On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 9:51:16 PM UTC-8, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 8:35:00 PM UTC-7, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 4:59:36 AM UTC-8, WB wrote:
Here's how you can afford to get a club glider: Finance it with a loan with the longest term you can and that will allow you the option of paying interest only. We did that to buy our first 2 seater. Some months, we could only afford the $50 interest. However, it got us going and we ended up actually paying off the loan early. Some people will cringe at this strategy and tell you it is financial idiocy. However, with a glider club, where we typically have a lot of membership turnover,no single individual ends up paying much more with this type of financing than with just buying a glider outright. If you have enough interest to keep the glider busy, it will soon pay for itself.

Not only that, but a glider isn't a car that will depreciate to nothing in ten years. It's not even a power plane with big engine overhaul bills every 2000 hours.

Gliders have a 50+ year lifespan (especially plastic ones) and require next to no maintenance (especially plastic ones), so it's perfectly sensible to pay them off over 20 or 25 years. If the club folds before that, you'll be able to sell the glider for enough to be able to pay off the loan.

I think this is far too long.

Many clubs have multiple gliders. Some include use in the dues (aka no use charge), or have a fixed per flight fee. Both of those approaches seem to me to be a bit short sighted. I suggest that each glider in the fleet have an amortization schedule and a sinking fund (for replacement). So, say a G-103 should be fully amortized in 1000 hours of club use (or pick some other number, but be conservative). That would set a reasonable hourly cost to the member

They're not making G-103s any more, so you'd be talking about a used one, with less life remaining. Ok, so how about an ASK-21? I was unable to find a current price (neither the US distributor nor the Germany manufacturer sees fit to publish a price list that I could find) so I'm going to guess $90000 based on what they cost ten years ago. (I'd think DG1001 Club would be an even better choice, as it's more flexible, but also costs slightly more)

Amortised in 1000 hours? So you want to load a club glider with an *extra* (over an above the fixed and variables costs) $90/hour, for the first 1000 hours?

That sounds like a good way to get a club where no one will fly.

The glider is good for 12000 to 18000 hours. Why not amortise it over the first 6000 hours? That makes the loading $15/hour, which is much more reasonable.

The only training / rides / cross country glider in a small club is going to easily do 200 to 300 hours a year if the price is not offputting. So your 6000 hours to pay back the capital is going to take 20 to 30 years. If it takes you longer .. well, the glider is just going to be a low hours and more valuable glider for longer.

If you can't manage 200 to 300 hours a year (or 100, minimum) then it's going to be the fixed costs such as interest and insurance and hangarage and 90 day maintenance inspections that kill you anyway. The glider may well always be worth more than you paid for it.