What First Glider to own?

I live in the US and was in your shoes about five years ago. I used a
few different resources to try and qualify what ships would suit me
best as a first-time owner and low-time pilot. If you can get a hold
of a hard copy of the "Sailplane Directory", there's a nice section in
there by Derek Piggot relating to the characteristics of all the
different sailplanes. He gives ratings for things like ease of
rigging, handling, cockpit size, whether they're good for low-timers,
etc. Derek Piggot also published a book called "Gliding Safety". In
it is a chapter where he discusses what types of ships are good for
first-time owners/low-time pilots. The information is similar to the
"Sailplane Directory", but has a little more in-depth analysis on some
of the different ships. Using these resources would be a good first
step toward narrowing down your possibilities.

As for me, I ended up creating a short list of the ships I was
interested in based on the same budget as yours. After substantial
research, this short list ended up with the following standard class
ships; Libelle 201, Grob 102 Astir, LS1f, LS4, DG101, ASW19. I then
proceeded to go through the FAA registration database and send letters
to owners of these types asking for information based on their
experience and if they're interested in selling. The LS4, well known
as probably the best of this bunch, turned out to be the most
expensive. It was outside of my budget, so I had to eliminate it. Of
the remaining ships on the list, the LS1f turned out to have a lot of
the excellent qualities of the LS4 with a bit less L/D and a bit more
age. So that became my primary focus. I had some possible deals for
Libelles and Grobs, but I held out hoping to find an LS1f. As luck
would have it, three of the LS1f owners that responded to my letters
indicated they would be interested in selling. I looked at the first
one and the gel coat had completely failed and the trailer was wooden
junk. However the second one was in excellent shape and I made a deal
on the spot that was well within my budget after an inspection was
done. It also had a nicely built Schreder trailer with rigging/tow-out
gear as well as a brand new Cambridge 302 installed.

As an owner of an LS1f, I can certainly vouch for it. Although take
that with a grain of salt as I'm still a low-timer. In my experience,
the LS1f is a wonderful ship. Great control harmony, light feel,
extremely easy to rig, solid German engineering, and flies like it's
on rails. The only downside is cockpit size. It's a bit small. I'm 5'
7", 180 pounds and it fits me like a glove (although taller pilots
have also flown it comfortably with some adjustments in the seat back
and rudder pedals). It feels as though I'm wearing it when I fly. Very
comfortable for long-duration flights. The wings seem to come right
out of my shoulders making me feel like I'm one with the ship. A
couple of the experienced pilots in my club have flown it and raved
about it. One of them is a phenomenal pilot that has 3,500 plus hours
in quite a few types of glass ships.

Food for thought.

Good luck in your search. Take your time and try to talk to various
people who actually own the types you're looking at. There's lots of
good opinions from good pilots, but owners will have the best insight
into a particular type. I got excellent response from my letters that
turned into many quality conversations on the phone about these
various ships.

I can vouch for Dave's LS-1F as it lives right next to my Ka-6Cr, and
it's a beautiful ship.

If you are looking to get a budget minded ship with decent performance
ths Ka-6 isn't too bad. Close to 30:1 and pretty good XC potential if
you can find the thermals. And if you don't the bakes on them can get
you into just about any alfalfa field :-)

Beyond that the Ka-6 is a dream to fly. It's well harmonized, and
really doesn't have any bad flying habits. If you still have the
offset CG hook youll need to be aware of it's quirks, but it's nowhere
close to the boogeyman people make it out to be. Assmbly is petty
straight forward, and the control hookups are right out in the open
(none of that l'hotellier junk...).

Best of all you can find some pretty good deals on the beautiful old
wooden birds. I got mine in pretty decent shape with a workable
trailer for $4500. Oh yes and parts do grow on trees :-)

Pete

And if you don't the brakes on them can get
you into just about any alfalfa field :-)


Stated from experience.

Don't forget the outlying airfields... P