Bruce Hoult wrote:
In article ,
Eric Greenwell wrote:


I don't know why people keep saying things like this. You can *not*
significantly grow gliding by people buying Ka-6's or 1-26's. They
aren't *MAKING* them any more, there is a only a very limited number
around,

And yet they are very cheap, which is why I suggest there aren't enough
pilots interested in gliding. If hang glider pilots were falling all
over each other to move into low cost gliders with substantially better
performance than their hang gliders, we'd see higher prices. I don't
think it is the glider _supply_ that is lacking, it is the _demand_ for
gliders that is missing.


Yes, that's a good point.

Perhaps the hang glider pilots simply don't *know* about these cheap
gliders?

I think this is a big part of it. They generally aren't where the
sailplane crowd is, and vice versa.

Or perhaps they value being able to climb an arbitrary peak
and jump off too much?

This is also part of it. The lack of regulation (licenses, biennial
reviews, and so on) is appealing to everyone, but perhaps more so the
younger crowd.

THe former hang glider pilots (and now sailplane pilots) I've talked to
indicated that as they got older, they began to notice the advantages of
sailplanes:

* much less physical effort and pain to fly
* every cross-country flight doesn't end in a retrieve
* the glider doesn't wear out and lose half it's value in a 3-4 years
* you don't beat up your car/truck driving over miles and hours of
crummy logging roads to get to the launch site (the drive to the airport
is easy, comparatively, even if it's farther away)
* said site is often without the right wind or thermals when you get there
* you don't have so many friends that seem to have a death wish
* and the wife is estactic that they leave late in the morning and
actually get home before dinner!

In which case they're not going to be happy with
less than a self-launching glider.

They can be very happy, because of the advantages listed above. All of
these pilots are still working, so weekend flying is fine with them,
andbecause soaring is more likely in a sailplane than a hang glider on a
any given day.

snip

Personally, I think a new PW-5 or similar for $15k is a pretty damn good
thing. It seems that others don't think so. I'm wierd I guess.

Definitely a 3 sigma on RAS!


OTOH I've never flown a single-seater with more performance than a
Libelle (about 65 hours in Libelles, Std and Club), so I probably don't
have a clue what a *real* glider flies like anyway. Is an LS-4 *that*
much better than a Libelle?

I doubt it, based on the gliders I've flown. A nicer glider all around,
but the flights won't be much better.


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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA