Samba and Lambada at MSC

On Sunday June 15th, Mike Ronan and Tom Robertson visited Hawkesbury to present to MSC members the Samba XXL, a nice ultralight with towing capability and the Lambada, a promising motorglider. Towing with Samba - It was a hot day, with no wind. The grass runway was soft and moist, and it's not very long. So, they choose to be careful. Forget about towing the heavy Twin Astir with two big people on board. Only single seaters have been launched. And it works ! Climbing rate is probably less than our powerful, noisy and fuel greedy Bird Dog, but fast descent might compensate, thanks to liquid cooled engine. Does the Samba belong to the next generation of towplanes ? With rising fuel cost, lowering noise tolerance from neighbourhood, aging fleet that must be replaced before long, such an option must be considered. Soaring with the Lambada - Aerotows costs are rising much faster than any other ones. Such a situation has a negative effect on training. Something has to be done if we want our sport to survive. Winch is probably the best solution to make launching cheaper, but if winch scares you, motorglider can be an alternative. The Lambada is a motorglider. Half an hour at the control of that nice light motorglider was just enough to convince myself of the serious potential of the Lambada. It's flying like a glider, it's handling like a glider, it's climbing like a glider. With its Rotax 912, take off is short and you don't need to wait so long before being ready to attack your first thermal. Shutting down and restarting the engine is a simple and fast operation. And suppose you are going for a flying lesson, engine time required to bring you at working altitude will cost much less than an aerotow behind a conventional tug. The Lambada trainer of the future? Probably! Jean Richard, MSC

 

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