Buying a Pegasus 101A

There are a couple of Pegasus 101A gliders on wings and wheels want ads with around 500 hours of flight time for $20k. How significant is the 3000 hour life limit when the glider only has 500 hours (claimed)? Seems like a good deal but what am I missing?

On Saturday, July 12, 2014 7:56:56 PM UTC-4, ACF wrote:
There are a couple of Pegasus 101A gliders on wings and wheels want ads with around 500 hours of flight time for $20k. How significant is the 3000 hour life limit when the glider only has 500 hours (claimed)? Seems like a good deal but what am I missing?

No factory support as they (Centrair) are out of business. They were licensed by Schleicher to build the ASW-20 (F model) but failed to live up to their part of the agreement, and after some legal action and their business ineptitude went belly up. That experience soured Schleicher from ever again farming out production. I was the US Schleicher rep at the time (1974-1987).

Karl is incorrect when he claims that the company is "belly up" and does not provide support. The Type Certificate is now (and has been for years) handled by a company called "Societe Nouvelle Centrair" and is located at the original factory at Le Blanc aerodrome in France.

S.N. Centrair has issued numerous Service Bulletins over the years (the last just a few months ago). They continue to provide parts and advice, but it helps if you speak French and are willing to pony up some Euros for an aircraft that has been out of production for over a decade.

As far as the 3,000 hour life limit in the USA, S.N. Centrair has been most helpful with advice, documentation and correspondence as Bob Carlton and I have attempted to get this issue resolved with the FAA.

Without going into detail, we believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it isn't a train. Stay tuned for a major announcement within (hopefully) a few weeks.

On Saturday, July 12, 2014 7:40:58 PM UTC-7, Mark628CA wrote:
Karl is incorrect when he claims that the company is "belly up" and does not provide support...

So, if Centrair is still in business, who is this "SN Centrair" who seems to be acting on their behalf?

SN means "N"ew "S"ociety.
Means that for any reason Centrair disapeared then restarted with this new name.
Yes, they are working at the moment on an inspection routine to push the 3000H limit. I have no infos about a delay.


Pegasus is a great glider: easy to fly when dry, and with good perfs when full.
Very good climber, even in weak thermals.
It is easy to rig/de-rigg. Mechanic is easy.
Very cool to land in short fields, but generaly very poor brakes. Almost impossible to spin.
I have 1500H on it.

On Sunday, July 13, 2014 12:23:55 AM UTC-4, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
On Saturday, July 12, 2014 7:40:58 PM UTC-7, Mark628CA wrote:

Karl is incorrect when he claims that the company is "belly up" and does not provide support...



So, if Centrair is still in business, who is this "SN Centrair" who seems to be acting on their behalf?

I reached out to SN Centrair a short while ago since I was interested in importing a Marianne, a two-seat trainer. The original Centrair made the same blunder in their US certification process and limited the life-time to 3,000 hours of flight time. After waiting for a response for around two weeks, I got an e-mail stating that there were no attempts to change that and the main focus of SN Centrair now is making parts for Airbus. Sadly, I had to drop my plans despite the fact that the Marianne seems to be an attractive trainer compared to others, far more expensive ones, made in the Fatherland..
Uli

On Saturday, July 12, 2014 7:56:56 PM UTC-4, ACF wrote:
There are a couple of Pegasus 101A gliders on wings and wheels want ads with around 500 hours of flight time for $20k. How significant is the 3000 hour life limit when the glider only has 500 hours (claimed)? Seems like a good deal but what am I missing?

I concur with Pierre Vav that the Pegasus is a fabulous glider, and it is a delight to fly. S.N. Centair has provided excellent and rapid response for the few parts that I have needed during the past 17 years that I have owned my Pegasus. The one deficiency is the poor stopping capability of the drum wheel brake, but this can be corrected since Beringer sells a new disc brake with the required STC, specifically for the Pegasus. Realistically a single owner is lucky if they fly more than 100 hours per year, thus a 500hr ship will take a 100hr/year owner ~25 years to reach the 3000hrs hour life in the the USA. Then they can sell their ~50-year old Pegasus to a non-US owner in another country where the USA 3000hr limit does not apply. The ~$20K sale price of a Pegasus is a steal regarding the performance per dollar. My Pegasus has given me tremendous enjoyment and the depreciation in value has been negligible over the past 17 years.

I am pretty sure Centrair will never do anything regarding the Mariane.
Mariane is a great glider when manned by a pilot "who knows". It can bite a Janus C. I know, cause I was in the Janus.
Also, it is the very alone glider I did not like at all. 2 or 3 flights and definitively, we are not good friends.

It is a nightmare to takeoff on wet grass with a weak plane. Also, winch hook is not in the center of the fuse, and you have to correct all the launch.

Rear part of the fuse is known to be easy to brake even on (rather) soft landings.

I love Pegase, I hate duo-pegase. But one of the first 1000km on Pyrenees was with a Mariane.

A Pegasus with 500 FH is not a real issue as it relates to the current 3,000 FH "US only" limit. Furthermore, as Mark indicated, there is a competent team right now working with the FAA and Centrair to get the situation hopefully sorted out. $20k for a standard class ship with 40 L/D is a steal by any standard. The customer service out of the Centrair team is overall good. The parts that I have needed in the last few years were always "on the shelves" and my technical questions always received an answer within one-two weeks. There is also a Yahoo group "Fly4pegasus" available for owners and other Pegasus enthusiasts! As highlighted above, the drum brake is not the most effective but Beringer has now an STC that is worth considering.