Wanted: Friendly Single-Seater for PSU Soaring Club

Hey All,

The Penn State Soaring club is searching for a friendly single-seater for our club members to fly. Currently, we lease an ASK-13 from Tom Knauff and Doris Grove, and the Collegiate Soaring Association lends us a Russia AC-4C and a 2-33 project (currently being restored by our club members under the expert tutelage of Mike Robison).

We make very good use of "our" equipment: we recently had three members pass their private checkrides, and the Russia was flown in the Region 3 competition this summer. However, our eccentric collection of gliders raises a few issues as we continue to grow.

We have begun by introducing our members to the concept of "aviation for fun" (beyond intensive training)--flying the ridge after classes, thermalling with flocks of hawks, retrieves, etc... However, we have decided that we could boost retention further by having a single-seat glider friendly enough for student pilots to strap on with shirt-tail still in hand, as a bridge between the trainers and higher performance.

What do we have in mind? Basically anything metal and docile--1-23, 1-26, 1-34, L-33, B-4, etc... We watch wings and wheels pretty religiously, but we were wondering if there was anything else out there "unlisted."

Thanks,

Phil Chidekel, John Bird, Evan Harshbarger, and Len Metkowsi
PSU Soaring Club Leadership

philchdkl *at* gmail.com

On Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:41:05 -0700, Phil Chidekel wrote:

Hey All,

The Penn State Soaring club is searching for a friendly single-seater
for our club members to fly. Currently, we lease an ASK-13 from Tom
Knauff and Doris Grove, and the Collegiate Soaring Association lends us
a Russia AC-4C and a 2-33 project (currently being restored by our club
members under the expert tutelage of Mike Robison).

We make very good use of "our" equipment: we recently had three members
pass their private checkrides, and the Russia was flown in the Region 3
competition this summer. However, our eccentric collection of gliders
raises a few issues as we continue to grow.

We have begun by introducing our members to the concept of "aviation for
fun" (beyond intensive training)--flying the ridge after classes,
thermalling with flocks of hawks, retrieves, etc... However, we have
decided that we could boost retention further by having a single-seat
glider friendly enough for student pilots to strap on with shirt-tail
still in hand, as a bridge between the trainers and higher performance.

What do we have in mind? Basically anything metal and docile--1-23,
1-26, 1-34, L-33, B-4, etc... We watch wings and wheels pretty
religiously, but we were wondering if there was anything else out there
"unlisted."

In no particular order and not metal, but an SZD Junior, G.102 Astir,
PW-5 or even a Ka-8 are all decent post-solo single seaters. I suspect
that you'll find Astirs more easily than any of the others on your side
of the pond.

FWIW my club has two Juniors, used as a new pilot's first single seater
and often flown for all three Silver C legs. Many UK clubs use Astirs in
this role and the University student arm of my club used to have a Ka-8
that they replaced with an ASW-19 a few years back.



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

I don't know why you mentioned the L33 as supposedly more docile than the AC4? Both, plus the PW5, were all designed for the same World Class goals. Unless you want a metal glider for a different reason: to leave it rigged and tied down, which may (or may not) be better for club use.

On Friday, November 3, 2017 at 5:36:02 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I don't know why you mentioned the L33 as supposedly more docile than the AC4? Both, plus the PW5, were all designed for the same World Class goals.. Unless you want a metal glider for a different reason: to leave it rigged and tied down, which may (or may not) be better for club use.

Hello,

Thanks for the responses so far.

We posted this as a plug to find something for a bunch of college kids to fly. I do not wish to begin a debate as to what constitutes an ideal club glider. Take that elsewhere.

I enjoy flying the AC-4, and I am aware of how docile it is. However, there are other constraints such as durability, insurance, and cost that prompt us to look for something within the range of 1-26 to L-33.

I'd be happy to discuss the specific constraints that govern our search--shoot me an email. There is a lot of experience and expertise going into this..

Best regards,

Phil Chidekel

On Friday, November 3, 2017 at 6:21:58 PM UTC-4, Phil Chidekel wrote:
On Friday, November 3, 2017 at 5:36:02 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I don't know why you mentioned the L33 as supposedly more docile than the AC4? Both, plus the PW5, were all designed for the same World Class goals. Unless you want a metal glider for a different reason: to leave it rigged and tied down, which may (or may not) be better for club use.

Hello,

Thanks for the responses so far.

We posted this as a plug to find something for a bunch of college kids to fly. I do not wish to begin a debate as to what constitutes an ideal club glider. Take that elsewhere.

I enjoy flying the AC-4, and I am aware of how docile it is. However, there are other constraints such as durability, insurance, and cost that prompt us to look for something within the range of 1-26 to L-33.

I'd be happy to discuss the specific constraints that govern our search--shoot me an email. There is a lot of experience and expertise going into this.

Best regards,

Phil Chidekel

E-mail sent
UH

Have you checked the 1-26 owners website? (1-26.org) There was one for sale, ("C" model IIRC) that needed the wings re-skinned. it was listed at what I thought was a very decent price. No damage, the prior owner didn't like the way the skins fitted so he drilled them off and never finished the project.

Cheers

Bob Herman

On Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:21:56 -0700, Phil Chidekel wrote:

We posted this as a plug to find something for a bunch of college kids
to fly. I do not wish to begin a debate as to what constitutes an ideal
club glider. Take that elsewhere.

I should have added that, especially if its a glider that you want to
encourage new solos to use for getting a Silver C and maybe other XC
badges [1], then I think its a good idea to get one with a decent trailer
and keep it in the trailer. This gets its pilots familiar with rigging
and de-rigging. You really don't want them doing their first derig in
some field, and if you have a bunch of them flying it helping each other
with tasking and the inevitable rig/derig is good for camaraderie and
club spirit.

[1] In the UK the next step after the Silver C is to get the 100km
diploma, It involves flying a declared 100km task. You get '100km part 1'
for just doing it and '100km part 2' by doing it faster than 50 or 60kph
[can't remember which offhand] and its up to you whether you take one or
two flights to get both parts (I did it in one flight in a Pegase 90,
flying the task and then turning round and doing it a second time in the
opposite direction - following an instructor's suggestion of what to do
if I got round fairly fast. The second run was faster.)


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