Exactly! And us OF's are ready to do our part! But, we may not need to: these
days, with so many people working remotely, or can otherwise shift their working
hours around, it's not just OF's that can fly during the week. You don't have to
live near each other, either: rotate the glider among the owners' airports every
week or so, making it practical to have owners that don't live in the same town.

Dan Marotta wrote on 9/24/2020 8:04 AM:
Well, then...* You'll need one or more old fart partners because there are only
two days in a weekend. :-D

Signed,
Dan (an old fart)

On 9/24/2020 6:59 AM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Dave Walsh wrote on 9/24/2020 5:11 AM:
You won't need tow planes or winches when everyone has an electric self
launch: everyone just has to get a lot richer.
It's not a problem, our politicians have it all under control, look at how

well we Europeans are doing with Brexit & Covid.....
And, yes, it's raining.

There is an alternative to getting a lot richer: clubs and partnerships. With
just two people in a partnership, your purchase cost is one half, and you no
longer have to support a tow plane or pay tow fees. If you can fly near your
home, you can avoid travel and motel costs, too. The partners can fly whenever
their schedule and the weather permit, and even take advantage of marginal
soaring conditions without the inconvenience or expense of a retrieve, so the
utilization of the glider is higher than a towed glider.

So, instead of "a lot richer", you only have to be "modestly richer", and with
three owners of a glider, maybe not even richer at all, especially as the used
market for FES gliders increases in the next few years. A club might find an FES
glider a good value, particularly if they want to encourage cross-country soaring.




--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1