US Air Force buys 19 DG-1000 trainiers

At 21:13 25 March 2011, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Mar 26, 2:53=A0am, John Smith wrote:
Looking at the pure acro time, glider acro is about the most expensive
acro you can buy.

Not if you have access to a decent ridge, or wave.

Acro on the ridge? Now *that* sounds dangerous. Not much ground
clearance.

Jim Beckman

At 13:34 25 March 2011, kirk.stant wrote:

1-26s were fine in their day - but you can't do intro rides in them,
can you?

Can't do them in an LS8 either. My complaint is the idea that you
can't compete in a 1-26. It's the purest form of competition, head to
head with no handicaps and no excuses (particularly when some 80-year-old
submariner like Vern Hutchinson beats you).

And if you have never done acro in a glider - ASK-21, Blanik 13AC,
Pilatus, Swift, etc.. you are missing a wonderful aspect of our sport
- and one that can be done on those days when there isn't any lift
around. Don't knock it if you havn't tried it!

My problem is that it's so damned expensive. Talk about a way to beat
the towplane back to the airport, this is it. If you want to give the
cadets aerobatic experience (and I've never know the AFA to be interested
in that task) then do it in a capable aerobatic airplane.

Jim Beckman

Some background on a variety of points raised in this string of messages.

The gliders were procurred thru an open competition. The RFP was available
online. I down loaded and read the technical portion and it all seemed
reasonable.

What is unknown when discussing the $5M is what else was required/purchased
in addition to the 19 gliders.
I'm sure there were a number of trailers, spare parts, instruments, manuals,
and probably some amount of factory support. Until you know the full scope
of the proposal, it is hard to comment on the final price.

The acrobatics that most of the cadets do amount to steep turns, spins, a
few loops and a roll or 2.

The glider training is an optional course. All cadets do not have to
participate.

They fly the gliders a lot.

I live about 500' from the Academy. They fly the gliders over my house all
the time. We have AFA cadets join our club from time to time. 3 of our
club tow pilots also tow at the Academy. The above is not speculation.

John Scott

On Mar 25, 1:56*pm, Jim Beckman wrote:
At 13:34 25 March 2011, kirk.stant wrote:



1-26s were fine in their day - but you can't do intro rides in them,
can you? *

Can't do them in an LS8 either. * My complaint is the idea that you
can't compete in a 1-26. *It's the purest form of competition, head to
head with no handicaps and no excuses (particularly when some 80-year-old
submariner like Vern Hutchinson beats you).

And if you have never done acro in a glider - ASK-21, Blanik 13AC,
Pilatus, Swift, etc.. you are missing a wonderful aspect of our sport
- and one that can be done on those days when there isn't any lift
around. *Don't knock it if you havn't tried it!

My problem is that it's so damned expensive. *Talk about a way to beat
the towplane back to the airport, this is it. *If you want to give the
cadets aerobatic experience (and I've never know the AFA to be interested
in that task) then do it in a capable aerobatic airplane.

Jim Beckman

I suggest you inform yourself about the USAFA glider program.

You might be surprised.

Then again, perhaps not.

Cheers,

Kirk
66

At 22:20 25 March 2011, kirk.stant wrote:

I suggest you inform yourself about the USAFA glider program.

You might be surprised.

Well, I've been there, talked to them, and competed against them. They
were extremely impressive young folks, and fairly good competitive pilots
(I got a mild kick out of finishing ahead of one of their officers one of
the days I was flying - part of a team).

What particularly sticks in my mind, though, is one day after
the flying (or maybe we weren't flying because of the wind)
when some of the cadets got Vern Hutchinson talking about
his experiences as a submariner in WWII. Vern did some
amazing things, including infiltrating into Tokyo harbor to
see what was going on (he was just crew, not captain or
anything like that). Those cadets were hanging on his every
word. It was something just to watch it.

My club in NJ produced a young kid glider pilot (his father was
a doctor, but didn't support Bob's gliding desires - when he
was younger, Bob bicycled quite a few miles to the glider
field, and the club sort of adopted him. He ended up at
the Academy, instructing in gliders, and was flying F-16s
over Iraq in the First Bush War.

At the time I was there, the cadets were flying a flock of 2-33s,
1-26s for competition, and some big white glass two-seater
that they trailered around. One thing you have to say for
the Schweizers, I never heard about the AFA having any trouble
with them.

Jim Beckman

1-26s were fine in their day - but you can't do intro rides in them,
can you? *And 2-33s were (and still are) absolute junk, period. *It's
great that the cadets now have modern gliders to train and compete
in. *And a hell of a lot safer, by the way.

Hear Hear!!!!!!