304 CZ 17 advice needed

Looking for advice on the 304 cz 17. Is this too much glider for a lower time pilot. Total 200 hours gliders, recent experience 1-36, Grob 103 and a few hrs in Grob 102. (Comfortable, no pio, no bounces, good airspeed control in all three). Considering a 304cz17 but definitely looking for additional advice and opinions. I have a couple hundred hrs power twenty plus years ago. No competition goals, looking for easy to fly, easy assembly.

On Monday, April 9, 2018 at 8:27:05 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Looking for advice on the 304 cz 17. Is this too much glider for a lower time pilot. Total 200 hours gliders, recent experience 1-36, Grob 103 and a few hrs in Grob 102. (Comfortable, no pio, no bounces, good airspeed control in all three). Considering a 304cz17 but definitely looking for additional advice and opinions. I have a couple hundred hrs power twenty plus years ago. No competition goals, looking for easy to fly, easy assembly.



In my opinion, there's no better flapped gliders than the Mosquito/304 series for relatively low time pilots. They are perfectly suitable for pleasure and badge/record flying, and they are quite competitive in Sports/club class if you decide you want to race.

One of my club's instructors has a 304CZ-17. It is docile enough that he has let a couple of our soloed junior pilots fly it. These were 16-17 year-olds with maybe 80 hours flying time. Both had time in our two place glass and both had flown the club's Standard Cirrus (all flying tail). Both flew the 304 like they had been flying it forever.

I have a few flights in a Mosquito and a 304CZ (essentially the same glider with minor changes). Thoroughly beautiful ships to fly. No bad habits in my estimation. Roomy, comfortable, easy to fly. They are not quite as stable as some later ships, but that just means that they retain some of the Libelle's ability to communicate what the air is doing. You will want a thorough briefing on the behavior of the trailing edge divebrake/flap system. It is a VERY effective system, but just a little different than the usual divebrake setup.

The 304 also retains the easy Glasflugel assembly with the tool to pull the wings together, although unlike the Libelle, the wings are HEAVY. Not LS-3 heavy, but noticeable. Also notable: Mosquitoes and 304's were the first gliders to have the automatic control hookups common in nearly all new gliders.

Oh, one caveat if you think you might consider a Mosquito or original 304, the factory finish on the Mosquitoes and original 304's craze and go to pieces (unlike the Libelles). The 304CZ's appear to have a much more durable finish.

Fly safe,

WB

With your 200 hrs in gliders and able to fly a Grob 102, you will have no trouble adjusting to a 304CZ-17. The trailing edge spoilers are easy to to manage and allow fairly steep approaches without building a lot of airspeed..

The parallelogram stick is easy to get used to also.

When I bought my 304CZ-17 in 2001 I had 300 hrs in gliders and my glass experience was in Russia AC4 & ASW 15. I had no trouble getting used to the trailing edge spoilers. I now have about 850 hours in my 304CZ. I am not a competition pilot and have enjoyed 17 years of great soaring in a really wonderful glider.

The Hph finish still looks good and is not showing any crazing.

I usually fly the 304CZ with the wing extensions.

Didn't fly my 304CZ last year as much as I wanted because of Instruction duties at our club.

Go for it, you will not regret buying a Hph 304 CZ.

Chuck Zabinski
N839CZ

On Monday, April 9, 2018 at 8:27:05 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Looking for advice on the 304 cz 17. Is this too much glider for a lower time pilot. Total 200 hours gliders, recent experience 1-36, Grob 103 and a few hrs in Grob 102. (Comfortable, no pio, no bounces, good airspeed control in all three). Considering a 304cz17 but definitely looking for additional advice and opinions. I have a couple hundred hrs power twenty plus years ago. No competition goals, looking for easy to fly, easy assembly.

I just sold my second 304CZ after flying them since 2005. They are a great glider for the money. Feel free to call me if you have any questions. You can also join https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/304CZ/info and https://www..facebook.com/groups/512219248872462/ for additional info.
I sold my glider to get a self launching glider.

Randy Teel
N340RS & N304BU
918-289-3310

I bought the first one in the us, and flew it with less than 150 hrs in gliders. My first glass glider as well. No issues.

The dive brakes are great, but as noted, different. The first half of the travel feel just like any other spoilered glider, but the second half invokes landing flap (and lots of it). If you have it full on, and feel like you are coming in short, you need to take it off slowly, and adjust you pitch to avoid settling in. Just practice at altitude first, and with pitch / brake coordination, you can do it in any point in flight.

I too flew with the long wings all the time.

There can be a few gotchas when rigging, but once you know what to look for when assembling, it is easy. Just watch out for the rotating bearings, if the get rotated and caught on the pins, you can get a slight nick on the pin. That nick can cause the bearing to catch there each time until smoothed out. Easily avoided if you insure correct alignment, and don't force things.

You will love it...

RR