At 01:39 01 February 2009, Andreas Maurer wrote:

I'd be most interested to see the calculation (income vs expenses) of
a typical US club - to be honest, I cannot really imagine where all
the -huge to me- fees of the members go to.

It seems that in America, there are two types of gliding clubs.

1) Commercial 'Gliderport' operations, usually operating some ancient
and enormous Schweitzer gliders, offering joy rides to the tourists. These
are aerotow only, with everyone down to the line boy who runs with the wing
being paid. You can fly your own glider there if you want, but it will cost
you!

2) Private owner clubs, with not much in the way of club facilities beyond
a privately owned tug aircraft doing launches for profit. One or two of
these clubs are starting to think about winch launching.

Either way gliding works out to be very expensive, and most people who
want to fly do so in spamcans, as Avgas is far less highly taxed in the US
than it is in Europe, so it actually works out cheaper as an hourly rate!
The percentage of the total US population who are glider pilots is tiny
compared with the UK and particularly Germany. It's a shame really, as
many States have particularly good soaring conditions.

Derek C