Kirk Stant wrote:

The US on the other hand, seems (IMHO) to have a substantial anti-XC /
racing majority - which would explain the "success" (?) of the
Sparrowhawk and PW-5 over here.

(Sound of loud buzzer for wrong answer) The people buying and flying the
SparrowHawk are most definitely cross-country pilots! You don't buy a
glider like that to float around the airport. It'd be a heck of fun ship
for that purpose, but the people that want to do that seem to buy
cheaper gliders or use the club ships.


Sorry, Eric, I disagree. The US soaring scene is unfortunately biased
by the prevalence of commerial operations - "show up, fly a 1-26 for
an hour, then go home and pull out the honey-do list".

This might be true, but is irrelevant when discussing SparrowHawk owners.

XC is the most fun (to me and my friends, at least), when done in
company with friends, in similar performing ships. With most of the
established 15m and Standard ships, that works well. Somehow, I don't
see a Sparrowhawk keeping up with a V2, ASW-27, or LS8. And if you go
for the Sparrowhawk option, you are opting out of most racing -
unless you go for sports class.

I made no mention of racing or keeping up with an LS8. I was indicating
the people buying the SparrowHawk are very much interested in
cross-country flying. I don't think they are "anti-racing", just not
especially interested in it. Racing and keeping up with an LS8 are YOUR
priorities, not theirs.

I've seen several people out here buy PW-5s (all enthusiastic), do a
little XC, then give it up and sell them because everybody else leaves
them behind.

And I've seen people get that high performance ship, scare themselves
with a high speed landing in a field, and go back to floating around the
airport in it. The glider and the pilot need to be matched to the
situation; it's not one size fits all, for sure.


I see the Sparrowhawk as a typical US "we do it different here"
approach.

Are you saying more choices are problem? I don't think so. We already
have a lot of companies "doing it the same". The people I've seen buying
the SparrowHawk are not dewy-eyed newcomers to soaring, but serious
pilots looking for something different.

I'm sure it's a nice little glider, but not sure where it
fits in the big picture.

You have a lot company, as there are lots of pilots can't see past their
habits and preferences to that big picture.

I know I have no desire to trade my ship for
it - it's easy to get addicted to high performance!

And I wouldn't have your glider - no motor - it's easy to get addicted
to flying when you want to, where you want to, the whole convenience and
independence bit! I can see why you like it, however.

--
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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA