Surfer! wrote:
In message , John Price
writes
snip

Always buy the most performance you can afford.

That you have the ability to fly. There's no point if you start by
scaring yourself silly with tender handling and/or a complicated ship.

Yes, some people do find the transition from a slower, easier to land
glider to the higher performance glider intimidating, and don't develop
their cross-country skills because prospect of a field landing becomes
too worrisome. And some will pursue cross-country a bit too exuberantly,
not realizing the difficulty the higher landing speeds and their limited
field selection abilities will cause them. I'm glad my cross-country
career began in a Ka-6e. It saved me from myself a couple times.

But, low performance isn't just for inexperienced pilots. There is an
advantage to a very good pilot that wants to fly as hard and as long as
possible: at the end of the day, you are not nearly so far from home.
Jim Hard's exploits come to mind. If he was doing those kinds of flights
in a 15 meter glider instead of a 1-26, it would be costing him a lot
more in time, money, and burned out retrieve drivers.

--
Note: email address new as of 9/4/2006
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA

"Transponders in Sailplanes" on the Soaring Safety Foundation website
www.soaringsafety.org/prevention/articles.html

"A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org