Did I show you my latest project?

1982 Grob 109 motorglider. Spent its life in San Francisco, currently in a 45ft. enclosed trailer headed east; should be here Tuesday.

I was going to fly it home but it won't pass the Annual Inspection because of one valve not sealing. It ran rich and now won't hold compression in one cylinder, it's flyable but there's the pesky Rockies right in the way.

The engine is a Limbach 2000, basically a 2 liter aluminum VW Bus engine. Cruises around 90 knots and when there's lift, you kill the engine, feather the prop and it becomes a 27:1 sailplane.

Needs TLC and a hum & a buff, I'm quite excited.

Dan

I'm not familiar at all with the rules that these fly under. Does this have an ELT on-board?

Seems like a cool way to get around and should be easy to maintain.

What do people do avionics wise with older planes? Is there an easy upgrade path?

This is very, very cool.

Very nice... Can I call shotgun?

Do you mind sharing how much this little gem cost you?

Awesome.Cost wise how does this compare to a small Cessna for maintenance/ operation?

Been flying sailplanes for a while, I enjoy the challenge of staying up without an engine, I like being 50 miles from home at 10,000ft. knowing I can get back. That being said, I like hanging out with SWMBO. With a motor glider, I can take off without a tow plate, without a ground crew, drill holes in the sky if the lift is good; but I can also land at Basin Bay, have lunch next to Lake Champlain and then go home. I can fly to my son's place for a visit in 1.5 hours vs 2.5 hours of traffic.

Enyar, I'm not familiar with Cessnas, but the Grob uses 2 gallons per hour, the insurance is $1200/year and it will live tied down outside as no hangars are available.

Fanfoy, usually about $30k; like cars speed costs money. Being in the right place at the right time helps. The seller was having issues getting the ship worked on or inspected as the A&P Mechanic was making money hand over fist fixing jets. I explained that people in my club buy gliders all the time from Germany and it costs $3,000 to get it from Emden Germany to Rhode Island, USA. There is a similar Grob for sale in Germany for 12,000 Euros + shipping = ~$20,000. I offered $20k. I did not however tell him the gliders we buy are in a trailer and just rolled into a shipping container (MGs don't have trailers). He bought it and accepted my offer.

Pre589, it has an ELT, don't think it's required. The images are stolen from the internet, the video is of the actual ship I bought.

Pretty cool project!

Nice. How much time do you think you'll need to have her airworthy?

I'm not entirely sure what a hum and buff is, but it sounds rather enjoyable.

mazdeuce wrote: What do people do avionics wise with older planes? Is there an easy upgrade path?

It's been my experience in general aviation that they just go on forever. Seriously I've worked on steam gauges from the 20's on up that just keep getting overhauled. My experience with military grade stuff is the only place I've seen anything seriously upgraded. For commercial applications they get upgraded maybe every decade and half or so if the air frame isn't slated for retirement for the foreseeable future. The vast majority of avionics are a lot lower tech than you'd think.

All this is mostly due to cost factors in the general aviation world. Avionics comprise probably 30% of the total cost of the aircraft, the engine another 30% to 40% and the leftover is the actual air frame. Generally when avionics are decommissioned they're scrapped or destroyed to ensure that unserviceable equipment doesn't make it's way back onto an airworthy aircraft. Sometimes you buy used ones which are branded not for use as a novelty. In general it's almost always cheaper to repair or overhaul the equipment than to replace.

When they are replaced you simply find a new one that's the same size gauge and pop it in provided there are no alterations to the way the system functions. If you want to go to full glass you'll generally need to build a new panel for the avionics which would likely be classed as a "major alteration" and as such very restrictive and expensive to get certified if the aircraft isn't classed as experimental. That's why it's common to see older aircraft with a suction cup or fixed mounted Garmin (or other) GPS on top of their instrument panels.

Okay this went long: Cool project. Motor gliders occupy one of those quirky spots in aviation that I love.

Burrito wrote: I'm not entirely sure what a hum and buff is, but it sounds rather enjoyable.

It is. It's the rubbing, waxing, putzing having a beer in the garage stage.

T.J. wrote: Nice. How much time do you think you'll need to have her airworthy?

Depends on what the compression and leak down test reveals.

What a great way to get your own ship! Congratulations! She's a beauty!

Well it finally got here. Deland Barnstormers did a great job of getting from San Francisco to upstate New York. He picked up someone's unfinished project to be dropped off after mine, lowers the cost.

Nice truck! Tractor trailer camper with a three axle 45 ft. trailer, nice low lift height.

It's in the garage now, still looking at the paperwork and going through the boxes. One box contains brandy new calipers and pads.

Sitting on the tarmac in San Francisco beat up the paint pretty bad, love to repaint it but won't this year. Hoping some time with 1200 wet paper and a buffer can bring it back.

So far I've only pulled the seats out (has to be done for Inspection anyway) saving some things for those cold winter nights coming up; putzing and cleaning in the warmth of heated cellar.

After everything was off loaded we enjoyed some adult beverages, IPAs, dogs and bratwurst; it is a German plane after all.

After sitting on the tarmac in San Francisco unused, the gelcoat was all chalky and rough.  It's been very nice here for four days now so I rolled it outside and cleaned all the oil off the underside with hot water and Dawn, then wet sanded the fuse with 600, then 1000 grit.  This was followed by rubbing compound and wax.

Put on new N number stickers and a flag, it's not as pretty as I was  hoping for, but it's better than it was.

That looks like a lot of fun to tinker with in the shop! Probably even more once it's back in the air.

Very, very cool.

And remember: Paint adds weight, buffing makes it lighter!

Can I add Grob Motorglider to the title? I'm pleasantly surprised every time I open the thread, but it would be a bit easier for some people to know what they're getting into. 

 Oh yeah,  I should have done that up front.

Thanks.