On Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 2:00:07 AM UTC+13, Michael Opitz wrote:
But the DG1000 18s we've replaced the Grobs result in sooo
much less money going to the instructors' chiropractors.


I wish our club could afford to buy and insure a couple of DG-
1000/18's, or Duo Discus, or even K-21's, but we don't have the
money at present. Maybe after some more years.. We own our own
airport where we have runway and hangar repair/replacement
issues to deal with also. Money has to very carefully allocated.
We were tenants for 47 years, being forced to move from one
airport to another at the whim of the owners, so having our own
permanent home now is a blessing, but it also has it's own issues.

Understand that. My club just moved six months ago from being renters on an airport for 50+ years to a single-purpose gliding site. That's meant some big upfront expenses for a new winch ($140k) and new hangar, adjusting the fleet a little (PW5 isn't very winch friendly, Pawnee won't get enough utilization to be worth keeping), and lesser ongoing expenses as we can afford them for putting in clubhouse, bunkhouse, caravan/tent park and facilities, water and electricity. Ongoing though, the expenses should be a lot lower than the airport land rental plus landing fees plus tower fees which together came to something like $40 a flight before spending a cent on the tow or glider. Plus, uncontrolled airspace to at least 9500 everywhere nearby instead of altitude restrictions of 2500, 3500, or 5500 ft everywhere within 15 km of the old field.