Stemme S10-VT
 

Managed to get an hour's flight in a Stemme last week. What an incredible machine, all the attributes of a high performance glider (50/1) yet with an engine that can push you along at 100mph. Beautiful handling but with slightly over complicated engine management. Very quiet, very green but here's the catch very very expensive,...shame,... never mind perhaps I could sell the house, the car, the cat, the dog, the wife, the kids etc etc.......one can but dream.
Maybe with the cost of fuel only ever going up, a motor glider is the way forward ..what do you think?

Yes, great idea - but at well over £100k (and that was a couple of years ago) definitely a rich man's toy.

And another thing, they do look a bit unwieldy on the ground - those long saggy wings and very narrow track u/c - must be interesting in a cross-wind... :eek:

A mate was offered a go in an S10 a few years ago (he had a lot of money labelled Nikon hanging around his neck so maybe it was thought that he could afford one!):ok:

He was particulalry impressed with the comment - "adjust the air conditioning to suit yourself":O

Apparently very nice but as already said, dodgy undercarriage. :sad:

The "pop up" engined self launching gliders are (a bit) cheaper - and there were articles in "Sailplane & Gliding" a year or so back by a bloke who went to Eastern Europe & back on about 5 gallons of mogas! :ooh: