On Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 5:29:47 PM UTC-7, son_of_flubber wrote:
Branching from a thread where FES related comments are not welcome...

On Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 7:55:55 PM UTC-4, jfitch wrote:

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 benefit

1)I thought that FES (like other sustaining auxillary sources of thrust) reduced the possibility of landouts and that FES therefore reduced the risk of damage/injury related to landouts.

2)I thought the 'throw one switch' of FES added little to pilot workload

3)I thought that FES was lower maintenance compared to other auxiliary engine options.

If I thought wrong, I should stop daydreaming about getting a FES some day.

I agree with your comments 2 and 3 (from what I know of them). On comment 1, if you are flying into areas with poor landing sites that risk your glider or your life, in theory a motor that works half of the time reduces that risk by 1/2. I would not consider that a wise set of choices.

BobW comment of it bing a "range extending XC mechanism" seems to me to presuppose that you will decide to fly into areas you would not have, sans motor. Again this does not seem wise.

I do fly further and longer with the motor than without, but it is exclusively due to the ability to self retrieve from a safe landing site, reducing the inconvenience of that retrieve. I have yet to use the motor to remove me from an unsafe situation, and would consider it a life threatening mistake to do so. And I fly an ASH26e, which has probably the most reliable auxiliary IC motor installed in a glider (it is not a 2 stroke).