On Monday, March 12, 2018 at 10:22:12 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
So what's the story here? You are richest country in the world and insist on flying crappiest, oldest, cheapest training gliders known to earth. Please shine some light for us, training in poor countries with modern german gliders.

The USA may be the "richest country" in aggregate, but the vast majority of young people are far poorer than in Northern Europe, due to low paying jobs (if any) and student debt. A bit off topic, but perhaps not, as this may have something to do with the decline of soaring here, regardless of the available training gliders.