(Mark James Boyd) wrote in message news:4034d0ed$1@darkstar...

1. You can't see if it's ugly from the inside. Besides, you're
going to wear that stupid fishing hat and take pictures your
wife will see forever, and you're worried about what the
GLIDER looks like?

No, but you can see what it looks like everytime to walk up to it, rig
it, wash it, tie it down. To some people beauty is very important.
And for most people, all things being equal, beautiful (or "more
normal") gets the nod.

2. You can buy a used glider with heavier wings that has
instant maintenance needs for less money. You have all those
hours to work on the glider, but you can't do another
two turns in each thermal? :P

What instant maintenance? Gliders are not like power planes in this
respect. Every new glider I've seen has needed more work to get it
set up and working correctly than the vast majority of used gliders.
You can buy a fully set-up used glider and be flying as soon as you
hand over the check. Good luck doing that with any new glider, from
PW-5s to Nimbus 4s! But as you say, for some new is important, just
like beauty for others. Oh, and you can do all the extra turns you
want, but if you can't keep up with your friends or get back...

The biggest advantages of the Russia and PW-5 is that they are
small and light and new. This is very convenient.
I personally wouldn't give up this kind of
convenience and ease of use for better performance
in a glider I was going to own, but there are those
who don't mind something bigger, heavier, that needs more
frequent TLC. Which type are you?

So what if they are small and light? How much time do you spend
rigging? If you really mind lifting a few more pounds for a couple of
minutes, then by all means get a PW-5 (or Russia, or Apis, etc..).
But then you should also not mind the 25% lower performance. Of
course you could get a one-man rig and not worry about the weight at
all. Ironically, we all seem to be paying money to go the gym to work
out... And all that extra weight (meaning wingspan, and wingloading,
etc.) sure is nice to have on a booming day in the desert.

Some personal observations: I know 4 pilots out here in Arizona who
have owned PW-5s; 3 sold them after a couple of seasons and moved up
to 15m ships (304CZ, ASW-20, and Pik-20). The 4th flew his PW-5
primarily to compete and set records, since he also had an LS8 at the
time, since replaced by an ASH-26, he is hardly the typical PW-5 owner
(actually I don't know if he still has it). There is one PW-5 still
based at Turf where I fly, but it's owner bought a motorglider and I
havn't seen the PW fly in a while (pity, since I've been wanting to
try it out before it gets sold!).

Maybe it's just an Arizona thing, but the PW just doesn't seem to hack
it out here - the guys who had them (both experienced and new glider
pilots) got tired of flying by themselves, watching all the standard
and 15m ships disappear in the distance. And that is not my opinion,
it's what they said when asked why they sold their PW-5s.

This isn't a slam of the PW-5, which from all accounts is a nice
little glider to fly, and is popular with clubs. But anyone thinking
of buying one - especially new - instead of flying one in a club,
needs to think hard about what they want to do with it. I actually
tried to get our club to buy one, so I could race it in the World
Class - no luck.

Just my opinion, worth every penny you paid for it.

Kirk