On Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:29:10 -0800, tsmolder wrote:

We, the Soaring Club of Houston, are looking to expand beyond our
current training program of the private license and into the cross
country development arena. We are looking for a good 2 seat XC ship that
the club XC coaches (5000+ hrs in XC) can fly with a newbie and yet keep
up with the LS-4, ASW-20 single seaters, without the $120K expense of a
Duo Discus.

My club (Cambridge GC in the UK) has a two seat fleet of 2 ASK21s, a G103
Twin Acro II and a Puchacz. During the summer we operate 24x7 with two
paid instructors who are both good, experienced XC pilots. Given suitable
weather and students with the hours and skills to benefit from the
experience, they regularly fly xc in the ASK 21s off the winch. Typical
flights would be 100 - 150km.

My first XC flight was as P2 in our G103 during the Cambridge Regionals
with probably our best pilots at the time as P1. We won the day, a 218 km
racing task, on handicap and I learnt a huge amount.

I also know a UK club where there's a privately owned Puchacz with a full
XC panel for both pilots.

Judging from what I've seen at CGC, almost any plastic two seater with
performance matching a G103 or better would be suitable for XC training.
However, IMO having at least one instructor with the required XC
experience and capability is more important than getting a better glider.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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