On Monday, April 13, 2020 at 7:48:51 PM UTC-7, Eric Greenwell wrote:
2G wrote on 4/13/2020 5:54 PM:
On Monday, April 13, 2020 at 2:42:54 PM UTC-7, jld wrote:
Taurus is a nice glider. Very roomy, nice side by side configuration when flying with friends or for instruction.
It is very well build.
Typical WL with 2 pilots is 38-40 kg/m2
The cruise performance is similar to lightly loaded standard class.
The climb performance is more like a heavy loaded standard.
It would be an excellent 2 seater with a wing more specifically designed for soaring.With modern 18m wings would make it a fantastic 2 seater.
I know the 503 version.
I have never flown the electro but it has too limited battery capacity for my need. It would need at least 10 kwh batteries for comfortable operation.

Electric gliders won't cut it when you have to motor a was to the lift, like at Williams. Once, Jim Leedy and I motored from KRLD to Mt. Rainier in his Taifun to get to the wave lift.

The Williams case is one I considered before choosing the Jeta. On the map, it
looks like about 20 NM the to hills to the west. Most electric gliders have that
much range; eg, the Gp15 Jeta with the large battery could launch, motor the 20
miles, and still have about 55-60 NM range left. The small battery would only have
30-35 nn range left, though. The AS34 would have about 45 NM range left after
motoring from Williams to the hills; the miniLak FES also about 45 NM, maybe more.

Everyone knows the gasoline powered self-launchers all have powered ranges that
exceed the best electric range, but that is irrelevant for most of the people
buying an electric glider. They want to eliminate the tow and dramatically
increase their chances of getting home, and the electric glider gives them what
they want. If you dream of flights that require hours of power, or airfields that
don't have electricity, you must stay with gasoline.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1

The launch has to be 4kft, min and the distance is more like 22nm. And what if the lift is further into the hills? And what if you have a headwind? And if you don't connect you don't have a glide back to Williams. The same thing goes for Minden. The margins are either non-existent or too thin for my tastes. Of course, you could always get a tow. In fact, save the cost of a FES and fly a pure glider.

Tom