A Silent 2 sailplane flown by Sarah Kelly claimed Sports Class first place at the Region 5 East contest hosted by Bermuda high Soaring www.glider.org  in Jefferson , South Carolina .
The Silent 2 pure sailplane flown by Sarah meets the difficult FAI Class-DU limit of 220 kg (485 lb)
max takeoff weight.
Accordingly, the published handicap set for the 300 kg ( 661 lb ) Silent 2 motorglider was officially adjusted for the 220 kg DU glider to correct for its lighter wing loading.
Sarah flew the glider well, taking advantage of the glider's better climb rate to overcome its reduction in best-glide speed and upwind penetration.
In her words, "The contest experience with such a light, easy to rig, and familiar sailplane was superb, and I thoroughly enjoyed each day."
See the SSA Contest Reports www.ssa.org/members/contestreports/ContestResultsDetail.asp?id=352  page for additional information.

Congratulations Sarah from the Alisport staff.

AliSport's attendance at this year's AERO was a huge success.

The biggest crowd pleaser was the debut presentation of the jet-powered variant of the 13.3 meter Silent 2 Targa.

The single-engine jet powerplant is still a
pre-production prototype and performance data will be released only once the flight test program is in an advanced stage.

A decision to enter series production has yet to be determined.

The installation details differ from that of the sucessful and concept-defining 12.0 meter Silent twin-jet flown by Bob Carlton on the airshow circuit
http://www.alisport.com/video/silent%20be-jet.wmv

AERO is the premier European trade show for general aviation, which occurs every two years in the scenic city of the Zeppelins - Friedrichshafen, Germany. This year's event runs from April the 2nd through the 5th.

Alisport will present its complete range of Silent gliders to both the German and International market.
The self-launcing Silent 2 TARGA with retractable gear and variable incidence stabilizer will be on display at stand No 101, Hall B2.

Visit the www.aero-friedrichshafen.com website for additional information

A special gathering of gliders occurred from June 20 th to the 22 nd 2008 at the Speziana airstrip near Pavia in northern Italy . The combined event included both modern light sailplanes and vintage gliders. The first-of-its-kind event drew about fifteen pilots and their motorized aircraft; sailplanes capable of autonomous taxiing and self-launching. The attendees came from all parts of Italy and for many this was the first opportunity to meet and visit with fellow self-launch sailplane owners, as guests of the Corbellini family at their beautiful airstrip.

Gliders in attendance included variants of the 12-meter Silent Club, including an electric
self-launcher, Silent 2's, Silent 2 Targa's, Tauruses, and a Swift, all capable of self-launching and retracting their engines into the fuselage. Vintage gliders included a Schleicher Ka-6, Morelli M-100, and a beautiful Libelle H301, towed aloft courtesy of tug pilots Tessitore and Borgo with their vintage Stinson L5, and Pietra with a gorgeous Piper PA-18 and a YUMA.
The event was a complete success with much gliding activity thanks to the three days of summer sun and heat on the tail end of two weeks of continuous rain; the cultivated fields were still waterlogged and the Po' a very swollen river. Numerous friends with airplanes and motorgliders also flew in to visit the Speziana airstrip during the event. A warm “arriverderci” until next year's gathering of light sailplanes.

For additional information regarding Swiss purchase and registration of a Silent, please contact our authorized Swiss representative:

Mr. Andrea Maeder
Ph: +41 (0) 91 760 0565
Fax: +41 (0) 91 760 0569
e-mail:andrea.maeder@manifesto.ch www.alisport.com

Mike Hostage of Norfolk, Virginia successfully flew the maiden flight of his kit-built Silent 2 TARGA pure sailplane on September 16th 2007 after receiving his airworthiness certificate on the 8th of September. He wisely progressed through ground roll and ground effect auto tows before transitioning to the first aero tow. The first two flights were uneventful and each lasted over an hour to fully explore the handling characteristics and performance envelope of his sailplane
(N-195MH). Mr. Hostage concluded that his sailplane was spot-on and needed no tuning adjustments.

Mike's sailplane was built per the kit manual's instructions and design drawings, but with some builder deviations for the instrument panel and the tow hook.He painted the sailplane with two-part polyurethane from Loehle Aero Coatings. Mike informs us that the empty weight and balance was right in the center of the allowable range and the empty weight was 147 kg (324 lbs) – very comparable to factory gliders having similar options and features (retract gear, hinged canopy, etc).

Mr. Hostage talks positively about the quality of his Silent quick-build kit. He is an experienced builder who previously built a Marske flying wing from plans. In the short term, Mike plans to continue flying his Silent 2 TARGA as a non-motorized sailplane and hopes to explore electric self-launch options at a later date. Congratulations from all of us at the factory!

Silent 2 TARGA s/n 2027, C-GODY, recently took to the clear Canadian skies after one month of ocean voyage and within three weeks of delivery – time needed to complete paperwork formalities. The pure sailplane (registered C-GODY) is based at the Bromont Airport in the province of Quebec - about 86 km (53 miles) east of Montreal, Quebec and 82 miles (132 km) north of Burlington, Vermont. The glider is the first Silent imported into Canada and therefore has a Special Certificate of Airworthiness in the limited classification for non Canadian type-certified gliders. This particular Silent has the standard TARGA vertical-style winglets and ingenious variable-incidence stabilizer interconnected with the flaperons. It currently has a fixed landing gear and will be retrofitted with a retractable mainwheel plus a self-launch powerplant as soon as the pending regulatory approvals are received from the Canadian authorities.

A significant milestome for the AliSport team.
Formal announcement of the recently received German Certification of the SILENT 2 was given during the all-important AERO 2007 exhibition at Friedrichshafen.

For information regarding airworthiness registration of the Silent 2 or flight licensing in Germany, please
contact AliSport's authorized German representative:

Junkers Profly GmbH
Flugplatz 1
95326 Kulmbach
Tel:+49 (0) 9221 879 312
Fax: +49 (0) 9221 879 313
E-Mail: junkers_profly_gmbh@t-online.de

www.junkers-profly.de

Alisport presented its complete range of Silent gliders to both the German and International market. The new self-launching Silent 2 TARGA with retractable gear and variable incidence stabilizer were on display at the large stand.


Visit the www.aero-friedrichshafen.com website for additional information.

Bob Carlton of Silent Wings Airshows performed five day-shows and one night-show at the 2007 Australian International Exposition and Airshow.
The multi-day event at Avalon, about 40 miles from Melbourne, included the three-day "Australian International Aerospace & Defense Exposition" followed by the weekend-long "Australian
International Airshow". More than 200,000 spectators were in attendance on Saturday.
The jet Silent received rave reviews, including approval from non-other than Chuck Yeager, a guest of honor at the event. Mr. Carlton commented very favorably about the organizers, sponsors, and enthusiastic attendees.

The sailplane is trimmed in pitch via an innovative variable-position horizontal stabilizer. The stabilizer position is governed by the flaperon setting: the five settings of the flap control produce corresponding changes to the stabilizer incidence, thus defining the trim airspeed in relation to the flap requirements. The conventional elevator remains in trail, minimizing trim drag.

Click on the photo for more details.

A proposal of interest to Silent owners was accepted at the March 3-5th meeting of the IGC in Lausanne, Switzerland. Agenda item 12.3.3.g, originating from the French Gliding Federation (FFVV), calls for a new FAI class of motorized gliders under 300kg (660lbs) and 450kg (990lbs), max take-off weight (TOW) for single-seaters and two-seaters respectively, and a stall speed of 65km/h (35kts) or less.

The proposal lists several reasons (lower costs, reduced bureaucracy, no medical requirements, etc) as reasons for the emergence of many light self-launchers meeting these weight and stall speeds. The weight and stall values given match the requirements for light aircraft in most European countries (most often described with general names such as microlights, ULM’s, ultralights, sport and recreation aircraft, etc, depending on the country in question).

The proposal goes on to state that, even though there is always a risk of having too many classes of gliders, it would be a missed opportunity if the IGC does not recognize the importance of establishing a class to accommodate this thriving segment of aviation. Whether such a new class would be a variant of the existing DU class (non-powered with max TOW of 220kg) or a totally new class is not yet known. The proposal is open for comments for one year. If adopted, the benefits to owners of self-launch Silents cannot be overlooked.