Looking for feedback/reviews of the Karat Motorglider from AMS

[Peter[_1_]]

I'm looking for any user/owner opinions, good or bad, on the Karat
motorglider, I'd ideally like to hear first-hand experiences or better
still anyone know of one based in California that I can go look at one
weekend ?

I have only found a very few articles on the plane with the minimum of
info but it caught my interest...

Cheers,

Peter

[Mal[_1_]]

"Peter" > wrote in message
news:pan.2006.07.14.07.17.29.746751@prosys...
> I'm looking for any user/owner opinions, good or bad, on the Karat
> motorglider, I'd ideally like to hear first-hand experiences or better
> still anyone know of one based in California that I can go look at one
> weekend ?
>
> I have only found a very few articles on the plane with the minimum of
> info but it caught my interest...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Peter

It is spelt Carat

http://www.tandjsailplanes.com/?AMS-Flight:Carat

www.mals.net

[Jeremy Zawodny]

Peter wrote:
> I'm looking for any user/owner opinions, good or bad, on the Karat
> motorglider, I'd ideally like to hear first-hand experiences or better
> still anyone know of one based in California that I can go look at one
> weekend ?
>
> I have only found a very few articles on the plane with the minimum of
> info but it caught my interest...

Why not ask some owners?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caratmotorglider/

Jeremy

[Bob Kuykendall]

Earlier, Peter wrote:
>
> I'm looking for any user/owner opinions, good or bad, on the [C]arat
> motorglider, I'd ideally like to hear first-hand experiences or better
> still anyone know of one based in California that I can go look at one
> weekend ?

{plug:shameless=on}

If you like the Carat, you might also keep an eye on:

http://www.hpaircraft.com/glidair

{/plug}

Bob K.

[Willie]

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
> {plug:shameless=on}
>
> If you like the Carat, you might also keep an eye on:
>
> http://www.hpaircraft.com/glidair
>
> {/plug}
>
> Bob K.

I like the look of the Glidair Project, Although it does look
almost exactly like the Carat.

Regarding your engine options, It would certainly appeal
to me more with a four stroke, than one of the Rotax's
mentioned on the site.

Looking forward to seeing the flying prototype.

Willie G.

[[email protected]]

> I'm looking for any user/owner opinions, good or bad, on the Karat
> motorglider, I'd ideally like to hear first-hand experiences or better
> still anyone know of one based in California that I can go look at one
> weekend ?

A good approach is to join the Auxiliary Powered Sailplane Assn, an SSA
affiliate, and you'll get the membership list which shows who flies
what, and their phone numbers. When I was trying to decide on a MG some
years back, I found this invaluable. Most owners are quite happy to
tell you what they think of their ships, though I'll admit most loved
what they had. For example, when I talked to the Grob 109A owners, a
number said, "Who'd want a B when they cost almost twice as much?" In
turn, the 109B owners put down the A for its poor climb performance.
This might not be as biased as it sounds: If the A owners live near sea
level and the B owners at higher altitudes, then they're both right
since the A has adequate climb performance at sea level, but is
marginal at altitude.

Good luck with your quest.

Martin

[chris]

Bob Kuykendall wrote:

> If you like the Carat, you might also keep an eye on:
> http://www.hpaircraft.com/glidair
> Bob K.

Bob,
I saw that project too, and it made me wonder why reinvent the wheel?
Is there some real advantage for the glidair vs the Carat?

Chris

[Bob Kuykendall]

Earlier, Willie wrote:

> Regarding your engine options, It would certainly appeal
> to me more with a four stroke, than one of the Rotax's
> mentioned on the site.

We've (Brad and I) recently gotten a couple of messages to that effect.
We'll keep it in mind, but it's pretty important to keep the engine
installation weight as low as practical in order to get decent sink
rate and soaring performance from our basic 108 ft^2 15m wing.

Thanks, Bob K.

[Brad]

I started the Glidair project in 1987. Made a set of polyster molds,
pulled a cockpit area mock up fuselage shell and displayed it at the
Museum of Flight Glider Expo in Seattle years ago.

Then made a master tool fuselage plug that sat in various locations for
years until I started getting serious about it again, thanks to Bob and
my involvement in the HP-24 project.

So............the Glidair preceeded the Carat by many years, but
history is written by the winners and those with the money to
capitalize such projects.

The idea was to create a modern day ASK-14, the Carat is no such
animal, the Glidair will be.

Cheers,
Brad


chris wrote:
> Bob Kuykendall wrote:
>
> > If you like the Carat, you might also keep an eye on:
> > http://www.hpaircraft.com/glidair
> > Bob K.
>
> Bob,
> I saw that project too, and it made me wonder why reinvent the wheel?
> Is there some real advantage for the glidair vs the Carat?
>
> Chris