On Nov 9, 4:34*am, Derek ruddock wrote:
Funnily enough, my first trial flight was at Cambridge Club: I was
launched in a K13 and had a short thermalling flight, but never went
back because I was expecting a sleek fibreglass machine rather than
something that was older than I was (29 at the time).
I ended up joining London gliding club, whos had a fleet of 6 K21's,
and went solo in one of their K23's (a single seat version of a K21)


Lasham runs a large fleet of elderly K13s, albeit with nosewheel
conversions. I often wonder to what extent they put people off
gliding. However they are excellent trainers, with just enough vices
to teach pilots to deal with anything they may come across later in
their careers. We have a couple of K21s, but they are so bland and
easy to fly that they might cause problems later on, IMHO as an
instructor. We mainly use them for aerobatic training, glass
conversions and general fun flying.

The advantages of the K13 also include low capital value and lower
insurance costs. In fact Lasham's K13s are only insured for third
party and seat insurance, as required by EASA regulations. If we
damage them, they are either repaired by our in house maintenance
organisation or scrapped, not that we have had to do that for a long
time.

Derek C