Hi Paul,

I own a T.59D (1789) and love it A bit heavy to rig, but it handles my size and weight.

There is a Yahoo! group called "Kestrel401" that caters to the Kestrel crowd. It's not very active, but the people are fairly decent and responsive. You'll find the various approved mods there, as well as the TNs and ADs (there are 2 annual-check ADs). The PoH is also there. The various mods were designed by the factory as they went through series production (there are 4 series), including enlarging the rudder and adding an anti-balance tab to the elevator (standard in series 2 and later). There was one (two?) modified to have a double-panel spoiler, but it wasn't approved for general use and apparently didn't do much except make more noise.

Some support for the type is available through Glasfaser at www.streifly.de.. Slingsby is now known as Slingsby Advanced Composites and has various drawings for the Kestrel... at a price.

The Kestrel has no life limits, it's "on condition" for everything, although the rudder actuator has a slight design flaw (annual AD to check the weld joints: any cracks and it's to be replaced... not sure if there are any replacements available).

There are a few other Kestrel owners that follow r.a.s. so others may chime in.

Good luck getting your Kestrel back into the air!

- John