Aveo Gliderburst - Maximini

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:22:36 AM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
The strobe on the Schleicher glider's is a strip about 18-24 inches long with multiple LED lights, Very bright and a great safety option. It is part of the leading edge of the vertical fin, so there is no aerodynamic penalty. It is popular option but still some chose to order without the strobe..

1,260.00 Euro option

If ordering a $150,000-$300,000 glider the extra $1,400 dollars while not insignificant is money well spent for both the buyer his/her family and the others pilots and their families he/she shares airspace with. There was a thread a while ago about who is responsible. Well we are all responsible for the safety of everyone around us. This is why we do not back up on freeways (almost hit an a__hole doing this), we use blinkers while changing lanes, we install PF in gliders ...etc. I know there is a cost argument which fails miserably in the context of lives at stake. Agreed a 1-26 might not warrant a S-mode transponder, PF and strobes due to price. I usually go with the safety options weather it be sailing (have done lots of off shore racing and sailing) driving, antilock brakes, all wheel disk brakes regular service...

Fifteen years ago I reinstrumented a 4 person power aircraft I had, and while the TCAS was too expensive ($30,000) I did install a S-mode transponder and an instrument which would alert and show traffic from the S-mode. That was the best money I spent in instruments and I used it every flight and on multiple occasions it saved my bacon! Sometime glider pilots while flying $100,000 plus gliders can be cheap. I personally think my life it worth the extra several thousand.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:33:48 AM UTC-7, Craig Reinholt wrote:
On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:22:36 AM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
The strobe on the Schleicher glider's is a strip about 18-24 inches long with multiple LED lights, Very bright and a great safety option. It is part of the leading edge of the vertical fin, so there is no aerodynamic penalty. It is popular option but still some chose to order without the strobe.

1,260.00 Euro option

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 1:02:33 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
If ordering a $150,000-$300,000 glider the extra $1,400 dollars while not insignificant is money well spent for both the buyer his/her family and the others pilots and their families he/she shares airspace with. There was a thread a while ago about who is responsible. Well we are all responsible for the safety of everyone around us. This is why we do not back up on freeways (almost hit an a__hole doing this), we use blinkers while changing lanes, we install PF in gliders ...etc. I know there is a cost argument which fails miserably in the context of lives at stake. Agreed a 1-26 might not warrant a S-mode transponder, PF and strobes due to price. I usually go with the safety options weather it be sailing (have done lots of off shore racing and sailing) driving, antilock brakes, all wheel disk brakes regular service...

Fifteen years ago I reinstrumented a 4 person power aircraft I had, and while the TCAS was too expensive ($30,000) I did install a S-mode transponder and an instrument which would alert and show traffic from the S-mode. That was the best money I spent in instruments and I used it every flight and on multiple occasions it saved my bacon! Sometime glider pilots while flying $100,000 plus gliders can be cheap. I personally think my life it worth the extra several thousand.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:33:48 AM UTC-7, Craig Reinholt wrote:
On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 7:22:36 AM UTC-7, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
The strobe on the Schleicher glider's is a strip about 18-24 inches long with multiple LED lights, Very bright and a great safety option. It is part of the leading edge of the vertical fin, so there is no aerodynamic penalty. It is popular option but still some chose to order without the strobe.

1,260.00 Euro option

Jonathan, go spend all the money you like but stop lecturing and second-guessing others. You subtly apply your standards to everyone else criticizing their choices and trumpeting your own. And don't call me cheap, I beg of you. Reread you post, it comes across as pretty arrogant.

On Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 11:33:22 AM UTC-7, wrote:

Jonathan, go spend all the money you like but stop lecturing and second-guessing others. You subtly apply your standards to everyone else criticizing their choices and trumpeting your own. And don't call me cheap, I beg of you. Reread you post, it comes across as pretty arrogant.

I do not recall mentioning you by name. Thou dost protest too much! How do you put a price tag on safety? I certainly am not arrogant, suffered too much humility in my life for that! Again it comes back to who is responsible for our safety, we all are. I merely stated that $1400 for a strobe on a new glider seems to be money well spent for the purchaser and others that share the same airspace. If you are already spending $150,000 plus, that is less than 1 percent the total cost. As for cheap soaring pilots, this is not news, see sentence above. There is a big difference between cheap and being on a budget. I know what it is like to scrape together enough money for an activity. But I am also practical enough to know to enhance safety in an already dangerous sport.

One more thought, why would you let someone steal your peace, if you do not like the point of view I am sharing (not lecturing) then don't read it, certainly don't take the time to mis-infer and then post a comment directly lecturing me on your mis-interpretation of my post. As for second guessing it is called non-linear thought and sometimes we ALL need the thoughts of another to help us through some fixed thinking. It is called sharing ideas. I am on this site to learn from others and I contribute when I think I have something to add, I never chastise someone for their thoughts nor have I ever lectured another!

namaste

Schleicher should be ashamed to charge $1400 for a 20 inch LED strobe. The cost of the electronics for this part amounts to less than $50. If I knew what was inside my vertical stabilizer and how to run wires to it I would build one myself. Of course this is much easier during manufacture.
Powerful LEDs are getting less expensive by the month!

Soartech wrote on 8/21/2015 7:55 AM:
Schleicher should be ashamed to charge $1400 for a 20 inch LED
strobe. The cost of the electronics for this part amounts to less
than $50. If I knew what was inside my vertical stabilizer and how to
run wires to it I would build one myself. Of course this is much
easier during manufacture. Powerful LEDs are getting less expensive
by the month!


I believe it costs them far more than $50 for the strobe they use,
especially when you consider the cost of the 20" custom lens to match
the fin airfoil. It cost me more $50 just install regular LED bulbs in
my RV! The installation requires extra work to modify the fin from the
standard "no strobe" fin, run the wires, and install the power supply.

Included in the $1400 cost is some of the engineering, development, and
procurement costs just to get to the point where it's possible to offer
it as an option. Since these gliders are certified in Europe, there are
likely certification costs in addition to the others I mentioned.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"

https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf