"Papa3" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Oct 7, 1:55 pm, Marc Ramsey wrote:
Frank Whiteley wrote:
We had a young Czech glider pilot here for a couple of years building
power time and ratings. He's now flying regional European airlines.
His club owned the airfield and leased out several buildings for
commercial/industrial use which resulted in the club operating at
_minimal_ charges.

The key factor here is how the club came to own the airfield. One
common factor among the clubs I visited in the UK last year is that they
owned beautiful grass WW II era airfields. When I asked how that
happened, the stories were pretty much the same, the government sold to
them for a relatively low price, with the concurrence of the local towns
who didn't want them turned into housing developments or industry.

Here in the USA, such a notion would be completely ludicrous 8^)

Marc

I wonder if anyone from the US who was in the sport a while back (say
1950s thorugh 1970s) can explain what was different in the US. Why
weren't clubs acquiring land? There are a few clubs around (PGC and
M-ASA come to mind) which bought land that has now guaranteed their
(financial) future. By the time I got into soaring in the early
1980s, there was already the problem that land near population centers
(i.e. one hour or less drive) was already becoming prohibitively
expensive. Today, for example, getting anything within about an 1:30
drive of NYC would mean an investment well into the $ millions.

Just curious to get some historical perspective.

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)


There are many reasons but one is that the US is somewhat unique in having
publicly funded general aviation airports, some of which host soaring
operations. The question was and is, "If you can get guaranteed access to
airport facilities on the taxpayer's nickel, why buy your own?" Right now,
the utilization of many of these public GA airports is way down due to the
high price of avgas so more may become available for soaring operations.

I'm not saying that using public airports is the best idea in the long run
but it does have some advantages. One of the big ones is that the club
management can concentrate on gliders and tugs and not involve itself in
real estate. If there is an FBO who does a good job of providing tows at a
reasonable price, the club has only to manage its gliders which can be a
very good thing.

On the other hand, clubs with their own airfields and clubhouses seem to be
more stable in the long run. As for the price of that real estate, it has
always been "way too expensive" in current dollars and very cheap in
historical dollars. If you buy it now, sooner or later, it will look like a
cheap price.


Bill Daniels