Purchasing Your First Sailplane

What is important to you in a sailplane? I remember one student that really wanted automatic control hookups, which was number one his priority list. You may consider a good trailer as a high priority, I remember when I was younger I could care less about the trailer.

The first thing you need to do is make a ranked list of priorities. Price is most people's first concern. If it is not your concern I would like to be your partner in an EB29DR, by partner I mean you pay for it and I will maintain and fly it.

A consideration might be what everyone else is flying. If you have a large club class contingency at your home field you may consider getting the same performance to fly with that group. Doug Levy generally pushes his 1-26 into line with the Ventus 2c and ASW-27's, he has just as much fun and beats them on the OLC. But when flying cross country there is generally a large separation and speed difference-making sharing information difficult.

Some people will say that you want to buy the best you can afford but I had just as much fun in a Cirrus as I did in my Discus 2ax. However, I enjoyed rigging the Discus with a current-generation Cobra trailer. The home-built trailer and the Cirrus assembly quirks were less than desirable. But with a strong back, it was hard to justify the $50,000 difference.

Each generation is going to handle nicer, better trailer, slightly better performance. Newer paint, newer instruments, newer interior, better rigging, better crash protection, pretty much every aspect is going to be better.

It is however more depressing when you get trailer rash on your $250k glider that was perfect. One nameless Cirrus pilot is learning the intricacies of the one-man rig, glider maintenance, first off-field landing, etc. Before his V3 comes in and hopefully it will remain scratch-free longer.

If crash protection is high on your list then you probably need to look into a newer generation.

Some pilots look at having a nose-hook high on their priority list. Others having a still functioning factory for parts that are easy to access. No damage history is important to some, personally I am more concerned with who put it back together.

Next week we will talk about some expenses and what I look for.

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.