Buying LS3a or ASW20a? ~$25k cross country glider. Which one and why?

On Sunday, March 31, 2019 at 10:04:06 PM UTC-5, Michael N. wrote:
I'm looking for a glider for cross country in the $25k range.

I'd like to get a flapped 15 meter, and have been doing a lot of searching and reading on the groups and have kind of narrowed my decision down to an ASW20 or LS3a

I have about 200 hours in gliders all glass, but never anything with flaps, however I also owned and have several hundred hours in a Mooney M20C so have good experience in complex aircraft that require good in flight planning for various aspects of flight.

I was also considering the following, and will list some of my reasons for weeding them out of my choice list.

Ventus B: Great performance, but my understanding from reading (no actual experience) is that they are not forgiving or maybe a better way of putting it, is they require full time attention which can be fatiguing on long flights.

DG 200 or 202, good aircraft but you have to pay annual fees just to buy parts?

Mini Nimbus: also good aircraft, just not up to the same performance level as an ASW20

That kind of leaves the ASW20 or LS3 in this price range and category. Unless I am missing something.

So which would you have and why?
I am leaning towards an ASW20 purchase, but am finding some very well equipped LS3a's in the same price range as a moderately equipped ASW20.

Assuming similar clamshell style trailers and self rigging gear, which is the better buy or which would you have and why?

Also, anyone knowing of an ASW20 or LS3 for sale not already on Wings and Wheels, I'd like to hear about it.

Thanks, I know this topic has been brought up before, but I am in the final stages of preparing for a purchase before the 2019 season gets into full swing and would like to get some final advice before pulling the trigger on this purchase.

Michael,

I happen to own the LS3a (9P) that Dick Johnson did his flight test review on. I had a little over 200 hours of glider time and 0 hours of power aircraft time when I purchased it. After flying this ship for 250+ hours, I don't think the Johnson report was accurate regarding the L/D, however, I don't have the technical data to support my claim. It is my first flapped glider. It took me about 50 hours to get used to the flaps. I never felt like I was "behind" the glider. It has been a joy to fly and I have had a handful of 300km and a few 500km flights in it. It has been the perfect vehicle to teach me how to read the weather conditions on course, which may be much more important at this phase of your development than wringing out the polar of a high performance ship.

In my opinion, find a ship with a good gel coat and a good trailer and spend the next 3 or 4 seasons learning how to soar. Don't get bogged down with relatively small performance advantages, just get a ship and fly as much as possible. Go thru the flapped glider learning curve with a $25K ship and then move on to higher performance.

Paul