On Friday, December 11, 2020 at 8:17:42 PM UTC-8, wrote:
I actually helped put one of those three into a hangar last weekend. I'm friends with the IA who just inspected it and an acquaintance of one of the owners who flies it. I've seen it fly twice and he seems to have a good bit of fun with it.

Here is a review of the Silent 2:
https://www.aviationconsumer.com/ind...ctric-gliders/

My take on it is you can self-launch and do one low save. If you want to self-retrieve you will need to get an aerotow to maintain a fully charged battery. Even then, retrieve distance is quoted as cruising at level flight w/o a headwind. If you have to climb to clear a mountain range, for example, you will exhaust your batteries and may not even clear the range. This happened to one pilot at Ely last summer. Faced with that dilemma, he used his battery capacity to search for a suitable landing field. He was fortunate and got a weak cell phone signal to send his situation to fellow pilots back at Ely. They left the airport in the dark and returned at about 2 am.

Other considerations a
1. Is the launching altitude specified at max gross weight (the GP15 is not)? If not, what is the launch altitude at the weight you will be flying it? Will you fly with water ballast?
2. How high do you typically launch to where you fly?
3. Do you have hills or mountains that you will have to clear on a self retrieve?
4. Do you even care about self retrieving?
5. The battery safety at this time has a big question mark (I consider it unproven and will not fly one).
6. How are you going to recharge the battery on field (you will need a dedicated 20A circuit). Most remove the batteries and take them to a suitable circuit at the hangar or motel or home.

Tom