The 28th of June, Didier Givois in his motorized Swiftlight and Jacques Bott in his pure glider Swiftlight had the opportunity to compare these 2 versions of the Swiftlight during an 8 hour flight in the french nothern Alps. Each pilot, about the same level, has around 1000 hours airtime in his Swiftlight, Didier was flying home.
Take-off and landing: Challes les Eaux airfield; XC triangle Challes, Chamonix, Belledonne (Grenoble) nearly 250km; flights duration around 8 hours; cloud base 1800m to 3400m, weak and inconstant thermals (Challes’ gliders didn’t make better than the Swiftlights, some of them landed out)
Findings: after each glide the motorized Swiftlight arrives lower, around 100m, sometimes more; it is clearly outpaced climbing in the thermals against the pure glider, and often is not able to reach the top of the lift level. Didier is thinking about selling its engine and convert to aerotow…
The quest for independence, dream of many pilots, costs a lot in performance and flying pleasure… and concerns: mecanical, landing gear overload, etc …
Photos of this page: Didier Givois, Jacques Bott
and the movie
