Andreas,

Partnerships are still common, although less so for the competitive
crowd. I believe the majority of gliders at my home airport are owned
in partnership but relatively few of them are campaigned regularly in
contests.

I do agree, however, that most U.S. pilots would rather own a glider
alone. Many of them probably dismiss the alternative of acquiring a
newer, better-equipped, and/or higher-performance glider by partnering
with another pilot or pilots.

Back in 1996, I posted on RAS about this:

"Affordable gliders" --
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=pa... l.com&rnum=1

[if this link doesn't work, try doing an advanced search in
groups.google.com with "partnership," JNBearden, and 1996 as the
parameters]

I won't repeat the same stuff here except to say that partnerships,
like marriage, can be difficult and demanding but also very rewarding.
If money is what is holding someone back from acquiring the sailplane
of his or her dreams, winning the lottery or robbing a bank need not
be the only ways to realize that goal.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

But reading RAS I got the impression that partnerships are not common
in the US (hence the interest of many US pilots in cheap - or shall I
say low-budget? - gliders). Is my impression correct?



Bye
Andreas