Thinking of purchasing a Glasair II or SII-request comments

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I am considering purchasing a used Glasair II or SII, RG or FT. I am looking for any suggestions/comments regarding the following:

1. Things to watch out for when buying an experimental.

2. Things to consider when buying a Glasair II.

3. Benefits/Drawbacks of the Glasair retractable (RG) vs. the fixed gear (FT). I am concerned about maintenance labor/costs of the RG.

4. Suggestions for other airplanes that have same or better performance specs, same ot better maint. costs, and are a similar price point.

Ideas?
 
cataero said:
I am considering purchasing a used Glasair II or SII, RG or FT. I am looking for any suggestions/comments regarding the following:

1. Things to watch out for when buying an experimental.

2. Things to consider when buying a Glasair II.

3. Benefits/Drawbacks of the Glasair retractable (RG) vs. the fixed gear (FT). I am concerned about maintenance labor/costs of the RG.

4. Suggestions for other airplanes that have same or better performance specs, same ot better maint. costs, and are a similar price point.

Ideas?
Click to expand...

Have you looked at RV's
 
First off, congrats on being one of the few people smart enough to buy a glasair vs a 172 or something!

If you are going this route the fixed gear is a joke and IMO destroys the point of a slick airframe like the glasair. Yeah you have to swing the gear, but it's not that big of a deal, unless you are a drop it off and pick er up annual type!

There were a few really good ones on barnstormers a little while ago.


Only other plane to compare would be a lancair.

A glasair vs a RV is like Angelina Jolie vs Rosie o'donnell lol
 
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Definitely buy the II over the I. My I FT just doesn't have the shoulder room like most people want. It's like riding in a fast C-150.

I'd go the RG route as well. You hear people talk about maintenance and safety of FG over RG. First the Glasair retracts are dirt simple and the newer IIs have worked out the bugs that the Is (side brace) had. Also I don't know of any that had gear stick up. Almost all of them have an emergency blow to get the gear down. Just want to make sure the gear seal up good during the gear swing.

Whether you get the short wing or the long wing I'm sure you'll love the crisp handling. Short wing is approved for aerobatics while the long wing gives you more fuel for cross countrys.

The things to watch out for in buying a homebuilt are the same things for a production. You could write a book on all that stuff. There really isn't much to look out for on a Glasair though. Get on their website and look at all the Service Bulletins that apply to a II. Make sure whomever you buy from has complied with all of those SBs.

As far as other comparable aircraft. I like RVs but they're not in the performance class of a II with retracts. Lancairs are slightly faster but don't have the aerobatics option. Hard to beat the performance, cost, and utility of a Glasair II.
 
Many people claim to worry about the homebuilder leaving a bolt out and a wing falling off. That doesn't appear to happen in real life.

What does happen in real life is in many cases homebuilders don't do as well with the electrical / fuel systems. That sort of thing gets quite a few - particularly in the first few flights.

POH vary from well done to whatever a kit manufacturer supplied to two sided 8 1/2 by 11.

I don't know how much is due to being unfamiliar, tired of spending money, or get-done-itis.

Take a close look at the systems - that is likely to be the weak point in the airplane. Crawl under the panel no matter how inconvenient it is. Does it actually have a master solenoid? Are there flyback diodes across the master / starter solenoids? Trace out fuel lines and look for major low spots where debris / water will collect but not get sumped. etc. Be prepared to do some fix-em-up.
 
RVs are good airplanes, I would look hard at a 6 or 7 if experimental is what you desire.

If not, you'd look good in a Mooney.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Many people claim to worry about the homebuilder leaving a bolt out and a wing falling off. That doesn't appear to happen in real life.

What does happen in real life is in many cases homebuilders don't do as well with the electrical / fuel systems. That sort of thing gets quite a few - particularly in the first few flights.
Click to expand...

An example of that is the John Denver LongEz crash. The builder put the fuel selector in a strange place and orientation (behind the left shoulder and mounted 90 degrees rotated :dunno: ). The theory is this contributed to his crash.

Those Glasairs look fantastic. I think I'm personally too conservative to buy somebody else's homebuilt though. I think I'd want to do it myself that way I can be sure it was made right.
 
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Gubbins said:
An example of that is the John Denver LongEz crash. The builder put the fuel selector in a strange place and orientation (behind the left shoulder and mounted 90 degrees rotated :dunno: ). The theory is this contributed to his crash.
Click to expand...

Running a tank dry at low altitude didn't help...
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Running a tank dry at low altitude didn't help...
Click to expand...
or refusing the sellers offer to check him out in the plane. But to be fair to john he may have had a plan, he might have thought he could reach the fuel selector by tapping it with his Jack Daniels bottle.
 
In my case the elapsed time between build and fly would be of sufficient duration that I wouldn't remember how it was built anyway.

Gubbins said:
An example of that is the John Denver LongEz crash. The builder put the fuel selector in a strange place and orientation (behind the left shoulder and mounted 90 degrees rotated :dunno: ). The theory is this contributed to his crash.

Those Glasairs look fantastic. I think I'm personally too conservative to buy somebody else's homebuilt though. I think I'd want to do it myself that way I can be sure it was made right.
Click to expand...
 
I've always liked the Glasairs. The I's seem to be substantially less expensive than the II's. There are what looks like (I'm just going on what I'm reading in the ads) very nice I's in the mid $30k's. Nice II's seem to start in the mid $60k's. Here's a few examples I found on barnstormers. Of course there's a lot more differences than just the airframes - engine, avionics, etc. also affect value but in general, the up-charge to get to a II is close to double what a I might cost. I really like the I TD.

http://barnstormers.com/classified_723704_Beautiful+Glasair+Taildragger.html

http://barnstormers.com/classified_692601_GLASAIR+1_FT+.html

http://barnstormers.com/classified_614554_Glasair+II+SFT.html


Velocity173 said:
Definitely buy the II over the I. My I FT just doesn't have the shoulder room like most people want. It's like riding in a fast C-150.

I'd go the RG route as well. You hear people talk about maintenance and safety of FG over RG. First the Glasair retracts are dirt simple and the newer IIs have worked out the bugs that the Is (side brace) had. Also I don't know of any that had gear stick up. Almost all of them have an emergency blow to get the gear down. Just want to make sure the gear seal up good during the gear swing.

Whether you get the short wing or the long wing I'm sure you'll love the crisp handling. Short wing is approved for aerobatics while the long wing gives you more fuel for cross countrys.

The things to watch out for in buying a homebuilt are the same things for a production. You could write a book on all that stuff. There really isn't much to look out for on a Glasair though. Get on their website and look at all the Service Bulletins that apply to a II. Make sure whomever you buy from has complied with all of those SBs.

As far as other comparable aircraft. I like RVs but they're not in the performance class of a II with retracts. Lancairs are slightly faster but don't have the aerobatics option. Hard to beat the performance, cost, and utility of a Glasair II.
Click to expand...
 
Low time nicely outfitted Glasair IIS-RGs are getting harder to find. But, if you're still interested, there is a new one that is all ready except for instruments and radios that is for sale in Arizona. Best price I've seen, especially if you get an 'hourly techie type' to finish it taking advantage of the great equipment deals on eBay and the like. Google Glasair IIS-RG, it may still be there. In any case, Glasairs are in a class of their own and most I've seen are exceptionally well-built.
 
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