On Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 3:03:05 PM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Somehow this turned into a FES thread, not what I had intended. I would like comments from those with curent generation pop up factory installed sustainers. I noticed the POH's do not have performance information other than Standard conditions. Say if you have a solo 2350 what is the ceiling of climb ability? What are actual achieved results? Do you find you get less soaring as you have to stop looking for lift at a much higher altitude, and yo have a high minimum wing loading. Are you happy with the sustainer or do you wish you had gotten a pure glider? What are the downsides, the upsides. Have you experienced a failure to extend or to start, any idea what is the glider ration with engine extended. Do you prefer the two blades of Schleicher designs or the five blades of Schempp-Hirth, anyone flow a JS with jet? Does the sustainer make your flights safer as the possibility of a land is reduced. Has anyone suffered a failure resulting in damage? I am looking for as much information as the readers are willing to share. As for FES, we can start another thread but for this discussion I am interested in factory installed sustainers. Thank you all very much for your time and input.

I do not own a sustainer, rather a motorglider (ASH26e) but some of the experience is relevant. 1) If you are looking at any auxiliary engine as a safety device, I think you will eventually be disappointed if not injured. 2) An engine significantly increases the pilot workload at just the moment you would like it to be reduced, that is when low and looking for lift or a landing site. 3) An engine increases maintenance for a glider by around 2x or maybe more. These are realities that must be considered along with any perceived benefits.