First Glider, but now a two seater...

At 19:31 10 January 2011, BruceGreeff wrote:


Have you been on many XC flights in a L13? Tried to find
anybody to
help you derig one after a landout?

I have - twice. Never - ever again!

You may need to have a chat with you wife about the actual
cost of
sailplanes. Whether you have this chat before or after you
buy one is
up to you.



BTW the best way to buy a great ~$20k XC single seater is
find one or
two partners and find a nice condition ASW-24, Discus, LS-4,
DG-300,
etc. That will get you in the 40:1 L/D range, much easier
rigging,
auto control hookups, composite construction with no
aluminum or
fabric to worry about. And in that price range you also have
a hope of
a nice trailer.

Darryl
Amen to that- and hopefully my now 16 year old daughter will
soon be
enjoying flying with me. The question is - do I let her loose in
the
Cirrus as a first glider, or the Kestrel... Pros and cons both
sides.

A club with a reasonable 2 seater is the best thing to do with
the
progeny. Mine both have many launches in all sorts. Both seem
to prefer
the Grob twin astir for some reason. And I am happy to fly
them around
in one. So everyone is happy - and the skills get honed in
different ways.

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57


Just to throw in a curve-ball:

As much as I'm sure that you and your wife love your daughter
and want to do the best by her, don't forget that she's a child.
If there's one thing that you can count on in a child, it's being
fickle. She may want to fly a few times and then suddenly
decide that she doesn't like it any more...

I'd say look after yourself for now and join a club where you can
fly 2-seaters with your daughter. If she sticks with it, then you
can help finance her training and cross-country / competition
ambitions when she gets a little older.

In my experience as a parent (and formerly a child!) interests
change regularly and rapidly - it's all part of growing up.