(Hijacked) Bang for the Buck

At 19:18 30 January 2006, Bob Whelan wrote:
My own view is that cross country ENJOYMENT (at least
in the continental
U.S. is NOT strongly related to either L/D, or its
close cousin,
'penetration.' I've had as much fun flying XC in a
21:1 1-26 as I have
in a ~35:1 1st-generation 15-meter glass ship. IMHO,
fun in XC relates
to one's comfort in *safely* doing it. Distance/speed
'merely' fall out
in the wash.

I was really talking about the value proposition for
people who would represent the target segment for
the latest designs, which almost by definition are
people who value the performance in one way or another.
If you don't value distance or speed achieved you
don't really have a need to pay the premium for a new
ship.

9B