At 18:40 31 January 2009, Bob Kuykendall wrote:
On Jan 28, 6:01=A0pm, DRN wrote:

Tooling and engineering for a new glider costs millions...

Oops, I forgot to respond to that earlier: Sure, you can spend a
million bucks on a program like that if you do nothing but throw money
at all of the problems and issues. It's like when your only tool is a
hammer, every problem looks like a nail. But, no, it doesn't have to
cost "millions" or even the better part of a single million.

Thanks, Bob K.


Bob,
Schleicher may have spent a million on there innovative designs, the ASW24
&27.
If you were to condense your 10 year plus program into a 2 years, that
would mean 100% of the work has to be funded in a commercial setting to
pay for design, labour, shop floor and more. If you have personally
invested (a guess) 3000 hr and if you would have charged out at a rate of
$ 75.00 per/hr, all costs inclusive, we are now talking real bucks.
Adding a new airfoil design could cost tenth of thousand of $ if done
commercially. Delft University charges big bucks for there services. Your
New HP has proven design elements, including the airfoil, which keeps the
cost down. Yours is a big project and I admire your determination.
Udo