Heh, I hope Schweizer makes better helicopters than they did gliders.

For many years, visionary U.S. pilot/designer/builder Dick Schreder
(of HP-series fame) lobbied to allow flaps in the Standard Class. So
it was ironic when, on the first day of the first U.S. 15 Meter
National Soaring Championships in 1976 in Bryan, Ohio (Dick's home
airport), Les Horvath won the task flying a U.S.-built all-metal
sailplane with flaps: the Schweizer 1-35A!

My father's first glider was--as is still the case for many pilots
today--a Schweizer 1-26. His next was a 1-23B, a factory-modified
version of that series built, as I recall, for the World Championships
in 1952. I soloed in a 2-22 and am old enough to remember how much
better than that was the 2-33 when it first arrived at our club.

You'd have to work hard to get me back into a Schweizer now for
anything except a biennial flight review. But, as others have noted,
Schweizer's mainstream gliders have an enviable record for safety and
longevity...and holding their value.

At 53, I'm too old to offer the excuse that I didn't realize how much
I missed something until it was gone. So I hope that those workhorse
2-33s, 1-26s, etc.,--and the company and its people who served the
American market so well for so many years--are still around for a long
time to come.

Chip Bearden