Which sustainer system would you chose for your sailplane?

A few years back I asked FES about shipping a kit to the US to be
installed locally in my LAK-17a. The response I got was that, to
maintain quality, they would not provide kits. They would, however,
travel to the US at my expense and perform the installation for me. The
cost at the time was $28,000 and, if I could find 4 other gliders, they
would offer me a discount.

I haven't compared that price to the price difference on a new glider
with and without a FES but I would guess that it was in line with buying
a new glider. Travel, shipping, and lodging costs are considerable for
the duration of the installation.

On 1/6/2016 2:33 PM, wrote:
Pegase are basically the same fuselage as a ASW20 - just French - and 20's are on their list.

I did ask, but there is no one in the US doing the retro fit - I was hoping to look at FES more at the convention. I would even consider buying a ASW20 or ASW27 in Europe and shipping it back - but I do not know the process.

If it were available as a retro fit I bet there would be a long line. For people like myself that want to do XC and want to do some contests, I believe FES is a game changer. (I know the romance about landing out.....) The increased drag/weight may keep me off a podium, but that is not my total interest as my skill level.

WH1

--
Dan, 5J

Now that is interesting. bhanson..at..roitech.com - maybe we can chat off rec.soaring

All the FES gliders I have seen are 100k+ - you could get a nice ASW20 or even a ASW27 add 25k and still be within reach.

You would not end up with a glider that gets you to the Worlds or the top of a podium - but it would get you home and not in the middle of a field in the dark LOL

WH1

Approximate prices as of spring 2015...

D2c 18m - 68k Euro
D2cT 18m - 85k Euro
D2c FES 18m - 93k Euro

All plus VAT.
All plus loads of "Options"

By the time you've added a trailer & sensible instrument fit you're looking
at around 150k Euro inc VAT, so difference between "traditional" turbo &
FES is less than the variation in exchange rates from week to week (Or day
to day at the moment!)

KN

At 16:44 07 January 2016, Dan Marotta wrote:

I haven't compared that price to the price difference on a new glider
with and without a FES but I would guess that it was in line with buying
a new glider. Travel, shipping, and lodging costs are considerable for
the duration of the installation.

When is a hybrid coming? FES plus a 10hp generator would be the ideal combination.

On Friday, January 8, 2016 at 3:53:32 PM UTC+3, J. Nieuwenhuize wrote:
When is a hybrid coming? FES plus a 10hp generator would be the ideal combination.

Solar cells.

It shouldn't be long before it's economic to embed solar cells under a thin smooth transparent layer (would gelcoat do?) of the entire upper surface of the wing.

At current efficiencies, a single seater with 10 sq m of wing will get about 2 hp, not 10, but that will still help as it'll be working almost all the time.