First Glider, but now a two seater...

Thanks guys for taking the time to reply. That pretty much answers my
question.

Have you been on many XC flights in a L13? Tried to find anybody to
help you derig one after a landout?

I have - twice. Never - ever again!

You may need to have a chat with you wife about the actual cost of
sailplanes. Whether you have this chat before or after you buy one is
up to you.

Snip

BTW the best way to buy a great ~$20k XC single seater is find one or
two partners and find a nice condition ASW-24, Discus, LS-4, DG-300,
etc. That will get you in the 40:1 L/D range, much easier rigging,
auto control hookups, composite construction with no aluminum or
fabric to worry about. And in that price range you also have a hope of
a nice trailer.

Darryl
Amen to that- and hopefully my now 16 year old daughter will soon be
enjoying flying with me. The question is - do I let her loose in the
Cirrus as a first glider, or the Kestrel... Pros and cons both sides.

A club with a reasonable 2 seater is the best thing to do with the
progeny. Mine both have many launches in all sorts. Both seem to prefer
the Grob twin astir for some reason. And I am happy to fly them around
in one. So everyone is happy - and the skills get honed in different ways.

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57

At 19:31 10 January 2011, BruceGreeff wrote:


Have you been on many XC flights in a L13? Tried to find
anybody to
help you derig one after a landout?

I have - twice. Never - ever again!

You may need to have a chat with you wife about the actual
cost of
sailplanes. Whether you have this chat before or after you
buy one is
up to you.



BTW the best way to buy a great ~$20k XC single seater is
find one or
two partners and find a nice condition ASW-24, Discus, LS-4,
DG-300,
etc. That will get you in the 40:1 L/D range, much easier
rigging,
auto control hookups, composite construction with no
aluminum or
fabric to worry about. And in that price range you also have
a hope of
a nice trailer.

Darryl
Amen to that- and hopefully my now 16 year old daughter will
soon be
enjoying flying with me. The question is - do I let her loose in
the
Cirrus as a first glider, or the Kestrel... Pros and cons both
sides.

A club with a reasonable 2 seater is the best thing to do with
the
progeny. Mine both have many launches in all sorts. Both seem
to prefer
the Grob twin astir for some reason. And I am happy to fly
them around
in one. So everyone is happy - and the skills get honed in
different ways.

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57


Just to throw in a curve-ball:

As much as I'm sure that you and your wife love your daughter
and want to do the best by her, don't forget that she's a child.
If there's one thing that you can count on in a child, it's being
fickle. She may want to fly a few times and then suddenly
decide that she doesn't like it any more...

I'd say look after yourself for now and join a club where you can
fly 2-seaters with your daughter. If she sticks with it, then you
can help finance her training and cross-country / competition
ambitions when she gets a little older.

In my experience as a parent (and formerly a child!) interests
change regularly and rapidly - it's all part of growing up.

On Jan 10, 10:53*am, Tony wrote:
On Jan 10, 11:39*am, jsbrake wrote:



If you're really keen on owning, how about the IAR IS-28 Lark?http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/Pl...fm?planeID=370

You might be able to pick one up at a decent price: I believe there's
something about life-limit (30 yrs?) that changes it's flying category
and hence lowers it's value. *Sorry, but I don't know much else about
that situation (and I think it's different between Canada and U.S.).
It's a decent flier and handles well (but I've only done about 20
flights in one, mostly 1/2 hour intros).

Try looking for a club, though... *there should be a much better 2-
seater for rent than you could afford to buy, and then get joy out of
a nice single.

My personal experience is that it's much cheaper to rent the club
ships than it is to own one. *Owning gives you more freedom; I don't
share very well.

-John

I think the first of the IS-28 Larks start to expire in 2012. *I've
seen nothing on a life extension program for them. *I've got a couple
cross country flights in one and both those ended in land outs. *I had
a blast on the flights but my back may never be the same *One
doctor friend flew in a contest in one and had his hernia operated on
when he got home. *Matt Michael and I were able to rig it with just
the two of us and a combination of sawhorses and brute force.

I suspect that the 5-year special inspection will be repeated. The
bulk of the US based IS-28B2's will face this in 2013 and 2014.

There have been some reasonably priced Larks for sale in Europe, some
built as late as 1994.

Rigging aids compulsory.

Frank Whiteley

At 12:48 12 January 2011, Paul Tribe wrote:

As much as I'm sure that you and your wife love your daughter
and want to do the best by her, don't forget that she's a child.
If there's one thing that you can count on in a child, it's being
fickle. She may want to fly a few times and then suddenly
decide that she doesn't like it any more...

And at 16, it wouldn't be surprising if her life suddenly starts to
revolved around boys. OTOH, find a glider club with some cute 16 to 18
year old boys in it, and her interest may continue.

Jim Beckman