Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:21:02 +0000 (UTC),
(Michel Talon) wrote:

Yes it is not the first time i hear that prices are infinitely less in
Germany. I have never understood how it is possible, since, as i said,
the above French prices can be justified very easily, and are
homogeneous among similar big clubs with modern fleet. Perhaps you have
enormous aids from german state that you are not aware of. From what i
have been told, things are worse in Italy, etc.

This is what puzzles me, too - German clubs have absolutely no aids
from German authorities. On the other hand, we don't employ anyone at
all - all work is done by the members of the club.

From Soissons (which is basically a pure volunteer-driven club) they
had to pay one full-time employee who took care of the "tower",
airfield and club house. This one guy alone costs more than my club's
entire fleet - maybe this is the difference?

Sincerely i don't know. At" Moret sur Loing" (CVVFR) there is absolutely
nobody employed, so this cannot be the explanation of the numbers i have
shown. As far as i know, an important part of the budget goes into
building provisions to buy new gliders. If you want to maintain your
fleet in reasonably current state, you have to regularly sell old
gliders and buy new ones, which are of course more expensive than the old
ones you sold. So you have to introduce an input stream of cash, or you
have to borrow money, which means paying twice the amount you would have
paid if you had made economies. As far as i know the people running the
CVVFR were very conscious of this necessity, and have always made
provisions. Of course one accident, broken glider, etc. ruins part of
these provisions. I think an important factor is also the question of
towing. If you have planes, first towing fees introduce an important
burden for users, but also for the club, periodic visits are very
expensive, etc. But the clubs i know are not in a position to use
winches because the airfields are too small.



Bye
Andreas

--

Michel TALON