

So, 80-90% of the production from mainstream companies are now “airplanes�, albeit with high aspect ratio wings.
How sad.

wrote on 7/3/2018 2:59 PM:
So, 80-90% of the production from mainstream companies are now “airplanes�, albeit with high aspect ratio wings.
How sad.

I have a motorglider and an "airplane". There is a big difference between the two,
and both make me smile when I fly them. I also flew unpowered gliders for 2500
hours, and smiled the whole time.

Be glad we have choices, not sad that others don't share yours.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

On 07/15/2018 09:45 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
wrote on 7/3/2018 2:59 PM:
So, 80-90% of the production from mainstream companies are now
“airplanes�, albeit with high aspect ratio wings.
How sad.

I have a motorglider and an "airplane". There is a big difference
between the two, and both make me smile when I fly them. I also flew
unpowered gliders for 2500 hours, and smiled the whole time.

Be glad we have choices, not sad that others don't share yours.


I think everyone should be forced to fly a primary glider launched by
bungee cords off a hilltop. Flying a standard class launched by
towplane is cheating by comparison. Heaven forbid there should ever be
advancements in the sport!