Eric Greenwell wrote:

I love being able to taxi in my ASH 26 E, but the alternative is to push
a 850 lb glider to the end of the runway. If it were a turbine powered
SparrowHawk, it'd be less 200 pounds, and pushing it down to the end
wouldn't be any worse than just walking down there. Seriously, it is so
much easier to push, it's not an issue, it's just walking. I could do
without the taxi ability to avoid carrying a large of amount of fuel to
do the taxi.

An excellent point. A reflective vest and one could simply
walk the glider to the runway.

About 80% of my flights have only one engine use, a climb to ~2000' agl.
The rest have another engine start, and 15% have a typical run time of
less than 10 minutes. About 3% can be as much as 20 minutes additional
run time, and the last 2% haven't exceeded 40 minutes (total of 45
minutes for the flight). I can easily avoid that 2% and be happy with 30
minutes of fuel at climb power.

Assuming sustained flight may only require 10-20 lbs of thrust at
best L/D, fuel consumption may be quite low when used as a
turbo. On the other hand, full power may provide startling (redline)
speeds with 80-200 lbs of thrust and a 400# gross weight.

What do these things use for fuel? Do we need to land at airports with
Jet A to refuel? Or a town with a hobby shop and model airplanes?

Jet A, and some other stuff. I think they may burn just about
anything: castor oil, alchohol, melted margarine, autogas,
avgas, jet A, diesel, etc. The real problem is if the fuel
has contaminants (margarine may be a BAD idea).
Don't quote me on the fuels they use, but the turbine
principle seems to have few fuel restrictions in theory...

Eric Greenwell