ASW20 and Discus in Club Class next year.

Nick Olson wrote:
Well IGC are letting in the ASW20 and Discus into Club
Class next year, (and increasing the handicap on the
Std. Cirrus at long last!). Which one should I buy
- which is likely to be more competetive? or is there
an alternative? I would like higher performance for
non-competetive distance flying.

Some random thoughts fromsomebody who has flown both Discus and ASW-20:

- I find the ASW-20/ASW-19/Pegase cockpit more comfortable for
longer flights. The Discus is OK, but after three hours I start
to notice that the lower part of the console is slightly too wide,
the pedals are slightly too close together and that they lock your
my feet very upright. As a result my knees give me hell for a few
minutes after landing, but ymmv

- the Discus is much easier to fly than an ASW-20. I soloed in an
ASK-21, then Junior, Pegase, Discus in that order. I had about 77
hours solo when I converted to the club's Discus and had no problems
at all. By contrast I had 226 hours solo when I converted to the
ASW-20 and would not have wanted to convert to it any earlier.

- ASW-20s are more spin prone than a Discus.

- Converting to an ASW-20 after learning on unflapped gliders is like
learning to drive on an automatic and then switching to a manual
shift: using the flaps is easy enough but always being in the right
flap for what you're doing takes time and practice to master - in my
case around 40 hours before it became automatic.

HTH


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