The latest chapter in the SUNSEEKER saga was presented at the Experimental Soaring Association Western Workshop in Tehachapi, California.

The crowd was entertained by pictures and stories from the 2009 European Tour.

Just before Eric Raymond’s presentation Ray Morgan gave a speech about AV’s solar powered aircraft.

Beautiful Cherokee II

Eric and Ray

Richard Pfiffner was there, acquainting pilots with his amazing “ULTIMATE” GPS display.

This instrument is very useful, and is the centerpiece of the SUNSEEKER instrument panel. It has the brightest and highest resolution display available, and works well with the SeeYou flight planning and analysis tool.

http://www.craggyaero.com/  -  info@craggyaero.com

Solar Flight Team members Floyd Fronius, Klaus Savier, and “RC Dave” Freund

After finalizing our negotiations with Stemme, I traveled to the factory where the Stemme composite parts are made.

My train was met by the owner, Andrzej Papiorek, who took me straight to his factory. Allstar PZL Glider company makes their own design sailplanes, as well as the Stemmes.Andrzej is very enthusiastic about supporting my project to build a new solar powered airplane based on the Stemme S 10.

I was planning only to mold the fuselage parts there in Poland, but Andrzej offered the use of his assembly fixtures and canopy frame molds.

Andrzej weighing a stock S 10 canopy frame.

Mine will be made from high-modulus carbon to reduce the weight.

To learn more about this glider factory, go to http://www.szd.com.pl/

A descriptive page about the S 10 is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stemme_S10

After owning a Stemme motor glider between 1999 and 2001, I settled on the S 10 fuselage for my two-seat configuration.

A series of meetings with Dr. Stemme has led to an agreement that will allow me to use the molds for this airplane.

The molds are in Poland at a subcontractor.

Some parts, such as the rudder pedals, can be used as-is.