Chris Reed wrote:

I've only been in the sport a decade, but I think from my reading that
the current "hot" ship has almost always cost substantially more than
the national average wage in a developed country, so the current prices
don't seem to have risen dramatically in real terms.

I have the original purchase records for my Mosquito (the original
owners didn't throw anything away):
$25,000 in June of 78. That's $75-$100k in 2006 dollars depending on
how you calculate inflation.
For an *almost* 40:1 ship with a tube trailer and oldtech instruments.
What's changed more is salaries of the masses, in the US at least. For
lots of reasons, average real wages have dropped for thirty years.
Schempp-Hirth and Schleicher can't influence that much. Of course,
given the economic (and potential political) status of glider pilots,
they could have some influence in growing the sport, rather indirectly.
Hmm "Vote Glider, Vote Democrat in 2008" I like it!

Shawn