Association for Experimental Sailplanes?

[Jim Meade]

I'm bying an experimental registered sailplane. Are there any
specific organizations that cater to those interests?

I looked at Experimental Sailplane Association's website, but it seems
3-4 months out of date and makes me wonder if it is truly active.

TIA for any suggestions.

[Bob Kuykendall]

On Mar 6, 9:38*am, Jim Meade > wrote:
> I'm bying an experimental registered sailplane. *Are there any
> specific organizations that cater to those interests?
>
> I looked at Experimental Sailplane Association's website, but it seems
> 3-4 months out of date and makes me wonder if it is truly active.
>
> TIA for any suggestions.

The ESA is actually a pretty active group, you can't necessarily judge
what's going on by their Web site. Everybody involved has their own
projects and their day jobs, and sometimes the Association volunteer
stuff gets a bit behind.

What type of sailplane it is makes a big difference. There are active
Internet fora for virtually every marque. I know that the Schreder
Designs and Russia forums are pretty prolific, and that there are also
active forums for Briegleb (sp?) and Maupin and Marske designs. Just
do a Web search and you'll either find them or find someone who knows
where they are.

What type of Experimental your sailplane is also makes difference. If
it's Experimental Racing or Experimental Exhibition as are all ASW20
and Zunis in the US, the ESA guys might not be your best resource,
they won't know the Program Letter process as well as one of the SRA
guys. The legacy of the ESA leans them a bit towards homebuilts of the
type usually registered as Experimental Amateur-Built.

As far as the population of experimental soaring enthusiasts goes,
it's a bit of a niche. General aviation is a relatively small sector
of aviation at large, and experimental airplanes is a relatively small
sector of general aviation. Experimental gliders is therefore a sector
of a sector, so enthusiasts can seem a bit thin on the ground at
times. That's why its nice to reconnect at the annual ESA workshops.

Thanks, Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

[Wayne Paul]

The Schreder Yahoo news group and Schreder Designs website URLs are as
follows
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hp-gliders/

Wayne
HP-14 N990 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/

"Bob Kuykendall" > wrote in message
...
On Mar 6, 9:38 am, Jim Meade > wrote:
> I'm bying an experimental registered sailplane. Are there any
> specific organizations that cater to those interests?
>
> I looked at Experimental Sailplane Association's website, but it seems
> 3-4 months out of date and makes me wonder if it is truly active.
>
> TIA for any suggestions.

The ESA is actually a pretty active group, you can't necessarily judge
what's going on by their Web site. Everybody involved has their own
projects and their day jobs, and sometimes the Association volunteer
stuff gets a bit behind.

What type of sailplane it is makes a big difference. There are active
Internet fora for virtually every marque. I know that the Schreder
Designs and Russia forums are pretty prolific, ...