Debacle: Flight test of Diana-2

wrote:

Naresh,

Would you please share with us:
- What are your total glider hours flown as PIC ?
- Total hours flown in gliders with L/D40.
- Actual hours flown in gliders with L/D40 this year.

You mentioned only having 4 log books and 1250 flights.
Mark

Mark

Among glass ships, I have flown Astir Jeans, Speed Astir (L/D ~40), LS4
(few flights), twin Astir, Janus (L/D 40 solo and carrying joyriding
pax, flapped), DG500 (L/D 40 solo and carrying joyriding pax), Fox,
ASK21 (over 20 hours this year carrying joyriding pax. DG300 (L/D 40
over 70 hours done this year alone and four flights on DG300 and one on
K21 in the last 4 weeks inspite of non-soaring weather here). All this
was known by the German/swiss/austrian distributor. He knew the hours
and the flights.

In addition, I've flown a host of lower performace gliders since
1982-1992 [Schweizer 2-22ek (my first solo), 2-33, 1-26 (over
200flights), K6, K7, Olmpia, T21b, Grurau baby]

The reason that I'm in the market for a new glider is that the DG300 of
the club will be sold, since I flew 95% of its time this year and the
others dont fly the DG300. I'd like to buy a high perf glider in a
syndicate. The gliders under consideration were (old ls8, old ventus,
new Lak17 and 19 and Diana-2).

Best,
Naresh

Stanford Korwin wrote:

Mr. Beres has responded (in Polish) to questions on
the Polish gliding website regarding Mr. Naresh's complaint.

As I interpret his comments, he did not consider Mr.
Naresh to be sufficiently experienced on high performance
sailplanes to undertake a trial flight on the Diana
safely - particularly as Mr. Naresh was not familiar
with the site and in, apparently, not ideal meteorological
conditions.

A statement from the organiser of these trial flights
(in Germany and Switzerland) is promised today.
If it is in English, I will supply the website address.
If in Polish, I will summarise his comments.

Unless I am requested not to do so.

sta13.

Just a quick update, I've added a photograph of the NOT IDEAL
METEOROLOGICAL conditions on the site. I'll have another one with the
limp windsock shortly.

Thanks for nice words, but you are wrong.
I believe that group will hear the other side story soon.

Mark

On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:45:17 UTC, "Udo Rumpf"
wrote:

It is none of your business.
It is only between him and the group that put on the demo
by invitation only.

Could that not be said about the whole sorry business? If one part of
one side is made public I think it is reasonable to ask for fuller
details from both sides, or simply to conclude that it sounds very
unfortunate but we are not in a position to judge anyine.

Ian

--

The first ever presentation of brand new Diana 2 was of considerable
success and a thoroughly positive event, nevertheless there was fog in
the morning and few hours of sunshine only. Until now only the
competition pilots Janusz Centka and Sebastian Kawa and the two other
test pilots of BPB (Bogumil Beres' production company of Diana 2) had
been flying. Now for the first time ever customers had the unique
chance to fly the new Diana 2.

We started in Germany (the country with the strongest glider community)
in the Swabian Jura in Aalen-Elchingen where the rate of glider pilots
per square meter is the highest in the world. Pilots who flew Diana 2
- the dream glider to many - finished the flights with a smile of
satisfaction on the face.

The testing customers were positively thrilled about the way Diana 2 is
flying. Some feedback: the glider is easy to fly and also safe. None of
the pilots (among them also competition pilots and instructors) could
make the glider spin or stall completely. The view out of the cockpit
is unprecedented - so far no other glider can boast of such an
incredible - wide view from the cockpit (both forward and backward).
The Vice-World Champion Yvonne Schwarz could even see the rudder from
the cockpit. She said "It's like sitting in a swimming pool",
"I'm not flying, I'm just in the air". Also the glider shows
the pilot in a fine way where the thermal is standing. (On the first
day there where some week ones).

With such positive feedback from all those who had the chance to fly
Diana 2 it is understandable that those who couldn't feel unhappy
about. Despite being easy to fly and handle we should still remember
that Diana 2 is a high performance sailplane demanding a little bit
more than just basic knowledge of flying.

I believe it is more reasonable not to allow somebody to fly it then
face all the possible tragic consequences of an accident. Therefore
saying "no" at the last moment was not a matter of trying to
humiliate Mr. Sharma by any means as he claims - but protecting both,
the person and the glider. It's also worth mentioning that our
decision was confirmed by the local gliding instructor who shared our
doubts. Mr Sharma said to me personally that he had only 200 hours and
no experience on racing class gliders.

Our decision was not based on personal preferences but on extreme
caution and common sense. Safety is the most important issue in our
sport. There are some examples of crashes during presentations of
gliders. We are sorry that Mr Sharma mistook safety priorities for a
personal attack on his person. However I'm thankful to Mr. Sharma
that he is stirring a discussion about the BPB dedication to safety
matters. We pay a lot of attention not only to excellence in sailplane
production but also to maximum safety of our clients.

For those interested in more information about Diana 2 you can
subscribe to my English and German speaking Newsletter by sending an
email with "subscribe" to or just
call me (+49-178-358 83 08). The pictures and detailed report from the
first three days of test flying of customers will be on my webpage
(English version coming soon) within the next days.

I think that it is very easy to write something negative and by this
damage our gliding sport. Instead we should be thankful to visionary
people like Bogumil Beres who make the gliding sport go forward.

Cheers
Alexander Mueller
www.dianasegelflugzeuge.com

Hi,

I agree with Udo. I respect that they may have been concerned about his
experience, but then why did they let him come out to fly the glider and let
him pay for a local checkout flight since they obviously had no intension of
letting him fly. They started to put the glider away before his checkout
flight. That was extremely rude. My guess is that they let him come out to
see the glider and let him believe he would get a chance to fly it because
they wanted him to see the glider so they could sell him one. It is much
better to see a product first hand. Very misleading and questionable
marketing practices. Just my opinion.

Paul Remde

"Udo Rumpf" wrote in message
.. .
It is none of your business.
It is only between him and the group that put on the demo
by invitation only. He was invited.
Assessing some ones qualification is not done through log books only. It
is only a part. The problem it appears lays with the organizers. They gave
the pilot the run around. The decision should have been made to let him
fly or not before he left his home. This group certainly should reimburse
his expenses. If only for public relations.
He has a right to be ****ed off about it.

Udo
Naresh,

Would you please share with us:
- What are your total glider hours flown as PIC ?
- Total hours flown in gliders with L/D40.
- Actual hours flown in gliders with L/D40 this year.

You mentioned only having 4 log books and 1250 flights.
Mark

Hi there,

I must agree with Paul and Udo. That was indeed very unprofessional and
rude treatment of a potential customer. I think that Mr. Mueller is not
very convincing in his statement about the "safety" issue.

jk

Contrarywise, this is the perfect forum for airing this type of
dispute.

The prospect of being judged in public forces the other side to
respond, whereas otherwise they might simply shrug it off. How the
other side conducts themselves provides useful information for members
of the gliding public who may wish to deal with them in the future.

Lets be adult for a moment. What grounds other than actual safety of an
inexperienced pilot and the glider could there be behind the decision
not to let Naresh fly? the whole discussion seems a bit childish,
overly emotional frankly speaking

The heated and hostile reaction of Naresh and above all rather far
fetched assumptions about the glider itself in his blog suggest that
perhaps he is a little too emotional about his skills and clearly has a
problem with esteeming his abilities... Good pilots should be able to
take a second look at themselves instead of reacting the way Naresh
did.

Gentleman - let's be men, not whining children who didn't get their
candy.

Olivier

I believe it is more reasonable not to allow somebody to fly it then
face all the possible tragic consequences of an accident. Therefore
saying "no" at the last moment was not a matter of trying to
humiliate Mr. Sharma by any means as he claims - but protecting both,
the person and the glider. It's also worth mentioning that our
decision was confirmed by the local gliding instructor who shared our
doubts. Mr Sharma said to me personally that he had only 200 hours and
no experience on racing class gliders.

We need some facts...

1) Was this decision based on Mr Sharma's previous flying experience or
on the results of his checkride ?
2) Is it true that by the time he landed the glider was already being
disassembled ?

Bartek