Buying LS3a or ASW20a? ~$25k cross country glider. Which one and why?

"Jesus flap".....never heard that before.....but......having flown an early -20(a), yes, every spring after getting used to things, I would come down final VERY high....then, full brakes and full flaps....Frikkin felt like standing on the rudder pedals but limited speed increase...impressive!
The 20C was close, but not quite as good.

Winglets help on the low speed end depending on what design....some are more high speed others are low/mid range speeds.
For most thermal spots, I would lean to a 20C since some auto hookups.
Strong thermals and ridge, I would lean to a 20B due to wingloading.

The 20 B & C have automatic elevator hookup - caveat that the extremely hamhanded could possibly misalign.

There's been some attrition of the "a" model and a few pilots because of failed elevator hookups.

On Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:17:04 -0700, George Haeh wrote:

There's been some attrition of the "a" model and a few pilots because of
failed elevator hookups.

I never minded the elevator hook-up because at least it was out in the
open and easy to see while you connected it. OTOH I really disliked
fumbling in the dark inside that tiny hatch with six connections to make.
At least mine had Weedekind sleeves fitted: doing the job without them
and trying to fit the safety clips one-handed doesn't bear thinking about.

BTW, some numbers for the OP: after soloing I flew the club's SZD Juniors
for a year before converting to a Pegasus 101 (at Williams) with 83
hours, mostly winch launches, so 223 flights). For the next three years I
flew the club's Peg 90 and Discuses, greatly preferring the Peg (better
all-round vis and comfort). Then I bought an early ASW-20 - at that time
I had 272 hours and 411 launches. I reckon it took me another 35 hours
before being fully comfortable with it, i.e. being in the right flap
setting at all times.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org