Why does PW-5 get no respect?

Arnold Pieper wrote:

Reading all the responses, it's clear that most people are missing the point
and some of the history behind the world class.

For the longest time the FAI/IGC has been trying to make the sport more
popular by making it an olympic sport, like it used to be many decades ago.
There was even a glider at the time called the "Olympia" because of it.

So in the early 90s the issue was taken more seriously. To be an olympic
sport, you have to have a "One design" (like the sailboats used in the
olympics).
There was a requirement that whatever the design was, it had to be
accessible to people from all countries, it had to be possible to even build
your own glider and go compete with it in the olympics.

The PW-5 was the winning design for several of its qualities, and it came
out of the Warsaw University (as opposed to any particular glider
manufacturer).
Sticking to the original idea, it is possible to go ask the Warsaw
University for a full copy of the plans, and go build it yourself.
That's why there are more than one manufacturer, and there may even be more
in the future as the class grows bigger (and I think it will).

For whatever reason, the IGC and the International Olympic Committee didn't
come to an agreement and the World Air Games were than created by the FAI
directly.

So, for a buying decision :
For those of you who are purely interested in performance, a used Nimbus 2,
ASW-17, Lak-12, Jantar 2a are probably the most L/D per dollar.
But they are not competitive in anything except handicapped competition,
which fails to truly compensate other minor differences between different
gliders.

If you want to compete in a Global competition, buy one of the latest and
greatest gliders from any of the FAI classes, running the risk that MAYBE
the glider you decided to buy is outperformed by the latest design from
another manufacturer, and thus, to keep up you have to keep buying new
gliders as they come up.
The latest in the Open class is undoubtedly the ETA (US$1 Million+ ), with
the smaller classes ships going for US$80k+ for the Racing class, US$60k+
for the Standard Class.
Or, for a LOT LESS you can spend 20+ and get a PW-5 and be sure that
everybody will be flying the EXACT SAME EQUIPMENT.

In the World Class, the weight of the pilot HAS to be compensated so that
everyone has the exact same WING LOADING and CG location.

That's it.

It's a ship for those who want to compete for World recognition both in
competition and also in Records (yes, there's a World Class record
category), without spending 3 times the money or many times more.

Just like in Sailing, there's no point in bashing the Lasers, Daysailers,
Tornadoes, etc.
They have their own class, their own competitions, their own world
champions, etc.

If you can afford it, go buy one of the latest Americas's cup yachts and
leave everyone else alone.

AP.


Almost all was good in these ideas from FAi/IGC, except the idea that constraining
the design in what would necessarily produce a lower performance glider was
THE mean to reduce the cost. Even if a reduced span, a non retracting gear and
other features have some influence on the price, these are not the main factors,
which are rather the country of manufacture, the cost of manpower in this country,
the care and time devoted to the construction, the time and complexity of
certifcation process. The last LAK-12 built in Lithuania were sold new to nearly
the same price as the PW5.