The Problem I believe in 10-20 years soaring is going to look very different than it does today... Why? Ops, Oil and popularity. Here's how gliding works today in the United States... You find a club, maybe they have a "demonstration flight", but probably they don't and you have immediately fork upwards of $200 "membership fee", then you sit around the field every weekend for two months (just the nice days) and "hope" you get a ride (after all the regulars get launched for the day) if your extra lucky you get two. To make a day happen you have to have a tow pilot, an instructor and at least a couple extra guys mulling around to crew. In percentages... Flying = Weather * Tow Pilot * Instructor * Tow Plane * Glider / StudentCount That's CRAZY! Here's a typical example; Flying = 60% * 80% * 80% * 0.92 * 0.98 % / 3 = 11.52% From my experience at some clubs... that's pretty accurate. I'm fortunate t
I took off the right fuel tank, pulled the inspection plate and found the leak problem. The front bracket's rivets where all not driven correctly... Just sheered a little, so the bracket was loose and mostly held in by a little rivet sheer and some tank sealer acting like glue (it's pretty strong). Butt here's no doubt that's what caused the leak. I also made a new re-enforced backing plate. I also added a fuel return fitting so the regulator return lines will go through my new dual fuel selector that will also direct the return lines to the tank they came from. I also plan to add two fuel filters, one per fuel tank. For logistic reasons, I have to swap the fuel from the left to the right tank (have about 18g in the plane and jerry can). So I can't work on both tanks at the same time. The left tank's drain as come lose from its fitting inside the tank, so it will also need to be taken apart, I can also inspect the front tank bracket while it's out.