On Nov 10, 1:29*pm, BruceGreeff wrote:
On 2010/11/09 11:36 PM, Mike Ash wrote:





In ,
* Martin *wrote:

On Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:04:56 -0400, Mike Ash wrote:

I assume everyone posting to this thread with this attitude is flying a
1-26, a PW-5, or something similarly economical, right? I'm sure none of
you would be so shallow as to have spent a bunch of extra money on a
shiny glass slipper....

Well, I'm one of those who got hooked by an ASK-21. I fly one of the
prettier glass toys and its gratifyingly shiny, but it is 41 years old
and has Libelle written on it. So, where does that put me on your scale?

Seems pretty sane to me. I welcome glider pilots in any equipment that
makes them happy. I just think that people who claim that looks don't
matter ought to put their money where their mouth is....

Some folk are strange and actually WANT to fly the vintage trainers.

Now - the opportunity to take the Bergie for a late afternoon lazy amble
over the river as the sun sets is not to be missed. Classic vintage wood
and fabric - gentle lift and peaceful slow flight has many attractions.
But it does not compare to pushing it in a 1:40+ glass single, or even a
composite two seater.
Personally my back is broken after less than an hour the back seat of in
most of the oldies. They are just plain horrible for instruction. My
personal maximum has been 11 flights and around 4 hours in the air in a
G103. Quite a long day if you include all the fetching and pushing
gliders, but no problem. Conversely - 8 launches on one day in a
Bergfalke II-55 cured me of wanting to instruct in vintage gliders... My
back took days to recover.

So depends who you are - I was actually attracted to the club I
initially learned at by the vintage trainers.

Having moved on - I still value some of the lessons they facilitated.
There is something to be said for learning to fly something that fights
back when you abuse it. The K21 is a honey to fly, but I wonder about
the completeness of skills it would provide if it were the only trainer
used.

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I trained in 2-33's years ago, left gliding, and retrained upon my
return in Blanik L-13's, graduating to an L-33 and Jantar standard.
Now my club also owns a K-21.
My perspective, however, is from doing a stint as maintenance
director.
Regardless of it's flying qualities, the Blanik was designed in 1956
when repair labor was cheap, and
now that repair labor and parts have become very much more expensive,
they are increasingly more pricey to fix properly.
From what I've seen, this trend is going to make any procedure to
recertify them very difficult to make economical.
Moreover, their minium 30 year age is going to make metal fatigue an
increasingly difficult problem to deal with even if they are re-
certified.
The high up front cost of K-21's is a signficant hurdle for all, but
the 18,000 hour life and limited number of metal parts.
is a major ongoing advantage if that hurdle can be crossed.
So even if the current crisis passes, it will only provide breathing
room to find the answer we really need:
a low cost fiberglass trainer with the right handling characteristics
from a company with reliable parts supply.
That will be a very tough bill to fill unless we get a prolonged
period of a 95 cent Euro, which doesn't seem likely.