On Saturday, January 3, 2015 4:53:10 PM UTC-7, Cookie wrote:

But really, is there all that much difference from one glider to another? I mean, it's not like you need type ratings!

That's a difficult thing to get one's head around. Experienced pilots who have flown many types seem to feel most gliders handle pretty much alike but to beginners, the differences seem huge.

I think an airplane pilot transitioning to gliders needs a machine that provides the greatest commonality with what they will fly in the future so they can build on their transition experience rather than start over. A 2-32 or 2-33 just doesn't give them that.

ASK-21's are expensive and therefore somewhat rare in the US but they do represent an excellent common denominator for the existing fleet of high performance gliders. I would advise any airplane pilot transiting to gliders to seek out a place where they can use one.