Well, it was in a club where we had about 10 ab-initio students per year, and the Janus was the least performing aircraft of the fleet. X-country flying was strongly encouraged, and there was no way to buy an ASK21 which you can use more or less for training only.

Over the years, we had one single incident to report (nose wheel push up during landing, would have happened with an ASK21 as well). I didn't see any difference in flight numbers to solo in resoect to other double seaters. And yes, students did use the flaps.

Over my career, I have been flying as an ab-initio instructor in the backseat of Ka7, ASK13, ASK21, SF34, Twin and Janus. Bottom line: The aircraft doesn't matter *at all*.

Le mercredi 30 janvier 2013 14:28:23 UTC+1, Eric Munk a écrit*:
Wow. When I said 'no way' for use as ab-initio, I was not implying it

couldn't be done, but was in no way suitable as an ab initio trainer for

intensive club use compared to other gliders available. I'm sure

Schempp-Hirth never intended it to be anyway.



We do about 4000-5000 lesson flights every year, on ASK-21s mostly. Compare

their landing speed, easy handling, forgiveness, low complexity and

durability against a Janus C (or for that sake, a Duo Discus, etc). An

ASK-21 leaves a lot more room for error for students (which you will need

sooner or later, also during first solos when there's no instructor in the

back). It will get them soloed sooner than a more complex glider, and give

them extra room to further find their way by experience.



Now, if you have one or two students a year, I can understand that given

properly qualified and experienced instructors, a Janus C may be used

safely for ab initio. Buying one especially for ab initio only would be a

no-way, I would say.