On Oct 3, 7:12 pm, wrote:
On Oct 3, 5:10 pm, toad wrote:



On Oct 3, 3:52 pm, wrote:

Soon we will see a very good 13m glider ....for $120,000.-only.
And the happy owner will be a World Class Champion.
Was that an original idea behind the World Class?

Richard,

The original idea behind the World Class has been a failure. That much
is obvious (to me) and should be acknowledged. We need to try a new
and different idea. I can see opening the PW5 only contests to
similar designs to increase the number of gliders. More gliders would
mean a better competition.

I personally would propose the following criteria:

a) Fairly strict 1 design.
b) Decent performance for the cheapest cost.

For decent performance I think 35/1 would be good enough. Lower
performance is just frustrating when trying XC.

I would not "dumb down" the design to accommodate early solo pilots,
but aim for entry level comp pilots.

Todd Smith
Grob 102 "3S"

Todd,
OK, some of the aspects of original idea had to be a failure and the
whole undertaking simply didn't work.
But, can you tell which specs were wrong?

* substantially lower costs than then-current new gliders

Great.

* easy & safe handling in the air and on the ground

Great

* a single design, stabilized for a period of years

Great

* performance sufficient for badges & challenging competition

Great idea, but the PW5 performance is not enough.

* simple construction

Great

* suitable for clubs, private owners & early solo pilots.

Bad idea to require suitability for early solo pilot. This led to
unneeded "dumbing down" of the design. Specific features such as the
nose wheel and non-retractable landing gear. It also leads to
sacrificing performance for easier handling.

I think that the design point to aim for is a glider that a newly
licensed pilot, who has done some XC in a club glider and wants a
glider to fly, would find roughly comparable to a Grob 102, Std
Cirrus, LS4. The possiblilty of one design competition would be a
good additional incentive to buy the "2nd generation" world class
glider. But the glider would have to be similar in performance to
other gliders that the new XC pilot might also want.


What would be your new World Class glider ?
Try to stay below $ 60,000.-please.
Richard/ PW-5/N153PW


Maybe the new Sparrowhawk or Silent has enough performance for cheap
enough ? Maybe build Std Cirrus's or LS4's. Simplify the
construction if needed. But if a design can not be found that has
sufficiently good performance for a low enough price, then the world
class idea will never work.

It doesn't have to be 50/1, but it does have to be good enough that
weak days are not so painful.

Todd
3S