Motorgliders (long)

In article ,
says...
Eric asked for examples of motorglider advantage in contests.

Actually, it was someone else, who said they'd like to hear from
MOTORGLIDER pilots about what they thought their advantages were. I
seconded the motion, since we'd been hearing a lot about motorglider
advantages from pilots that weren't motorglider pilots. And we still
are.

The situation JJ describes below is a well recognized advantage of
motorgliders. I've never disputed it. When the lift is too weak that NO
ONE can stay up, the advantage goes to the motorglider, since he'll
usually get home sooner, even if everyone lands at an airport.

As an aside, I sometimes miss the retrieves. They were generally quite
entertaining, often involving odd characters and unusual situations, as
JJ so well relates (no, no, I don't mean JJ or Gary are odd
characters!). Even though the retrieves left me with a bundle of good
stories, and I'm glad I flew motorless gliders, after 20 years and 3000
hours in motorless gliders, I decided I'd been there, done that, and it
was time to try something new.

So, are there any MOTORGLIDER pilots that would like to divulge their
advantages?

My favorite story occured at the Minden regionals, a few years back. Gary and
I were working a decent little thermal, deep in the boonies, north of Basalt. I
spotted a wing flash on the next ridge and figured, "Anybody out here, knows
what they're doing." We left our 3 knotter and joined the glider I had spotted.
He didn't have a thing, just junk. Mad at myself for leaving the 3 knot
thermal, we all started a glide for Hawthorne. Gary was on the left, the
unknown glider, in the middle and I was on the right. As the ground became an
item of interest (read, we were below 1000 feet and Hawthorne was still more
than 10 miles away), I saw two little dors open on the unknown glider and an
IRON THERMAL appeared. Gary and I landed at Garlach Flats, its actually a
bombing range that isn't a restricted area. the Army tests cluster bombs there.
They just fly over with a cluster bomb slung below a helicopter, look all
around and if they don't see anybody on the ground, or in the air, they drop
the sucker. The individual bomblets are inert, they are just checking for a
good dispersal pattern.

Anyway, we landed in this bombing range. I shouted to Gary at the last moment,
to land outside the fence. Supper that night consisted of my apple and Gary's
candy bar. I gave him exactly half of my apple, but I think I got shorted on
his Baby Ruth. We gathered up all the fire wood we could find and then about
sundown, I felt the *call of nature*. I wiped myself with half of the task
sheet and then used the other half to start a fire. About 10 PM, the last of
the wood was consumed, so we got in our cockpits and settled down for a long,
gold night. As I drifted off to sleep I thought, "Wonder where that motorglider
is sleeping tonight."
JJ Sinclair


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Eric Greenwell USA