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Basic Training Gliders
Once upon a time there was the K13. It was/is a good
basic trainer that is safe and suitable for all basic training needs, but over the years it has become less suitable for teaching pilots to fly modern high performance sailplanes. It is also draughty and noisy (my voice usually gives up after a day's instructing in one due to having to shout over the airleaks coming in around the canopy) and not good at accomodating tall or heavy pilots. As they are getting on a bit, we are no longer permitted to teach aerobatics in them - at my club anyway. Then Schleicher replaced it with the K21 which in many respects is much better, but it won't spin very convincingly, if at all, which cuts out a very important element of the training syllabus. On the other hand, most of the East European trainers spin far too well and too easily and can kill people. Can't comment on American trainers, because I have never flown one. The advanced training requirement is very well covered by such gliders as the Duo Discus, DG500/1000, ASH 25, but there doesn't seem to a modern equivalent of the K13 for basic training! Unless anybody knows of one that is? Could I suggest the following specification: 1) Safe and easy to fly 2) Simple fixed gear undercarriage 3) Easy ground handling (our club is now buying retractable gear DG1000s, but they are a complete pain on the ground) 4) Fully aerobatic, including good spinning characteristics 5) Must be capable of flying all the exercises in the training syllabus 6) Enough performance to make reasonable cross-country flights, but not so much as to make it difficult to get students down. 7) Small enough for easy hangarage - wingspan not more than 17 or 18 metres. Is there such a perfect training glider produced anywhere in the World, or about to be? I am sure that there is a market to be cornered if there is. Derek Copeland |
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