Blanik Stops Building Gliders

tstock wrote:
Sad news. The all metal L-23 has been a venerable 2-place glider for
club operations for many years.

Indeed for very many years. Come on, the Blanik is a 60 year old design
with a L/D of less than 30! By these standards, even the venerable ASK
21 is a high performance ship!

How does this diminish it's role as a trainer? Why would a club want
to waste a modern high performance ship with a 50:1 glide ratio doing
patterns and teaching the basics of flying?

If there are multiple lessons going on then they would need more than
one, and attempting the airbrake failure (slip to land) required for
checkout in a modern sleek ship seems like it would add even more
complications for a beginner.

Since a student pilot is not racing, but just flying in circles, I
don't see why he or she would care if it's 28:1 or 48:1.

-tom

Well, since one has to pay for the tow aloft, the longer you can stay
up, the less the cost per hour of flight...me, I don't care if it's 3:1
or 50:1...I just love to fly

Scott

Well, since one has to pay for the tow aloft, the longer you can stay
up, the less the cost per hour of flight...me, I don't care if it's 3:1
or 50:1...I just love to fly

Scott

I got 2 hours in an L-23 on Sunday, could have probably stayed up
another hour but had to get home

Big day for a beginner like myself.

On Oct 9, 9:10*pm, tstock wrote:
Well, since one has to pay for the tow aloft, the longer you can stay
up, the less the cost per hour of flight...me, I don't care if it's 3:1
or 50:1...I just love to fly

Scott

I got 2 hours in an L-23 on Sunday, could have probably stayed up
another hour but had to get home

Big day for a beginner like myself.

Several years ago, Jean Richard from Canada mentioned that when his
club switched from 2-33 to L-13, they got twice as much air time. The
modest L/D increase was a significant improvement. Of course, this
was all from winch launching.

Frank Whiteley

tstock wrote:
If there are multiple lessons going on then they would need more than
one, and attempting the airbrake failure (slip to land) required for
checkout in a modern sleek ship seems like it would add even more
complications for a beginner.

Nobody says that flying Blaniks should be scrapped just because they are
not manufactored anymore. But if for whatever reason you must buy a new
glider, there's little point in buying a 60 year old design if you can
get a modern design for little more money. SZD's Perkoz seems to be a
good value and even the venerable Puch is still in production.

Since a student pilot is not racing, but just flying in circles, I
don't see why he or she would care if it's 28:1 or 48:1.

A halfways modern training fleet and early cross country flights with
the students (in Europe a required part of the primary trainig) are
maybe two of the many reasons why gliding is so much more popular in Europe.

John Smith wrote:


Nobody says that flying Blaniks should be scrapped just because they are
not manufactored anymore. But if for whatever reason you must buy a new
glider, there's little point in buying a 60 year old design if you can
get a modern design for little more money. SZD's Perkoz seems to be a
good value and even the venerable Puch is still in production.


Well, in the powered world, a lot of people buy Piper Cubs for $30K when
they could buy an older Cessna 172 for about the same money. Some of us
like Nostalgia and if you're going to spend your money on an airplane
anyhow, you might as well get one you like Some buy an airplane just
because it is plain fun to fly, like these guys do with their Blaniks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlRss9WMg-E

On Oct 9, 3:08*pm, "Paul Remde" wrote:

That is a shame! *I did much of my initial glider flight instruction in a
Blanik L-13 and later helped our soaring club purchase an L-23 Super Blanik.
They are easy-to-fly and reliable aircraft.

There is no indication of a cease of production on the LET web site hehttp://www.let.cz/index.php?sec=58

Paul Remde

Paul,

I see what you mean. There isn't any mention of it anywhere on the
web that I can tell. However, I got this information (second hand
through our maintenence chief) from Vitek who runs Blanik America and,
I would think, would be plugged into the latest information and not
send out false rumors. But even his web site http://www.nwi.net/~blanikam/ba/
still shows the L33, L13 and L-23 available.

I noted that the L-23 shown on that site has a two piece canopy (front
is side hinged and rear is rear hinged). However, for several years
the L-23 has come with a single piece canopy (with a very small hinged
canopy section at the wing root) - from serial No. 96-8401 onwards
according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LET_L-23. We had such a CAP
L-23 on our field from 2005-2007. Are these old stale web sites?

Time will tell. I hope that this is a false rumor.

- John

Or this, i saw the Red Bull team in Germany this year, totally amazing
stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5QcYNk_es&NR=1

Robbie



"Scott" wrote in message
.. .
John Smith wrote:


Nobody says that flying Blaniks should be scrapped just because they are
not manufactored anymore. But if for whatever reason you must buy a new
glider, there's little point in buying a 60 year old design if you can
get a modern design for little more money. SZD's Perkoz seems to be a
good value and even the venerable Puch is still in production.


Well, in the powered world, a lot of people buy Piper Cubs for $30K when
they could buy an older Cessna 172 for about the same money. Some of us
like Nostalgia and if you're going to spend your money on an airplane
anyhow, you might as well get one you like Some buy an airplane just
because it is plain fun to fly, like these guys do with their Blaniks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlRss9WMg-E

Both me and my oldest son learned to fly, soloed and had many great
hours individually and together in the L-13. It was a good ship to learn
on -- semi-retractable gear and fowler flaps that got you used to
performing those functions, not nasty but it made you pay attention
(OMG, it will spin), and 28-to-1 glide provided the opportunity to
expand, explore, learn and enjoy. I think it was a good base from which
to move up to glass.

Peter Pryor

illigitimus non-carborundum



ContestID67 wrote:
I was just forwarded a note from BLANIK AMERICA, INC (Vitek Siroky)
that Blanik has ceased producing gliders. However, he will still be
able to source parts.

Sad news. The all metal L-23 has been a venerable 2-place glider for
club operations for many years.

- John