Originally Posted by
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Definitely. But that's slightly compensated by a 1:30 or 1:40 glide ratio, whereas the types I normally fly sometimes don't even reach 1:10. Oh, and having airbrakes sounds pretty cool to me too.
Yes, the brakes are pretty effective on most fibreglass gliders (and on K13s), but you are unlikely to fly a 40:1 glider on a 5-day course.
The other thing is a different undercarriage. No nosewheel but this center-thingy on which you've got to balance the plane sounds interesting too. Fortunately with a glider you don't have these long taxis down a 1500 meter runway.
Aerotows can take some time to get airborne (it feels like forever!)... Thankfully aileron control is usually established fairly quickly (hopefully not long after the wing runner is outpaced) and if you are winch launching with a decent breeze you can be into the air almost before you have time to blink.
And I'll probably miss a cockpit filled with electric thingies that show you where you are or shows others who you are, or go beep at various times. And I imagine the checklist in a glider in general is a tad shorter than in a powered plane.
The electrical things are mostly distractions for instructional local soaring (which can be very crowded), though the electric vario is exceedlingly useful. Remember it's VFR only.
The checklist is CBSIFTCBE -I imagine it is shorter as there's nothing to do with checking fuel & engine sort of things!
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/CBSIFTCBE
There are also a couple of strange things you work with your feet, and the instructor sits behind you so he/she can't give your knee a friendly squeeze. However it's an ideal place to for him/her to beat you over the head from!