Alxxx Posted December 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi folks,I discovered this site whilst looking for flying lessons for my teenage son, I had never heard of motor gliders before, what a great concept!MY son will have his first flying lesson soon and I expect he will want to progress to get a pilots license and eventually a craft to own and fly.As an engineer with technical background with all workshop and fabrication skills is it feasible to find plane to rebuild whilst my son is taking lessons. I will want to do all this as cheaply as possible even buying a damaged craft and picking up parts as time goes buy.As I am in Scotland UK I guess that nothing will be easy to find in UK or Europe, simply not enough owners here I think. I guess I there must be much more chance of finding what I need from the USA, does anyone have any advice, ideas or should I give up this idea to find and build slowly over time.Thank you in advance.Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alxxx Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 Hi folks,I discovered this site whilst looking for flying lessons for my teenage son, I had never heard of motor gliders before, what a great concept!MY son will have his first flying lesson soon and I expect he will want to progress to get a pilots license and eventually a craft to own and fly.As an engineer with technical background with all workshop and fabrication skills is it feasible to find plane to rebuild whilst my son is taking lessons. I will want to do all this as cheaply as possible even buying a damaged craft and picking up parts as time goes buy.As I am in Scotland UK I guess that nothing will be easy to find in UK or Europe, simply not enough owners here I think. I guess I there must be much more chance of finding what I need from the USA, does anyone have any advice, ideas or should I give up this idea to find and build slowly over time.Thank you in advance.Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermalseeker Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hi Alex,Finding a "fixer upper" is a great way to get into flying without spending a lot of money, comparatively speaking. You're on the right track, although I wouldn't discount the number of motorgliders that might be available in Europe. Most of the designs out come from Europe and there are quite a few designs that remain popular. I would try to stay with the major manufacturers in your search, such as Fournier, Aeromot, Grob, PZL, Scheib, Schleicher, Aerotechnik, etc. These will be the easiest ships to find and to find parts for. Also understand that there are some real contraptions out there to avoid. If something sounds too cheap to be true, it probably is.Possible project aircraft: Aeromot Ximango or Super Ximango, Grob 109, Fournier RF-5, Scheib SF-28A. These are by no means the only potentials, just a few off the top of my head.As far as places to look, the Sailplane Directory has pretty much every sailplane, self launcher and motorglider ever made listed. The first thing you would want to do is identify what it is you're looking for. Here you will find basic information about performance, engine type, the number made, country of origin, etc. This link allows you to search by manufacturer or glider name: http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/There are several US based sites that advertise TMG's for sale, as well as pure gliders. Among these:www.wingsandwheels.comwww.barnstormers.comwww.trade-a-plane.comwww.ssa.orgwww.motorglider.orgAsk around at glider clubs. Sometimes they have a 2 place TMG they might use for training. In some incidences you might find a club willing to sell. It's also possible to go the "build your own" route, but the choices are pretty limited. Europa Aircraft out of the UK does produce a motorglider kit based on their popular Europa XS touring aircraft. I built and fly a Europa XS touring airplane and I love it. I did get a chance to get a couple of hours in a Europa motorglider in soarable conditions and I wasn't really impressed. There is another kit called the Wisper coming out of South Africa, but I haven't seen one, haven't flown one and beyond the name I don't know much about it.Good luck with it! Regards,John Lawton Whitwell, TN (TN89)Ximango N135XSEuropa XS N245E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermalseeker Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Hi Alex,Finding a "fixer upper" is a great way to get into flying without spending a lot of money, comparatively speaking. You're on the right track, although I wouldn't discount the number of motorgliders that might be available in Europe. Most of the designs out come from Europe and there are quite a few designs that remain popular. I would try to stay with the major manufacturers in your search, such as Fournier, Aeromot, Grob, PZL, Scheib, Schleicher, Aerotechnik, etc. These will be the easiest ships to find and to find parts for. Also understand that there are some real contraptions out there to avoid. If something sounds too cheap to be true, it probably is.Possible project aircraft: Aeromot Ximango or Super Ximango, Grob 109, Fournier RF-5, Scheib SF-28A. These are by no means the only potentials, just a few off the top of my head.As far as places to look, the Sailplane Directory has pretty much every sailplane, self launcher and motorglider ever made listed. The first thing you would want to do is identify what it is you're looking for. Here you will find basic information about performance, engine type, the number made, country of origin, etc. This link allows you to search by manufacturer or glider name: http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/There are several US based sites that advertise TMG's for sale, as well as pure gliders. Among these:www.wingsandwheels.comwww.barnstormers.comwww.trade-a-plane.comwww.ssa.orgwww.motorglider.orgAsk around at glider clubs. Sometimes they have a 2 place TMG they might use for training. In some incidences you might find a club willing to sell. It's also possible to go the "build your own" route, but the choices are pretty limited. Europa Aircraft out of the UK does produce a motorglider kit based on their popular Europa XS touring aircraft. I built and fly a Europa XS touring airplane and I love it. I did get a chance to get a couple of hours in a Europa motorglider in soarable conditions and I wasn't really impressed. There is another kit called the Wisper coming out of South Africa, but I haven't seen one, haven't flown one and beyond the name I don't know much about it.Good luck with it! Regards,John Lawton Whitwell, TN (TN89)Ximango N135XSEuropa XS N245E Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.tomazin Posted June 7, 2015 Report Share Posted June 7, 2015 ALEX, I am Joe Kulbeth and live in Fresno, CA USA. I am the distributor for motor glider aircraft manufactured by Distar sro, Czech Republic. The current model of aircraft is the SunDancer 15 meter touring motor glider. There are only four of them in existence two of which is in the USA and two new ones on the way to the USA within a few days. The previous model which is essentially the same aircraft and was built by a different manufacture (bankrupt) but still are being serviced by the new manufacture is the Lambada. All parts and services are available. It' my understanding there are a couple of them in Scotland. There are several of them available here in the USA for sale. I currently have one on consignment to sell that would be an excellent trainer. It is not necessarily a fixer upper other than updating the instrument panel to current type instruments. My best advice is that a young person learning to fly benefits greatly by learning to fly gliders. I will be happy to discuss this in detail if you wish. joekulbeth.airusa@gmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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