My flying adventures in an old SF25 Motorfalke

I think  a motor glider  must be the perfect personal flying machine. I keep mine at an airfield 20 min from my house outside Madrid. It is a 1970 Motorfalke, lovingly maintained by a German gliding club for most of its life, until I bought it off them for a song a few years ago. It is light enough for me to be able to manoeuvre it out of the hangar alone, and yet big enough to take a passenger and a bit of baggage for a weekend away. There is no need for winches or tug planes. It cruises at a rather sedate 140km/h, but then again it only sips 10 litres of mogas per hour while doing so. And at the first hint of rising air I can kill the motor and bank her over hard. The glide is rather modest, but with those big wings, she thermals well and gets up even in fairly light stuff. And I like the fact that this contraption of wood, tube and rag is a true relic of the machine age, “analogue” through and through. It can be maintained with a pair of pliers and some duct tape (almost), and caters for my fascination for things old-fashioned and mechanical. And best of all, in most countries motor gliders can be flown on a gliding license, allowing you to avoid most of the cost and red tape inherent in a regular PPL.

The perfect toy for me :-)

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Contact me at: goflysoon at gmail dot com
Title pic by Jeremy Holdcroft (Runway 03, Springs Airfield, South Africa)