The beauty of the 2-33 in my humble opinion, is that it gets people into the
air cheaply and quickly...is it the best? Well...at getting people into the
air cheaply and quickly AND safely...yeah I'd have to say it is. Someone
else mentioned "leagues" of soaring pilots in the US learning to fly in
2-33's and it probably is the truth. If they were available today new for a
reasonable cost, I'm sure clubs and schools would buy them. Cheap to fly,
cheap to insure, cheap to maintain...

I think what we sometimes forget, is that real soaring is learned almost by
ourselves, over time and through trial and error.Alone in the cockpit, by
trying things, not simply by just being taken out for a ride and being shown
how to soar...we learn in little increments, step at a time, learn a skill,
master it and learn a new one. We compare our performance to others in our
little brotherhood and emulate those better than us in many cases. The 2-33
allows us to get to the point where we can start to learn. The day I was
handed my first pilot certificate, Mr. Roy Beech handed it to me and said
"Now Steve...never stop learning...that's all this really is, a license to
learn"

In short, I think people should quit picking on the 2-33 and recognize that
it is an excellent entry level trainer, that offers its students the ability
to fly it from almost the first minute they touch the stick...and it begins
teaching us almost as quickly, what it wants or needs...I learned in one and
I think if my sons learn to fly, they'll learn in one...and from the first
ride in that grungy old 2-33 I have loved soaring. For me it has never
stopped and if I owe that to the venerable 2-33 then for me...that's enough.

For all it's faults as a sailplane, I have to say, to build a better intial
trainer, that is still being used daily, some 50 years after its inception,
is certainly worth more respect than that which some of the outspoken pilots
on here seem to grant.

It may not have taught me everything I needed to know about soaring, but it
sure taught me to love it...

Steve