Pilot Bald wrote:

This business of 3000 hour lifespan limitation is,
undoubtedly, a major hurdle.

Yes.


Centrair must have plenty of evidence that the structure
does not disintegrate after 3000 hours ??!!


Obviously if Centrair was still in business the life would be extended
exactly the same as all german gliders. The problem is that
Centrair is no more in the glider business, they subcontract parts for
other aviation factories:
http://www.indre.cci.fr/implanter/sa...=CAA&fic_id=24
I have found this by googling:

The FAA has published a recent Airworthiness Directive stating that all
Pegasus gliders are limited to 3000 total flight hours. This arose because the
original certification paperwork for the Pegasus in the U.S. stated there was
a 3000 hour life and did not include a procedure for a major inspection at
3000 hours to extend the life beyond that point. In Europe, the Pegasus has a
12,000 hour life limit with major inspections required each 3000 hours. Once
Centrair comes up with a 3000 hour inspection procedure that satisfies the
FAA, the FAA should publish a new AD setting forth that procedure and allowing
Pegasus gliders to be used beyond 3000 hours if the inspection is complied
with. Hopefully, that new AD should come out in a few months.

Of course this 12000 hours limit is a reasonable limit and extends to a period
where nobody will still want to fly such an old beast.

Clearly Centrair treats its american customers in an indecent way, and
this is a major problem for them. Am i surprised of this lack of seriousness?
Not really, knowing all those stories about the Marianne and other Centrair
fiascos. To extend the discussion one of the main problems in France is the
poor state of small industries (what we call PME). Conversely Germany
has a very strong net of such small industries, which innovate, export, etc.
The Pegasus was a success, not because of Centrair, but because of the wing
studies by public researchers, and subsidies by the French glider
associations. When all that run out, so did Centrair.


--

Michel TALON