Bonus Jet glider demo weekend

This weekend Bob Carlton brought his Bonus Jet glider to Phoenix for
Arizona Soaring Association members to demo and presented a fine
PowerPoint / video presentation after our BBQ dinner at Turf Soaring.
What a great time we all had. The weather cooperated, and although it
was a tad windy, there were abundant thermals, allowing more than a
dozen pilots to enjoy the smooth vibration free jet launch and about
45 minutes of airtime each. The whole deal was very professionally
done. Bob started with giving each pilot a thorough preflight
introduction to the glider and its panel and controls. Once the engine
is spooled up, Bob handled the takeoff, into a 1071 ft / minute
initial climb (accurately measured by Andy Durbin, one of our members,
with his EW electronic barograph), throttled back to 75% and turned
the stick over to the demo pilot in the front seat for the rest of the
flight, until landing. As soon as the demo pilot was comfortable with
a thermal the jet was turned off and retracted (a really slick
automatic system that requires nothing more from the pilot after
initiating). On my flight we consumed 2 gallons of JP-4 from start-
up, takeoff, climb to hitting a thermal, to shutting the engine down
and stowing it. Every pilot commented what a superb bit of
engineering the engine and its extraction / retraction set up is, how
enjoyable their flights were, and how interesting the evening
presentation was. Bob is a professional airshow pilot, currently
performing aerobatics with his SuperSalto jet glider at airshows
around the world with his company Vertigo Airshows. His wife, Laurie,
who is chief crewperson, was along, helping immensely with
everything. Much like NASCAR racing, having a superior crew is
paramount to being winner, and Laurie fits the bill. While hoping to
sell a few BonusJets, Bob is also looking into fitting the jets into
other gliders, with a JS-1 in progress right now. Piston engines are
complex and vibrate a lot, especially 2 cycle engines, and jets are
incredibly smooth, vibration free, and simple. I look forward to
seeing a lot more of them in self-launch gliders in the future, and
Bob is the man who will be at the vanguard of that movement. If any
other clubs out there take the opportunity to have Bob visit with his
BonusJet, any members who miss the event will really be missing out!
And, anyone out there with a fatter bank account than mine will find
the purchase of a jet glider will put them into the future of self
launching gliders (at least where noise is not a problem).

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