On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 5:06:54 PM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:
On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:51:40 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:

On Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:26:08 AM UTC-4, Bill D wrote:







Both on the ground and in the air, our image is critical to success. The European model is a great place to start - then improve on it.







Okay, fine. What makes the European model go, financially? How would we do this, here in the USA?







-Evan



I don't think anyone has all the answers but I have uncovered two.



One, the European clubs get a lot of "sweat equity" from their members who feel an obligation to help the club in whatever way their skills allow. That may be helping with glider maintenance or just mowing the grass - whatever needs done. I've heard it put this way, "Every day, try to leave the glider operation in better shape than when you arrived." That effort just makes it a nice place to be. An example is Elke Fuglsang-Petersen whose writing is often seen at the Soaring Cafe. She obtained a parachute riggers license so she could repack her clubs parachutes.



The second is intensive use of winches which if done well can create a substantial cash flow that can help support the operation.



A third may be that in some countries, tax laws encourage companies to donate equipment. One sees late model Mercedes vehicles used to retrieve winch ropes which, I understand, were donated to the club. In another case, I heard of a club needing a new winch engine. In a few days they found a new Mercedes V10 industrial diesel sitting on their doorstep. In the US we could make something like that work with 501(c)(3) incorporation.

We have the sweat equity thing covered. And in my experience, this is pretty common in US soaring clubs.

Winches are non-starters at most ops I've been involved in. We don't have the space and more space is prohibitively expensive. Existing airports in the 4500+ range are mostly asphalt, public use, high performance GA, with runway lights and traffic and not really a step up in the "nice to hang out" direction. An old but serviceable tow plane is a hell of a lot more economical than scratching a new 4500x300 airfield out of trees, rocks or farm land.

Soaring ops don't work, business wise, because the utilization of real estate, capital and labor is appallingly bad. Unfortunately, I don't see an easy way to improve this (and neither does anyone else, thus the general shape of things in US soaring).

What's it take to found a religion :-)?

-Evan