On Jun 12, 5:36*am, JJ Sinclair wrote:
**Center reported a Mayday from a "powered

glider with a failed engine"

Sounds like one of our motorized brethren actually had to SOAR his way
out of trouble. Got to be tough when one presses the iron thermal
button and gets no put-put noise.
JJ

JJ

You are sounding a little bitter JJ. :-) Put-put? Maybe in past times.
Most motorgliders now sound more like gas powered weed whackers. The
ASH-26E sounding like a particularly fine weed whacker IMNSHO.

Seriously - it should be an unusual situation to declare an emergency
because of an engine failure to start. Most motorglider pilots will do
starts over a suitable landing location should things not go well. And
should allow for things like stuck partially extended engine masts
etc. I've had to put my motorglider into a field because of a mistake
I made. The only real hassle was having to call a non-motorglider
pilot to come retrieve me and put up with some teasing (thank God it
was not J.J.). Utah can be intimidating, desolate areas etc. and maybe
the pilot had a good reason to do what they did.

Darryl