On Friday, November 20, 2020 at 2:37:33 PM UTC-5, John Sinclair wrote:
On Friday, November 20, 2020 at 4:39:42 AM UTC-8, Roy B. wrote:
Ian, when you adjust for cost of living increase and inflation I'm not sure it's that dramatic a change. I have a memory back in 1975 of being shocked when the late Doug Gaines was advertising his then new ASW-17 for sale at $45,000 USD. I bought my first "starter" house that year (in Worcester Massachusetts) for $28,000 USD.

It's interesting that nobody has mentioned simulation based training (maybe because we dinosaurs aren't familiar with it). This past season I trained my first student who had studied extensively on the "Condor" simulator and he managed to solo the "real" ASK 21 in 20 lessons, which I thought was better than the progress I usually see. I wonder what this means for the future of training in the sport.
ROY
Home built gliders have all but disappeared! In the 70’s we had Cherokee’s, BG-12’s, Dusters and HP-11 & 14’s in our local flying clubs. I built my Duster sailplane from a kit...........$2800 bucks! We had 5 Dusters in a local handicapped contest. In those days it was believed that a new factory built sailplane would cost about the same as a new car, now days that will get you a 30 year old bird that probably needs refinishing!

GPS has made a world of difference in my flying, before GPS, I would spend half my time figuring out where I was...........don’t know how much altitude you need, if you don’t know exactly where you are!!!
JJ