opinions on a K13

I think what many have overlooked is that even today with the K-13 still
increasing in value (no club that I know wants to give one up!) it is still
a great trainer fully capable of taking a student from first flight to early
X/C (no one says you have to see how quick you get it over with!), an
enjoyable Sunday afternoon flyer, and safe.....it's also not yet so
expensive we have to restrict who can fly it or raise the dues or rental
fees to own it....sure a Grob is nice enough and feels more like an old
Buick than a sports car, the K-13 is almost like the family wagon that did
take us all on vacations and still will....the K13 will fly slower and stay
up when the rest of the fleet is on the ground..
Most pilots will eventually own their own single seaters anyway (at least in
the USA) and progress beyond the 2 seat trainer, so if they spend less on
more K13's the logic is they will have better access to club members and
more members....makes sense to me at least....
regardless....go fly!
tim


I fly at a club that has a fleet of one K13 and one Grob 103 TwinAstir
(much
maligned earlier version)

Some comments -
In weak conditions the Grob sits in the hangar, she is just too heavy to
man
handle on the airfield bashing circuits for it to be fun. The K13 thermals
better in lighter broken lift so everyone wants to be in the K13 on
marginal days.
The level of discomfort in the rear seat is similar in the TwinAstir
because of
the strange shape of the back rest. From the front seat I personally
prefer the
Grob, because I am a great lump with long legs and the bigger cockpit is
more
comfortable.
The K13 requires and gets more maintenance, with recovering and the like,
but
after decades of service this is a solid investment for the club. Once you
take
the capital costs into consideration, and the fact that some club members
actually want to do the maintenance work (for free, because they enjoy it)
the
K13 is actually slightly cheaper to keep than the Grob.
Both of the gliders have trailers, but we would never consider being out
of
gliding range of the field with the K13... It might take the whole club to
recover her from a field.
On a strong day when the mountains beacon, there is a queue for the Grob.

For what it is worth the Grob performs similarly to my Standard Cirrus on
cross
country. Not bad for a "plastic pig".

If there had to be only one - I suspect it would be the K13, having both
is
great. Having a Twin II, so we could still do the aerobatics in the twin
would
be best.