kinsell wrote on 3/5/2021 8:28 PM:
FES gliders have been out almost 10 years now, what is clear is their history.* Underpowered
back then, underpowered still today.* Makes you wonder where these huge improvements in
capacity are hiding.* Some are being sold as self launchers, even when flown as sustainers
they're still landing out.

The airplane examples you mention don't apply to us, because their goals are very different,
and are much more difficult to achieve. Your judgement that FES gliders are under powered is
just an opinion, one that is obviously not shared by the major manufacturers, who have
increased their FES offerings substantially in the last 10 years, nor is it shared by the
increasing number of glider pilots that are buying them. I'm sure every owner of an FES glider
wishes it had more power; in fact, I've had the same wish for my ASH 26E! But overall, the
26E's attributes are attractive enough that I've flown it for 26 years, and the FES attributes
are attractive enough that many pilots buy them.

It's important to remember many pilots buying an FES glider are coming from an unpowered
glider, so they think the ability to self-launch is an amazing upgrade, and to have a modest
retrieve capability is an outstanding addition!

--
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