On Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 3:11:22 PM UTC, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Chris Wedgwood wrote on 12/11/2019 2:38 AM:
On Monday, December 9, 2019 at 12:05:24 AM UTC, Duster wrote:
Really Dan, pay attention. "FES" stands for "front engine sustainer", whereas "FES" stands for "front engine self-launcher".

OK, seriously, the Diana site says the Diana 2 and 3 are optioned for "FES" capability (which they define as front engine sustainter). However, they also state, "The Diana 2 with 185 kg of empty mass can be self-launched without water ballast."

A friend swears the Diana line either meets or exceeds the performance of any other competition glider to date (stated before Ventus 3 and JS3 were produced).
Dusty


Front Electric Sustainer actually.

Actually not, according the FES people:

"FES is efficient and innovative Front Electric Self-launch / Self-sustainer
propulsion system for powered sailplanes, developed and produced by LZ design
company located in Slovenia in the middle of the Europe."

I believe it was "sustainer" initialiy, but with so many FES equipped gliders
capable of self-launch, the meaning has been expanded.

My favorite of the FES self-launchers is the 13.5M minLAK FES. Small, light, easy
to live with, but with good gliding and power-on performance. It has enough water
ballast capacity to use the strong days well, at least where I live in the Pacific
Northwest.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1


Take a look at the URL for their website ..

http://www.front-electric-sustainer.com/