AirVenture 2007 - Xenos & Gliders
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Bruce was particularly interested in the Sonex
booth since he's working on a Xenos motorglider project back home. You can see Van's booth in the background.
That's a Xenos Bruce is standing in front of.
Later, we went to a forum given by Jeremy Monnett on Light Sport Aircraft
and the Sonex product line. The Sonex, Waiex and Xenos all qualify
as light sport. During the Q&A at the end, almost all the questions were about the Xenos motorglider. It makes sense. There are really very few
good options if you want a motorglider. There are few decent motorgliders
on the used-aircraft market. New, factory-built motorgliders are expensive.
So building a Xenos kitplane for 1/3 of a new, factory-built plane is an
attractive option. Plus you can fly it as a LSA -- no medical
required. |
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This is the first, and so far the only, customer-built Xenos.
Bruce spent quite a bit of time talking with the builder/owner.
The workmanship was outstanding.
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| This is a Waiex with an awesome
paint job. |
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Well, the top of the line motorglider would be this
Stemme ST-V10. Technically,
it's categorized as a self-launching motorglider. Look how the left wing is
folded. This two-seater has a retractable prop, Rotax 914
Turbo powerplant, and a L/D of 50 to 1. My Ka-8 glider, by
comparison, has an L/D of 27 to 1. The best doesn't come cheap,
though. $300K for a new one. $200K and up for a used one. Here are some pictures of the Stemme
in flight over Yosemite.
Link |
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I was surprised to see a Dynon and a 486 in an AirGizmo mount on the
Stemmes panel. Great minds think alike!
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| This factory-built motorglider is
an LSA and was over in the Ultralight section. |
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| Here is the Perlan glider
that Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson used to set the absolute altitude
world record in a glider. They did it on August 29, 2006 over the
Southern Andes at the Argentina/Chile border. They got a tow to 13,000
feet and then rode the mountain wave all the way up to 50,727 feet.
They wore the same pressure suit that the U-2 pilots wear.
Link |
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