On 2014-10-16 06:00:19 +0000, Howard Lau said:

I'm a rather new glider pilot and I am about to fly on the PW5 as my
instructor deems me to be competent after training on the G103, I've
seen photos and the glider seems small and the wingspan is only 10
meters or so, so I was wondering how she flies. Any PW-5 experiences?

A lot of people criticise the PW5, and the design contest which
resulted in it, but I think it does what it set out to do. Flying-wise,
anyway. It failed to sell thousands and expand gliding as a whole,
which was one of the hopes.

It's a very nice, responsive, docile glider to fly. Like all
single-seaters, it is lighter and more responsive than the Grob. You'll
feel the air much more (Grobs are known as steamrollers around here).

The glide angle is slightly worse than the Grob. Not enough to notice
or affect your planning at 50 - 55 knots, but it gets rapidly worse
above 65 or 70 knots. Don't fly above 65 knots unless you're in heavy
sink (or want to lose height).

On the plus side, the PW5 will circle much tighter and climb much
better than the Grob.

I've done contest flights up to 250 km in the PW5, in thermals. 500 km
would be a big flight in it and need an early start, but 300 is not a
problem.

If the flight doesn't go according to plan, it's very easy to land in a
field. The brakes work well for a steep approach, and the touchdown
speed is low. I've done a number of outlandings in the PW5 and paced
out each one. Normally I touch down about 30m from the fence (typical
NZ sheep/cattle farm fence about 4 ft high), and stop in another 30m.