TST 14M on W&W

On 12/05/2017 21:20, wrote:

I admit I am not at all familiar with this glider and I couldn't really find much about it on the interwebs. I'm also not in the market. Just wondering why a seemingly modern two-seat motor glider would be selling (or not) at such a low price.

I know nothing about these gliders. But if I were looking to buy one, I
would try and locate as many flying examples as I could and try and
ascertain their age and total hours logged.

If only 10 or 15 were ever been built, and only two are three are still
flying, and those have logged perhaps a couple of hundred hours each,
over the last 10 years, then maybe there is a problem.

On the other hand if you do the same exercise for something like a JS1,
you will find over 100 have already been built and I suspect they
average maybe 100 hours per year, each.

Ian

I have no information on the advertised TsT-15 M on Wings & Wheels, so I cannot comment on its history and reliability, but if it helps, I can give some data on the one owned and modified by Bob Carlton.

Purchased in 2009, modified with PBS TJ-100 turbojet engine. First displayed at 2010 SSA Convention in Little Rock, AR. First flight in May 2010.

Since then it has been used as a test and recreational aircraft over hundreds of flights. Most flights are either Demonstration flights or involve Instruction and Training for pilots transitioning into other aircraft that utilize the PBS TJ-100 engine (SubSonex, BD-5J, Arcus J) through an FAA Approved Training Program. (See "AOPA Pilot" magazine July 2015 or "Kitplanes" magazine August 2015.)

I won't make assumptions about the advertised glider's engine system, as I have no knowledge of its operational features or reliability. {The TJ-100 has been extremely dependable.) The following are my observations on the aircraft as a pure glider, with the engine retracted.

Several dozen pilots have taken training in the TsT-14 Jet, and over the course of the last seven years, the glider has been extremely reliable. No damage, no particular "quirks" and generally a nice glider to fly. Handling is well coordinated and light on the controls. Performance is mid-range, with a 40:1 L/D, but a limited (110 kt) Vne, due to the Light Sport certification limitations, although Bob's aircraft is actually classed as "Experimental, Exhibition & Racing."

For more detailed information, I suggest you contact Bob Carlton, through his website desertaerospace (dot) com.

The glider in question was imported from the Czech Republic and intended to be used by the nominal US distributor for TeST Gliders as a demonstrator. He seemed to lose interest in the project and sold the glider to George Saunders several years ago. It is one of two TST-14M "Bonus" two-seat gliders in the US, the other being Bob Carlton's jet-powered glider. The TeST company has not produced a glider in a half dozen years and is now owned by Vladimir Pekar as a subsidiary of his company CompLet which produces laminate parts for other aircraft manufacturers. His interest has turned from the gliders to production of a fast, four-place airplane called the Shark, and so TeST has languished, although they are still providing some support for the small fleet of existing gliders. Two years ago a couple of British aircraft designer/entrepreneurs looked into buying TeST and resuming production of both the TST-10M single-seater and the TST-14 in England, but after months of research they discovered that both gliders required more than 1000 man hours of labor to produce and subsequently could not be built in England and sold at a reasonable price, and opted not to purchase the company.

The TST-14 uses a Rotax 503, more than 30,000 of which were produced, so it's a known quantity. It has a carbon fiber spar, and GRP skin, and actually has some aircraft plywood bulkheads. (TeST originally built wood gliders exclusively, so a bit of wood remains.) It uses two Brauniger multi-function displays instead of steam gauges. Rather than conventional layers of fiberglass cloth, it's constructed from a single layer of "Parabeam," a fabric that has two layers of fiberglass spaced a few milimeters apart by multiple perpendicular strands creating a kind of shear web between the two sides. The glider is extremely light. It has a modern microprocessor controlled engine management system and the engine is extremely easy to raise and lower in flight. It has delightfully light controls.

If TeST had had an energetic distributor in the US, doing for them what Leo has done for Alisport's Silent gliders, there would be many more than two TST-14's in the US, and there should have been. It's a well-made, well-engineered ship with a reliable powerplant that had a very reasonable price tag and an excellent fun-to-price ratio. Exactly the kind of self-launcher that would suit a large number of recreational pilots. Someone really should buy the company from Vlado, or partner with him, and restart production somewhere where labor costs are low enough that the ship could be competitively priced, as it was originally.

Paul- Excellent synopsis. Thanks!

On Monday, May 15, 2017 at 11:42:11 PM UTC-4, Paul Villinski wrote:
Rather than conventional layers of fiberglass cloth, it's constructed from a single layer of "Parabeam," a fabric that has two layers of fiberglass spaced a few milimeters apart by multiple perpendicular strands creating a kind of shear web between the two sides.

Parabeam looks like an interesting material. One question though - how is it repaired? A little online Googling for terms like "how to repair Parabeam glass fiber" didn't turn up much.

P3

On Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 11:04:41 AM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
On Monday, May 15, 2017 at 11:42:11 PM UTC-4, Paul Villinski wrote:
Rather than conventional layers of fiberglass cloth, it's constructed from a single layer of "Parabeam," a fabric that has two layers of fiberglass spaced a few milimeters apart by multiple perpendicular strands creating a kind of shear web between the two sides.

Parabeam looks like an interesting material. One question though - how is it repaired? A little online Googling for terms like "how to repair Parabeam glass fiber" didn't turn up much.

P3

In a word- painfully.
UH

Dana subota, 13. svibnja 2017. u 19:23:29 UTC+2 korisnik napisao je:
anyone know someone who owns one? or has flow one recently.

Seems to only have been 10 or 20 ever made???

Looking at the Manuel - it look pretty good on paper. I am looking at - so any info would be helpful. no for racing but a nice family xc ship. (maybe)

WH
hi i have tst 14 m bonus

On Friday, 28 August 2020 at 23:46:04 UTC+3, Vanja Zivkovic wrote:
Dana subota, 13. svibnja 2017. u 19:23:29 UTC+2 korisnik napisao je:
anyone know someone who owns one? or has flow one recently.

Seems to only have been 10 or 20 ever made???

Looking at the Manuel - it look pretty good on paper. I am looking at - so any info would be helpful. no for racing but a nice family xc ship. (maybe)

WH
hi i have tst 14 m bonus

Hello Vania, is your glider for sale? If not, do you have any idea of a possible market price for a used TST14M (in Europe)?