New LS4, 304Z or --------

Charles Yeates wrote:

Why pay double for something else? The PW-5 is affordable, fun and a
pathway to international competition.


The PW5 is proven undesirable by the vast majority of people (proof:
nobody buys it), and the same majority couldn't care less for
international competition (or national, or whatever competition).

If somebody comes with a monotype to be produced in high volumes,
it must at least have the following features:
-it must be very easy to fly, so that beginners can be trained on it.
Nobody wants to pay for flying bricks like the ASK23 for beginners,
plus "performance" gliders. It may not have treacherous behavior in the
stall-spin regime, nobody want to see casualties.
-it must be performant enough so that cross country is easily achievable
by people who are not world champions. Sorry, i don't buy the argument,
"competent people are able to do 500km in England with 23:1 gliders".
Most buyers and most club members are not competent to that point, and
all they will do with crass performance gliders is circle around the
airport for 2 or 3 years and quit the sport, a thing we have seen
happening consistently year after year.

Gliders satisfying these criteria are well known, and have been sold by
the thousand, hence proving my claim. You can say they are proven
desirable by prospective buyers. This minimises the risk *a lot*
when considering a large scale production. In other words you can be
sure that no new glider will be sold if it has the same performance as
a used LS4, is not as easy to fly, and is at least as expensive.
Otherwise the reasonable man will buy a used LS4 immediately, knowing
perfectly well he will be able to resell it better (or a used Pegase
or any glider of the same class). It is only for vastly better
performance that some people will accept to pay a premium price.




Charles Yeates

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Michel TALON