A motorglider will expand your horizons
Powered-airplane pilots can learn a lot from flying gliders, and it’s something you can try as a new pilot—or even as a break from your training. Maybe you can find a motorglider, or self-launching sailplane, like this German-built Stemme. Its engine can be shut down in flight; the propeller blades stow inside the Stemme’s extendable nose cone. When it’s time to return to powered flight, the nose moves forward, the engine is started, and centrifugal force extends the prop blades. An airman medical certificate is not required to fly either sailplanes or motorgliders. Certificated airplane pilots must obtain a glider rating and a motorglider endorsement to solo a motorglider; however, pilots with only glider ratings must get a motorglider endorsement.
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