fes ot jet (pros and cons)

I hope you fly over very friendly terrain.

I have flown quite a bit (Nationals and two Worlds) in Silent 2 Electro with many self launches and many self-retrieves. Twice I have had to land at an intervening due to dwindling power. Both times I was then aero towed the rest of the way.

I was lucky enough this spring to do some flying in a JS-3 w/jet. I ran the jet twice. Once for practice over the home airport, another time to keep myself from landing at a grass runway in Oklahoma.

I did not find fueling/defueling the jet to be difficult. The JS-3 has a built in pump. You connect the line, select fuel or defuel, and turn on the pump. I understand the earlier JS-1's had a separate pump you had to carry around so maybe that setup is a little more kludgy.

In the JS-3's Jet Manual Supplement (111 pages) it says the certified operating temperature range is -15 to +40C. However only the -15C is listed on the limitations placard. Airspeed must between 54 and 65 knots when starting.. As has been discussed there have been several known failures to start. I think most all of these have ended with the glider in a field.

Loading/unloading FES batteries is also not too tricky.

One thing I'm not sure i've seen mentioned is that the FES with the Electro or Mini LAK will self launch.

I would choose FES if I was buying, which I am not. I will happily fly either and keep a landable field or two in range at all times.