YEAR AROUND INCREASE D UTILIZATION * ECONOMY IF YOU WANT MORE ENJOYMENT FOR LESS COST FLYA POWERED SAILPLANE SFS31 RF 5 B TYPE SPAN L/D PRICE* DELIVERY SEATS HP ENGINE MIN R/S RF-4D 37 ft 20 DM 33,600 6 months Single 'S-6- VW 4 .0 ft/se c SFS-31 49 ft 29 DM 37,800 6 months Single 36 VW 2 .8 ft/sec RF-5 46 ft 22 DM 50,400 6 months Dual 68 VW 4 .6 ft/se c RF-5B 57 ft 26 DM 52,390 6 months Dual 68 VW/Frank 2 .8 ft/sec Standard equipment includes : Airspeed indicator(s), Altimeter(s), Variometer(s), Mag- netic compass, Gear warning light and horn, Safety harness(es), Seat cushion(s), Tai l antenna, Cabin vent(s), Recording tachometer, Oil pressure gauge, Battery, Oil Temp . gauge, Ammeter, Starter (elec .), Exhaust silencer(s) . * Ex-factory . We regret that we shall have to increase our prices by eight percent o n January 1, 1974 . Orders received before then will be accepted at the current price . 8P0/4T-AV/AT/®N /NC. 401 HOLMES BLVD. WOOSTER. OH/O 44589 121St 262-B3O9 MOTORGLIDING Donald P . Manroe, Edito r Vol . 3, No . 10 Published by The Soaring Society of America, Inc . October 197 3 Contents Pag e DIAMOND ATTEMPT BY MOTOR SAILPLANE by Stephen du Pont THE LAGUNA SALADA (As seen from the cockpit of a motorglider ) by Tasso Proppe 6 FOREIGN SCENE, by S . O . Jenko 1 0 LETTERS 1 2 POSTFLIGHT NOTES 13 Cover : Bennett Rogers' AS-K 14, by George Uvege s Motorgliding is published monthly by The Soaring Society of America, Inc ., whos e offices are at 3200 Airport Avenue, Room 25, Santa Monica, California 90405 . The mailing address is Box 66071, Los Angeles, California 90066 . Subscription to Motor gliding is S5 .00 ($6 .00 outside of U .S .) for one year (12 issues), beginning with the current issue . Back issues are available at 50 each . Application to mail a t second-class postage rates is pending at Santa Monica, California . Reproduction o f any of the material printed in Motorgliding, unless specifically excluded, is en- couraged . Readers may wish to correspond directly with Harry N . Perl, Chairman , Powered Sailplane Committee, 3907 California Way, Livermore, California 94550 ; or Richard Schreder, Chairman, Airworthiness and Certification Committee, Box 488 , Bryan, Ohio 4350 6 ADVERTISING RATES, CONDITIONS, AND SIZES Display ads : $15 for 4 page ; $25 for .1 page and $40 for full page . Prices are fo r full-size, photo-ready copy . Extra charges for make-up, $3 .00 to $5 .00 ; reductions , $2 .00 ; and photos, $2 .50 . Sizes : 4-page, 3-3/8 x 4-5/8 ; ½-page, 7 x 4-5/8, o r 3-3/8 x 9-1/2 ; full page, 7 x 9-1/2 . Classified ads : 50op per line (40 characters ) or portion thereof . Circulation of the September 1973 issue was 730 . 1 DIAMOND ATTEMPT BY MOTOR SAILPLANE the sailplane together and to run a win g for takeoff . The battery seemed a littl e by Stephen du Pont tired when Istarted the engine, but wit h the proven routine we had developed with our Motorspatz, which used the same en- Z . "Air starts are possible, bu t gine except that it had no electri c don't get into the sort of jam where yo u starter, she'd go right off . Twenty min- count on one . " utes climb would charge up the batterie s Soaring, August l967, page Z 6 for future attempts at starting but sinc e this was to be a successful Diamond Dis- 2 . ". .The pilot who knows he can tance, I didn't expect to need it . Nice bail himself out of trouble by flapping to have it along though just in case . a propeller will understandably be more The special Winter barograph wouldn' t willing to accept crucial low points an d let me cheat . If the wind didn't blow unfavorable landing terrain . " too hard,I could fly back from Wells, m y Soaring, February 2969, page 2 6 destination, with three stops for fuel . If it did blow, it might take five . I Several times I had tried to mak e carried cans of oil in the baggage com- Diamond Distance in the West . The firs t partment .for the petroil mixture . time was during the National Soaring Con- There is not always agreement i n test at Reno, in 1966, when I missed i t how to start a two-cycle engine, an d by fifteen miles after flying 297 mile s agreement in itself doesn't always en- in my Austria, getting near 700 point s sure a successful start . Come to thin k out of the day's winning 1000 . After the of it, I recall the embarrassment of an contest I tried again from Truckee-Taho e Aero Commander pilot who demonstrated a getting not quite to Elko, about hal f propeller feathering, only to find th e the needed distance . I also tried a t battery had left him and he'd feathere d Marfa, in 1968, before the contest, in the one with the only generator . So it the Austria, but was able only to average isn't only the two-stroke engine tha t 20 miles per hour, so abandoned it . I can be temperamental with in-flight re- tried again unsuccessfully after that starts ! contest in my newly-acquired HP-14 pro - Ignition switched off, fuel on , totype . Several times I had failed i n choke out, pulled through eight compres- the East down the Alleghenies out o f sion strokes with hand-recoil starte r Massachusetts, Connecticut or New York . then choke in, one-third throttle, ig- But this time, with my new homebuil t nition on, hit the starter switch-WI R g Motorsoarer I knew I had to have it made . WIR WO-0-0-0-W-W-the two-stroke san I didn't need a crew to distract me, I its song . Half a minute warmup, all we could retrieve myself . With auxiliary needed with a two-stroke, a couple of power, there was no longer any reason to bursts of full throttle to make sur e be scared of that terrible desert an d while holding her with the wheel brake , terrain I'd learned so much respect fo r signaled the wing man, pushed the throt- when flying in 1966 out east of Pyrami d tle open and with a song and surge w e Lake . I could forget the pandemonium o n were off and climbing, that always sur- the glider-to-ground crew frequencies o n prising instant takeoff you get in a mo- the radio . I could even leave my radi o tor sailplane against any sort of a win d tuned to the big boys, to be calmed b y at all . the clipped, professional messages o f It was very turbulent this day jus t the airline pilots or pick up the lates t off the ground . At 300 feet we had 400 wind now and then from the Flight Servic e feet a minute climb, then 600 . For an Stations . airport altitude of 4000 feet, this was I trailered my new bird to Truckee- great! A thermal already in climbout ! Tahoe Airport in Nevada, north of Lake I throttled back, checked for traffi c Tahoe, for my start . The airport manage r which was clear and rolled into a circl e witnessed my declaration, sealed camer a centering the thermal and climbing as I and barograph . There I had no troubl e drifted back across the airport . Only at all finding willing hands to help put three minutes from takeoff! I shut off 2 the ignition in preparation for shutting with the trusty 25-hp Hirth-Solo engin e down in the proven technique we had de- sleeping peacefully in the fuselage, I veloped on the Motorspatz for asure-fir e knew that I had nothing to worry about , start later on . When the engine stilled , at least not as long as the altimete r still holding the thermal centered a s stayed over 10,000 feet . Even as a sail - best I could while I circled, I shut off plane, the Motosoarer could make six the fuel, pulled the prop vertical by th e miles for every thousand feet of alti- hand starter, set the propeller brake , tude used, and that, considering th e and with six turns of the little crank , slight quartering tailwind, would let m e retracted the motor and propeller int o grease it on at Lovelock Airport in a its flush doors on top of the fuselage . straight glide from here with a littl e Suddenly we were a Standard Class sail- to spare and by the momentum of the land- plane, on our way for a cross-countr y ing I would be able to taxi up to th e soaring flight with an L/D of 33, and a isolated FSS building where the cok e best sinking speed of 2½ feet per second . machines are . It did seem a pity I'd not put the twenty Pretty soon I could see the gree n minutes of charge into the tired battery , vegetation showing amongst the brown des - but there will be some life left in i t ert around Rye Patch Reservoir, with it s and, of course, there is still the han d blue ribbon of water, at Route 95, may- starter .