My first club had a K-7, a leased K-2, a K-13, a K-6, and eventually
at Pilatus B-4.

Compared to a 2-33 or L-13, the K series were quick and easy to rig and
de-rig. The others, of course, were left rigged and likely tied out.

30 years ago, we arrived about 8:30am to get our names on the list and
had the fleet rigged by 9:30am, with some flying at 9am. The private
ships were generally all rigged by 10:30am and flying starting about
11am. Many hands make truly light work. Today, private owners mostly
have one-man rig gear and don't seek much help. Instead of being
rigged and ready in 30 minutes, we now fiddle with this and that for
1.5-2.0 hours. Some complain they don't know new club members, but
they don't interact. Training starts at 9am with a student,
instructor, and tow pilot. Usually no one else is around until 10am,
when they start rigging their own ships.

PW-6 and K-21 take little time to rig. G-103 a bit longer. They
compare very favorably with the K-2, K-7, and K-13. I think your group
missed out.

BTW, I soloed in a K-7 and did my bronze hours in a K-13. Both rigged
and derigged daily as we had a modest hangar stuffed with 4-5 derigged
gliders, two tow planes, a field vehicle, launch point trailer and work
bench.

Damn, gotta dig through through my old pictures.

Frank Whiteley


T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
"Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

Actually, the K-7 and Blanik L-13 preceeded the 2-33 by about a decade. The
beautiful K13 was a 2-33 contemporary.

In the 1970's when I was being trained and doing lots of
training, our club had two 2-33s and a Ka-7 in a boxy
trailer the size of a mobile home. I loved the Ka-7 the few
times I flew it, but it didn't meet the needs of the club,
and almost never flew. The main problem was
assembling/disassembling it. Ultimately it was sold.

One can only wonder what would have happened if Schweizer had produced a K13
equivalent.

Knowing the pilots who ran the club back then, they would
probably have purchased a Blanik. When we sold the Ka-7 the
Blanik they purchased flew a lot.

(My apologies for the spelling of Schweizer in previous
posts.)




--
T o d d P a t t i s t - "WH" Ventus C
(Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.)