Options

Standard options for the HP-24 kit sailplane.

Winglets

Our winglets were designed by Steve Smith (“Dr. Smith” to you Mythbusters fans) using CFD code that he developed specifically for winglet design for Desktop Aeronautics. They improve the best glide performance a tiny bit, but what they mostly do is make the glider a lot easier to thermal, with better lateral stability in tight turns.

18m wing extensions

Use these wingtip extensions to increase the span of your 18m sailplane to increase the best glide ratio by about 12%, and also reduce the minimum sink rate. These are especially useful if you’ve selected either the FES sustainer or electric self-launch options.

Ballast bags

If you want to go racing or do long cross-country flights, add the ballast bag option to add up to 300 lbs of water. Includes bags and valves that you install in the wing after shipment.

Ballast tanks

The ballast tank option partitions off almost the entire leading edge as one big tank for a total of 400 lbs of water. Includes valves, water barrier treatment, slosh baffles, and provisions for the fill and exhaust ports. Must be ordered before wing closure.

Front Electric Sustainer (FES)

The LZ Design FES system consists of a 23 kW electric motor mounted in the nose, and 4.2 kWh of batteries that you install in an insulated box in the fuselage behind the wings to give you up to 60 miles of level cruising or up to 5000 feet of altitude gain. With FES you basically have a get-out-of-jail-free card that you can use ensure your return after ambitious cross-country attempts.

Auto-flap

Our auto-flap system monitors several flight parameters and automatically adjusts the flaps so that your wings always have the optimum camber for the prevailing conditions, so you can stop worrying about the flaps and concentrate on soaring.