Meet the new girl.

I know, I know; this is a car forum, but diversifying your interests keeps you from getting old.

You may recall I had a glider, a heavily modified Libelle, pretty much an F-1 car. I need a Buick.

Ever look through C-List et al? When someone drops the price, it doesn't pop up back to the 1st page. A woman in Florida had a low mileage (1700 hrs.) DG-300 and dropped the price by 30%. It was still on page 12 when a friend called to tell me about it. I doinked around and talked to myself and finally Trish asked me if I made an offer. No. Well, it just makes better financial sense.

There's a pod in the basement isn't there?

I left Thursday, stayed over, arrived in Clermont (near Orlando) at 1:00 Friday. Got permission from the seller to poke around the trailer for its 1100 mile trip and was off. New tires mounted and balanced by 3:30, six pack and a sub later the bearings were greased and the lights worked.

Noon Friday we did the paperwork and by two I was headed north.

Before Gainnesville I had to transfer the 50lb. toolbox and some other crap to the front of the trailer, tail wagging the dog.

Better.

This one's not mine, it's to show you the canopy. Mine is tinted with UV protection making it cooler.

The trailer is nice, needs a little DanTime to scuff the mold off and pretty it up; that's the fun stuff. The seller said there were issues with the radio so she threw in a brandy new one. It also has a one man rigging system and wing/fuselage covers for sleeping outside.

A friend has the same ship, he advised; "Just remember, if you're at 1,000 feet, you can make a landing SIX MILES away".

Looking forward to trying that ....

BTW: With the Blue Blunt Instrument, I got 18.33 mpg on the way down and 16.01 on the way back. The return trip was up hill.

What happened to the Libelle?

It was tight, I couldn't wear a 'chute, poor ventilation; but it was a race car!

Someone that has a better chance of pushing it to the edges of its envelope offered me $1,000 more than I had into it. Too easy.

Good looking "Buick" No more passengers in this one. Looking forward to hearing of your exploits.

I love reading about your sailplane adventures. Enjoy it!

You love a lot of things if you live around them,

but there isn't any woman and there isn't any horse,

nor any before nor any after,

that is as lovely as a great airplane,

and men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others.

A man has only one virginity to lose in fighters,

and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to,

there his heart will ever be.

~Ernest Hemingway

914Driver, always be faithful.

She's beautiful, I've always wanted to get a few hours in a sailplane

To paraphrase The Who: Meet the new girl, same as the old girl.

914Driver wrote: A friend has the same ship, he advised; "Just remember, if you're at 1,000 feet, you can make a landing SIX MILES away".

Glide ratio 30:1??

914Driver wrote: I know, I know; this is a car forum, but diversifying your interests keeps you from getting old.

we are rapidly turning into "grassroots boatersports" and Grassroots aerosports"

42:1 L/D ratio.

That is very nice, enjoy it every chance that you can.

mad_machine wrote:

914Driver wrote: I know, I know; this is a car forum, but diversifying your interests keeps you from getting old.

we are rapidly turning into "grassroots boatersports" and Grassroots aerosports"

You can afford to diversify as you get older. I've wanted to build my own aircraft for a LONG time now. Even though it makes more sense financially to purchase than build. One day I'll find an old Cub/Maule and turn it into the ultimate STOL/bush plane.

Looks fun, can't wait for the Go Pro videos!