Gliders at Oskosh

SSA will be exhibiting gliders, with an info booth, at Oskosh this
year. That's great! But their choice is a bit surprising: "The
current plan is to exhibit two sailplanes, a Ximango to represent motor
gliders, and a Sparrowhawk for the purists." (quoted from the SSA
website).

Now, the Ximango is fine for a touring motorglider, but the Sparrowhawk
is hardly the glider of choice for purists - it's a nice niche glider
(ultralight, medium performance), but not really in the mainstream,
IMHO. I consider myself a bit of a purist (my friends would say
elitist glasshole, ahem) and when I think of a glider to show off to
the great unwashed masses I think ASW-27 , Nimbus 4, or LS-8, not
Sparrowhawk.

It would be nice to see a modern self launch (Apis?) and a state of the
art Std or 15 meter ship, and a modern 2-seat trainer (PW-6/ASK-21).

Or wow the motorheads with an ASH-25 or Nimbus 4dm with all the wing
bits on!

If someone asked me, and I had the time off, I'd be happy to drag my
old LS6 up there - but I don't think that's going to happen!

Oh well, now for the retribution of the Sparrowhawk fans...

Seriously, I really think that this is a good thing - regardless of the
actual gliders involved - The EAA crowd could be a great source of
glider pilots. Good on you, SSA! And good luck!

Kirk
66

Maybe "purist" means "Made in America", which kind of limits the
choices!

Mike

wrote:
SSA will be exhibiting gliders, with an info booth, at Oskosh this
year. That's great! But their choice is a bit surprising: "The
current plan is to exhibit two sailplanes, a Ximango to represent motor
gliders, and a Sparrowhawk for the purists." (quoted from the SSA
website).

I think the Ximango is something of a poor choice to show off on our
behalf. Because it looks fairly airplane like, I suspect all the
motorheads will only look at its airplane qualities, as in "Where do I
put my golf clubs?", or "Only cruises at 95 kts, might as well walk!"
and ignore its soaring potential. A Stemme, Antares, or "JATO" Silent
would be a more novel (if unrepresentative) intro to the sport.
The Sparrowhawk seems like a good choice too, if they can't get an Eta. :-)

Shawn

Mike the Strike wrote:
Maybe "purist" means "Made in America", which kind of limits the
choices!

Maybe they're sticking to "Made in the Americas" and that's why they
chose the Chimichanga too.

Shawn

"Mike the Strike" wrote in message
oups.com...
Maybe "purist" means "Made in America", which kind of limits the
choices!



It seems a little strange to me that a sailplane built from a kit, such as
an Apis (http://www.apisgliders.com/kit.html), is not included. Or, maybe
couple vintage/classic gliders. After all the EAA is the organization that
advocates for home built aircraft, antique aircraft, war birds and
acrobatics.

The organization also has a large Ultralight contingent. That is where the
SparrowHawk fits.

I really don't see where the Ximango fits.

Wayne
------------------------
HP-14 N990 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder

BTW - Dick Schreder was EAA member # 504

Earlier, wrote:

SSA will be exhibiting gliders, with an info booth, at Oskosh this
year. That's great! But their choice is a bit surprising: "The
current plan is to exhibit two sailplanes, a Ximango to represent motor
gliders, and a Sparrowhawk for the purists." (quoted from the SSA
website).

That sounds about like what I've come to expect of the SSA.

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Earlier, wrote:


SSA will be exhibiting gliders, with an info booth, at Oskosh this
year. That's great! But their choice is a bit surprising: "The
current plan is to exhibit two sailplanes, a Ximango to represent motor
gliders, and a Sparrowhawk for the purists." (quoted from the SSA
website).


That sounds about like what I've come to expect of the SSA.

Don't be too quick to judge: discover the situation first. Currently,
the event is being spearheaded by an eager volunteer group that is
raising money for the event. The SSA, and some of it's divisions and
affiliates are contributing money and some effort, but the majority of
the money and effort comes from the self-energizing volunteer group.

Ian Cant, an occasional poster here, is one of the leaders, and the
person I dealt with when the ASA (Auxiliary-powered Sailplane
Association) wanted to know if this effort was one we should support.
We've sent them a check (via the SSA), and hope to have at least one
self-launching sailplane there besides the Ximango, either as part of a
fly-in, or at/near the booth. The details are far from settled, and if
you are interested in influencing them, contact the lead organizers. The
contacts (Ian Cant and Anne Mongiovi) are clearly listed on the SSA site.

I urge everyone with some real interest in this event to get the details
before they post here. And note that I'm picking on Bob, not because he
is the most uninformed, but because I've met him several times and know
he is decent fellow with a sturdy ego that can withstand some gentle
chiding (I hope it's perceived that way!).

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

www.motorglider.org

Good points all, Eric. On reflection, I'm glad that somebody has
stepped up to the plate and is representing soaring at Oshkosh, er,
AirVenture.

I guess it's too easy to lose sight of the fact that the SSA isn't a
bunch of nameless, faceless drones - it's us. Or, at least, those of us
who are members.

Bob K.

Eric,

You are absolutely correct - Anne and Ian deserve all our support - in
time, money, gliders, etc to make this initiative work.

And our untarnished respect - this isn't an easy thing to do! And
realistically, finding room for a 25m ship in the display area would be
challenging, I susbect. That reason alone makes the Sparrowhawk a good
choice, in retrospect - and it does have a certain "what a cool little
glider" appeal to it.

On the other hand, maybe we should all fly in to Oskosh together,
release nearby, and do a simultaneous contest finish! No? Then how
about holding a regional contest there the week prior to or after
Airventure?

Anyway - Anne and Ian, thankyou for your efforts, and good luck! And
hopefully my slightly tongue-in-cheek (it's winter and stable, and the
field is wet, dammit!) posting will have raised awareness of your
initiative a bit.

Kirk
66

I come from the homebuilder ranks and if the idea is to attract new
blood to the sport of gliding from EAA members ....Then I think they
made an excelent choice of gliders to display. Most of the "purests"
already are involved in the sport. If you are pitching the sport to
the general public to attract non-aviation types then a more "pure"
craft might make sense.

IMHO there is a large untapped market among EAA and part 103 fliers
that would really enjoy the challange and economy of a reasonably
efficent motorglider. They just haven't been exposed to that branch of
aviation, or have been scared off by the "purests" with their big
expensive high performance glass. Soaring/gliding really is a fairly
well kept secret and even harder to get started in (in many parts of
this country) than general or experimental aviation.
======================
Leon McAtee