Not adding to whether the sport is in decline across the world debate,
The figures presented do not show the motorised versions of the
ranges.
You will most likely find that about 90% (guessing here) of V2C's have
engines. The engine installations take a lot longer, obviously, so
that the whole production run is slowed across all aircraft.
Increasing the number of employess = more cost = higher prices and
thats not what the 'want' is of the buying public.
Finding a cheaper way to manufacture is indeed the solution, just look
at all the globals, like Nike and Microsoft (not wanting to single
them out though). They know why they have their production sites in
India and Thailand.
Is this where we could put the production of the gliders that you
place your life into?
Just look at the Duo, it was tried in Czechoslovakia and did not have
the results intended, even though it was working well for the first
few years. It has happened with other gliding manufacturers also, who
have tried to outsource.
So there is a fine line between quality and safety. If you want
something good, you will pay for it. If you just want something, you
will look at the best value for money. How many sales were there of
used gliders during that time? I would think a lot more perhaps than
in previous years. Perhaps that explains the slowdown? (Leaving the
world economies situation completely out of the picture)

Maybe it is a good time to be flying as there are less aircraft up
there than there seem to be boats on the water. :-)

Chris


So - production has declined somewhat I am sure, and part of that must be the
cost - you can buy a high performance two seater all carbon, certified light
aircraft for less than the cost of a high performance single seater from one of
the top German trio. Many people do...

If cost was all that counted , why are the East Europeans selling so few. Their
bulid quality appears to be good.

But production does not show the whole picture - how many sailplanes are there
in the world, and how much flying do they do? If that is declining then we have
cause for concern. If the manufacturers can find a way to make the cost come
down without losing the desirability we may see more built - look at the
Peregrine, PW6, Sparrowhawk, Apis etc - Lots of new entrants.

Maybe it is not so bad after all.