Graeme Cant wrote:
Mark James Boyd wrote:
...snip
I'm pretty happy with the setup at our club. The 'el cheapo
2-33s get students to solo fast. Then the 1-26 adds some variety.
Then the L-13 Blanik shows them spins and some complexity
(since we can train gear and some flap procedures).

I'm puzzled why you wouldn't have two Blaniks. Tell students to ignore
the pink and black handles and you have a no-flap, fixed-gear trainer
(if you think that's a good idea). The rest of the world soloes
students from Blaniks about as rapidly as the US does from 2-33s

Have your students ever damaged one? Does your aerotow training
take more than ten flights for transitioning power pilots?
Have you ever had a student fail to heed your "ignore" advice and
put in flaps instead, destroying the Blanik?

The USAF seems to damage more than a few. They are, in fact,
taildraggers and if the tail isn't kept down after landing then
it slams down. Two Blaniks (in the same club) that I know of were
destroyed by students who in haste used the flap handle as
if it were a spoiler handle.

But with the proper training...LOL. More words = more time.
More time = more time.

The kicker is the insurance company. The insurance costs more
for the same # of hours. And in the US, many experimentals have in the
limitations "must have a pilots license for category and class."
So as an experimental, some Blanik's simply can't be used as
trainers. And as experimentals, they can't be used "for hire"
without a specific exemption.

And 0 US fatalities for 2-33 in 25 years. 6 US fatalities in
L-13 during that time, none of which would have happened in
a 2-33.

2 x stall spin (the 2-33 is almost impossible to stall, even to demo it)

1 suicide on a "ride" (2-33 upright seating means CFI just puts hand over
front seater's mouth and pinches nose. Front seater releases stick,
and bingo, back to CFI control.)

1 too fast overshot landing (2-33 is never accused of being too fast).

1 hit photographer bystander (2-33 landing too slow to hurt anyone,
and too ugly to take pictures of anyway)

1 ATP without a glider rating, 200 ft rope break (hey, man, a trained
ape could land a 2-33. One 2-33 accident report has a solo pilot
who passes out in flight and wakes up with minor injuries after the crash)

Are Blaniks expensive in the US? They sell for the equivalent of about
$US8k here. How does that compare with a 2-33? Could we make a profit
exporting some to you?

I've seen them for $10k frequently here. And they are great
gliders for that, but the 2-33 is about the same price, but
less maint. Just because you don't use the flaps or gear,
the mechanic still has to inspect them here in the US. = $$$$

Low mileage, one careful owner since 1965, only
winched 24,500 times?

Try high mileage, many abusive owners, aerotowed umpteen times,
parts easy to find in the US, crashed on every landing, but with
no injuries and no damage found on the glider. A 2-33 is a tank.

The interesting thing is that the Blanik design is about 50 years old,
not 40!

Hey, I love the Blanik. But for solo of someone who's never flown
a glider, for sheer time to solo I'll always use a 2-33.
I guess the 2-33 just is a more modern technology...
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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA