At Toronto Soaring we had an interesting radio call from someone overflying us with a Silent 2 Electro this past summer. He wanted to know if we had a 220V electrical circuit with a plug socket (stove, dryer, etc.) We confirmed we did and invited him to drop in any time. The next day he did just that. He flies with his charging equipment. After landing he pulled the batteries, charged them in our shop where we had the circuit for a welder and was invited to tea in someone’s trailer while they charged. We had a good look at the glider while he was there. I thought the full-span flaperons were a nice feature.

I asked him about take offs and he does taxi on pavement to a runway where he is based but says he can’t do so on grass. On take off we only had short grass but he had trouble getting it to start the roll. He had to his belts and rock back and forth in his seat to break free! Watching the climb out I was a little disappointed with the performance. Still, a neat little glider. I’m guess the short prop is the real limitation.