Dear Mr Druid,

Just for the record, I have flown a 210km O/R in a
Slingsby Swallow (much lower performance than even
a PW-5) and many flights over 200km in an Olympia 463
in the UK, but I never quite managed to do a 300km
in the latter. All my attempts at the 300 in it ended
up meeting nice, or sometimes not so nice, farmers!
I eventually did complete my 300 in a Standard Cirrus
and the 500 in a Nimbus 2. I have also since completed
a 500k in the Standard Cirrus.

The problem with the PW-5, in my opinion, is that you
can get much more performance for less cost by buying
a second hand 'Club Class' glider. In the UK, the ability
to glide across large dead patches of spreadout is
paramount. It is also nice to own something that doesn't
look like a baby buggie with little wings attached!

Del Copeland


At 16:30 06 July 2006, Welsh Druid wrote:

'Derek Copeland' wrote
SNIP
.. The performance was about K6E, but with
a greater efficient speed range. I am not sure that
I would be that encouraged to fly either type cross-country,
at least not in UK conditions.
SNIP

Why ? - are you that poor a pilot that you need more
performance to do cross
countries ? Lots of us flew K6's, Dart 17's etc with
that sort of
performance and got all our diamonds - and in the UK
!

DB