Bruce Greeff wrote in message ...

As Long as you know it's a raft...

Personally - if it flies I'm game. Having learned to fly in a 1956 tube and
fabric, wooden wing vintage I am constantly pleasantly surprised by the other
types I fly. And equally happy to go up in the vintage (German) bird. Just know
what you are flying, and appreciate it for what it is.

Tried to get a flight in a 2-33 last time in the USA but some genius had just
decided to invade Iraq...

Bruce


Personally, I also enjoy flying anything with wings -including 2-33s -
they all are interesting in their own way, even their faults are
interesting to discover and work around. My objection to the 2-33 is
that it is SO non-representative of the current state of the art in
soaring that it results in a lot of potential (read "rich enough to
afford the sport") glider pilots leaving the sport shortly after
getting their licence, in search of some sport that doesn't force you
to train and fly in a beat-up doggy glider. These are the poeple
riding $20k motorcycles, boats, etc. NO WAY is a guy (or gal) like
that going to put up with a 2-33!

And since no-one in their right mind (except for some friends of mine
who raced a couple of 2-33s XC yesterday - see the ASA forum for
details) would take a 2-33 XC, they result in the total de-emphasis of
XC glider flying at most US schools, and a lack of XC experience among
US CFIGs.

You want to fly an antique, go for it, and have a good time doing it.
But if you want to grow the sport, get a good, modern trainer. THATS
my beef with the 2-33. Oh, and the trim is dangerous, and the back
seat is uncomfortable and is almost impossible to get out of wearing a
chute, and...

Re Blaniks, funny that the Soviet Air Force had no trouble training
all their pilots using Blaniks for 30 odd years (or more?). I've got a
sneaky suspicion that the real problem at the Zoo was due to a
lingering 2-33 trainig mentality, not a problem with the Blanik, which
was actually designed as a military trainer for the entire Warsaw
Pact.

And since I'm a Zoomie, I can say that!

Well, enough tilting at windmills.

Kirk