Motorglider and Towered Airport

Steve B wrote:
Doug... you are correct about management being able to make your life
easy or not so easy. So it looks like I have a long road to hoe.


Steve,

If you are Steven Perry Barnes, the FAA says you also have an
ASEL license. Hmmm...so there may be some other options.

Just brainstorming, mind you, but perhaps you can recertify your
motorglider as an airplane? Then it's just an experimental airplane...

Also, if you fly out of there once in a regular plane, and show
how professionally you handle everything, when the controllers hear
your voice again they'll know you aren't some yahoo gonna
mess up their sequencing.

From the Airnav picture, it looks like Kona has at least one
high speed taxiway for you to get off. So that is very good.
I suppose the next issue is how to taxi.
If the glider can be taxied without a wingrunner, fine. If not
maybe Century Aviation or Tropicbird or Hawaii flight
academy, etc. can help you with a golf cart, a teenagers with a
reflective vest, and a short rope to taxi you away.

If it were me, I'd get a reflective vest for myself and the line boy,
go out and scout the taxi obstructions with the fire department,
arrange for a golf cart and rope, and pick a time with little
traffic. I'd also check in with the local flight schools and
tell them a plan and ask for input. They are likely to be
the biggest complainers or best allies.

I don't know about Kona, but at Palomar if I was a controller
and someone wanted to fly a motorglider there I'd be livid.
By recollection, the taxiway and runway are so close together too
that I don't know if you could even safely taxi a glider
without wake turbulence being a factor in some areas. And with
the huge optempo (761 ops/day), taxi and landings and takeoffs are
quite challenging to order.

At 329 operations a day, Kona seems pretty packed too. Requesting
a taxiway for takeoff which ISN'T the one everyone else uses seems
a good idea, and using the high speed taxi off after landing should
minimize the grief about cluttering the active. Taxiing the
glider in a safe and efficient way is something else entirely...

Maybe try the whole thing simulated in a power plane first? A
little rehearsal dance for the golf cart and driver, and the
controller, and you?

Just some thoughts...hope they help with creative solutions...