To add to that there is no lifting of the main panels
except to put them in the wing dolly which then swivels
and is at the right height to 'drive' it into the fuselage.
A small lift then to get it onto the trestle to free
the dolly for the other wing. I can rig my 17 on my
own with very little difficulty although I admit it
is easier with 2.
I admit the cockpit of the 17 is on the small size,
as are most AS gliders but I am 6'1' 210 lbs and with
a slim seat back I am very cosy. The thing that swings
it for me is the stunning handling with a good performance,
again common to all Gerhard Waibel designed gliders.

A real bonus, it will climb in the rain, which the
Kestrel would not.

At 19:42 18 July 2005, Chris Reed wrote:
Marc Ramsey wrote:
Robert Backer wrote:

I owned a 17 for about 10 years. I can tell you from
personal
experience that the 17 is very easy to rig IF you
have a good system
and appropriate rigging aids.


Which is true of any big wing glider, including the
LAK-12...

Marc

Hear Hear! Also true of my Open Cirrus (only 17.7m,
but with *huge*
spars tested to 15g by the German LBA without breaking
them).

It takes one minute of handling per wing to get it
onto trestles
(maximum). Then a further minute to line everything
up (no lifting
here), at which point it all slides into place. No-one
runs away when
I'm rigging.

I can't believe that even 15m pilots don't have two
wing stands - some
don't even have one!

A simple dolly to take the wing root while you're swinging
the wing
round means that I don't have to lift the heavy end
for more than 10
seconds at a time.

By the way, aluminium step ladders with a piece of
pipe insulation taped
to the top hoop make excellent, light and stable stands
for very little
money.

This lot can't cost more than 50 bucks max, plus a
couple of hours to
make the dolly.