On Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:26:39 +0200, @ neshe dot com wrote:

Recently, I was invited by the Diana-2 dealer to be part of the
potential customer flight tests in Switzerland. It was a humiliating
fiasco. I've written about it on my blog www.neshe.com Please feel
free to browse.

I think when the sellers became aware of the facts:

- the complainant does not own a glider of his own
- he talks of a syndicate with 3 or 4 pilots
- he does not mention having ever flown in serious competition

Surely the typical profile of a Diana 2 customer

- already owns competitive racing sailplane
- competes, probably at national or international level
- has a significant amount of money at his disposal and the motivation to
spend it on a very specialized racing glider.

Rather the complainant talks about being an engineer, and wanting to write
a technical assessment of the glider. The the Diana sellers invited
potential customers to fly the glider, not journalists who wanted to do
test flights. If they wanted the latter I suspect the complainant would
not have been on their shortlist of invited journalists.

I can well believe they declined to let him fly - if it was my prototype
I would also have said 'No'. I doubt they would offer me a test flight.
(Not because I don't have the qualifications but simply because I cannot
afford a new Diana).

But maybe there was some lack of communications. Possibly due to the
multitude of languages and cultures involved.


Ian