Turbo ratings...We are starting to build a head of steam...

Monitoring the e-mail traffic concerning the starting of the turbo's in the air...

Good grief and golly gosh boys and girls...
From the DG400 team...
Our motor has failed to start 10% of the time - well I'm not bloody surprised, it's 20 year old technology that is designed to self-launch.
Lots of stories about prangs in the Sth Is - yip - older motors again...but remember there have been far more prangs in gliders without turbo's, a ratio of about 20:1. And besides that lot in the South Island have bugger all else to talk about...I know, I lived there and it gets pretty slow at times...

More from others...
We should be above 1500ft, we should deploy the landing gear and do pre-landing checks before attempting a practise start...oh for the love of G-d, with the motor out the Duo has a sink rate approaching that of a PW5, what are we suggesting?? That any PW5 pilots should also give away any attempt to fly below 1500ft???

Let's come back to earth for a minute shall we?? (excuse the pun)

Do you want this big thing to go X-Country? Then expect that you'll need to spend time below 1500ft AGL...cos sometimes that's what it takes to find a thermal.

We seem to be putting alot of effort into identifying airstrips...I thought we taught people to find a suitable paddock and land in that. Remember all that stuff about Slope, surface wind, size etc etc.
I'm betting the greatest risk will come from some-one flying to an airstrip identified on the database, getting there, finding it covered in cows, panicking, rushing an engine start and it all turns to custard. It's won't be the turbo at fault, it'll be the reliance on airstrips at fault..

I clearly remember when this glider was in the planning stage talking to the owner of the worlds largest fleet of Duo's (he lives down south, seems to be quite well known), that a turbo would be a mistake;
It would distract people from the real business of flying...
It would reduce the X-country range of the glider because of the height required for a re-start.
It would add cost.
It adds complexity.

We are following the trajectory he predicted...can we prove him wrong???
Otherwise I suggest remove the turbo so we can do some serious X-country flying...