Best cross country ship class

On Sat, 19 Oct 2013 11:31:39 -0700, tech.norcal wrote:

2. Remember I'm NEW. I just got my ticket this summer. Should my
first ship really be flapped? I've never flown a flapped ship. My
world consists of SGS 2-33 and PW-6. Any pilots who bought a flapped
ship before flying one, speak up!

I did - ASW-20.

I'd put it this way: using the flaps is no big deal. Its rather like
having learned to drive in an automatic car and then converted to a
manual gear shift. Using clutch and gear lever isn't difficult, but being
it the right gear at all times takes a lot of practice.

In my case, retraining myself to use the flap lever as the prime speed
control rather than pushing the stick/retrimming took a bit of time.
After about 35 hours I'd 'got it' to the point of being in the right flap
setting 95+% of the time without needing to think about it.

Some background: I learnt to fly in glass (ASK-21,G103,Puchacz) before
getting my Bronze xc signoff and Silver C in the club's SZD Juniors. I
had 82 hours when I transitioned to a Pegase 90 and 270 hours, mostly in
the Pegase plus a little in a Discus or two, when I got the ASW-20.

I'm certain having that experience in higher performance unflapped
gliders helped my transition to flaps, just as time in the G103 was
beneficial for the move up from Juniors to more slippery gliders: speed
control in a G103 is more of an issue than it is in an ASK-21 or Puchacz.

For a variety of reasons I won't go into I now fly a Standard Libelle,
which I prefer to the '20, mainly because the way it likes to be flown is
closer to my natural flying style.

I'd say its essential to have at least sat in any type before you buy
one: you're going to be sitting in yours for a long time when you make
big flights and you really don't want to be uncomfortable during those
hours. If possible, fly an example before buying one though that can be
difficult, but renting may be possible.

HTH

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |