LS-4 ? What about 1-26 ?

What's needed is a breakthrough in materials and processes. I don't know
what that is or if it's even possible but if we are to succeed, it will
require thinking WAY "outside the box".

Agreed it certainly will need some creativity but I am sure it can happen.
It is presumably no more of a step forward than that made by the first
composite sailplanes (Phoebus and Libelle) when compared to the state of the
art at the time, gliders such as the K-6.

It is also probably not something that one person can do in isolation. I
believe we need a 'think tank' (possibly an OSTIV or SSA committee) composed
of existing glider designers, composite specialists, people with
certification background and experienced glider pilots and maintainers. This
would however require careful management because you know what they say
about things designed by a committee. I guess the think tank would generate
concepts and ideas that members could take away (i.e. by direct involvement
in discussions or through published papers and reports) to use in developing
gliders. I don't envisage such a committee actually designing a glider.

I don't think advances such as this can come from academia (with a few
exceptions such as Boermans at Delft but then this is not about
aerodynamics). Academics don't understand commercial pressures and I doubt
they would have a good enough grip on the practical side of manufacturing
and certification.

Rapid advances are currently being made in improving the producability of
composites in yachts, wind turbines and many other commercial applications
(for example see some of the articles at www.compositesworld.com and
subscribe to one of the free magazines they offer).

I would also like to make one additional point re certification. One other
post touched on this subject with reference to the BGA. I think we need to
take a careful look at whether the regulator side of the certification
process could be delegated to an industry body by the FAA and by other
airworthiness authorities around the world. This is not easy to do in a
strict regulatory sence (only the FAA can issue a TC) but it would make
certification cheaper and potentially easier to achieve (for instance the
FAA would simply consider a glider certification program a nuisance, an
industry group with gliding in their blood could encourage and help the
applicant - something they could never expect from the FAA). Costs could
also be lower because a lot of the compliance finding could be done by
enthusiasts for much lower rates than the FAA would charge. I think it is
time that the SSA took a lead in this area and looked at what can be done
under the Sport Plane category. To be honest I don't know quite how
something similar could be done in Europe with their current regulatory
environment.