On Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 4:26:10 PM UTC-5, David Scott wrote:
I DON'T mean to stir up trouble on this forum with this question, especially being new, but have been wondering about this for some time. I am wondering how feasible it would be to do this with either a homebuilt or experimental glider here in the US?

I figure this has been asked but didn't find any threads on it.

It's "easy" for a qualified definition of "easy" meaning "straightforward". Several of us are already well down this route, if you're interested reach out to me and I'll send you an invite to our Slack group.

The FAA's regulations are no big deal. Others have pointed out the steps that you have to go through, and Bob Kuykendall pretty much nails it. Don't do bad work, don't do work which will manifestly endanger you or-- worse-- the public, don't just wing it. Aside from that, if the system works and you are happy to be the test pilot, the FAA is more than willing to give you the rope you need to hang yourself with.

Practically, it's not easy to find the right combination of propeller and motor and battery and layout which works. Every glider has its own peculiarities, and those need to be negotiated at some cost of time and money.

I would caution you against considering anything but the lightest of gliders. There's nothing wrong or unsafe about larger self-launching gliders, but when you're pulling this together in your shop it's a world of different if you're working with a 15kW motor, a 3kW-hr battery, and a 1.3m prop vs. a 40kW motor a 6kW-hr pack, and a 2m prop. Good candidates are the AC-5M and the Carbon Dragon. The former because all you have to do is swap out the existing engine, and the latter because it's so very, very light.