On Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at 3:18:07 PM UTC+3, Tango Whisky wrote:
Why would you replace an ASK21?! To gain what?

At the time my club was looking to replace two aging Twin Astirs and a Janus (all made in 1978) the ASK21 cost 60k EUR and the 18m DG1000 Club cost 70k EUR.

Both gliders have great handling and are fully aerobatic and suitable for training beginners. For the extra 10k EUR we got:

- 20 years newer design

- about 41:1 L/D instead of 34. That's significant in cross country training, or even just in reaching lift from a winch launch.

- min sink is only 80% of the K21. More time in the air from every launch.

- G limits are also a bit larger: +7/-5 vs +6.5/-4

- classic stall/spin characteristics through the full C0fG range. The ASK21 needs gimmicky tail weights.


It seemed like a pretty small price increment, so our club bought the first two produced. Since then several air forces around the world (including USAF) have placed large orders for them.