"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Mike the Strike wrote:
I've seen the Silent jet fly a few times in Arizona and have to agree
that it's quieter than most piston-engine planes - certainly much more
so than our tow planes.

However, these small jets probably need to be made easier to use -
starting currently looks a bit finicky - and more powerful. On a hot
Arizona day, I'd need four of the little suckers to get me comfortably
airborne.

They are currently most attractive to the lighter sailplanes, not the
pilots with a fully ballasted 15 meter racer. A really good fit might be
for sustainer-equiped gliders instead of self-launchers. For that
purpose, the easy operation, low weight, simple installation, low
maintenance, and (relatively) low cost would be ideal. The Silent, for
example, would only need one engine for sustainer use (and only 5
gallons of fuel for 1 hour operation), and noise at ground level
wouldn't be factor at all.


I have to agree that they could have an interesting future.

Glasflugel has announced a jet engine as an option on their 304S glider,
so maybe the future is "now" (or at least, "soon").
--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

That was Bob Carlson's idea. Instead of 75 gallons of water in my Nimbus 2C
wings, he asked, how about Jet-A? Instead of dumping ballast when running
out of altitude and ideas, burn it in the jet engines and come home. The N2
could cruise at over 100mph for 7.5 hours using Bob's twin jets.

Unfortunately, that 75 Gallons of Jet-A would cost $250 today.

Bill Daniels