On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:48:50 GMT, Eric Greenwell
wrote:


Are memberships really rising in Germany? Do you have numbers? If they
are, that would be different from the trend worldwide.

They are not (although there are exceptions - membership in my club is
rising steadily and has increased 30% from 1986 when I started
gliding) - but the average age of a German glider pilot is *young* -
you see many, many young, motivated pilots on German (or, rather,
European) airfields who can only affored gliding due to the very low
costs compared to the US.


Do you suppose the use of low-cost winch launches might explain a lot of
the difference, along with the much higher cost of powered flight, and
*very* easy access to glider operations because the country is so compact?

It's definitely the winch launch.


Bye
Andreas