On Tuesday, August 18, 2015 at 3:25:06 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I'm a newly licensed glider pilot, and I can't wait to start flying XC. I recently restarted my training after an 8 year hiatus. One of the things that motivated me to get back into soaring is the development of electric sustainers. Having the ability to flip a switch and be confident that the motor will start every time makes XC way less intimidating to me. The risk, and more importantly, the massive hassle of a landout is a real turn-off, personally. I know that I will still have to be prepared for the possibility of a landout even with an e-sustainer, but it seems improbable enough to ease my anxiety about it.

Granted, I don't have a glider with an electric sustainer available to me right now, but after I gain some XC experience with my local club, one may be in my future.

Perhaps if/when electric sustainers become more common in soaring clubs, more people will be willing to fly XC. They may even bring in a new class of people to the sport who would be too afraid to try even local soaring due to the lack of self-propulsion.

Perhaps if you crewed for someone and helped by doing a retrieve or 2 you would find out that while inconvenient(you're gonna be late for dinner), very few turn out to be a "massive hassle". Out of the many more than 100 field landings I have made, only a couple would fall in that category. Many were pleasant interesting experiences that allowed me to meet a bunch of very nice folks.
UH