$75,000 2-33

On Monday, March 12, 2018 at 10:22:12 AM UTC-4, krasw wrote:
So what's the story here? You are richest country in the world and insist on flying crappiest, oldest, cheapest training gliders known to earth. Please shine some light for us, training in poor countries with modern german gliders.

The USA may be the "richest country" in aggregate, but the vast majority of young people are far poorer than in Northern Europe, due to low paying jobs (if any) and student debt. A bit off topic, but perhaps not, as this may have something to do with the decline of soaring here, regardless of the available training gliders.

On Monday, March 12, 2018 at 2:10:30 PM UTC-4, wrote:

The USA may be the "richest country" in aggregate, but the vast majority of young people are far poorer than in Northern Europe, due to low paying jobs (if any) and student debt.


In some clubs with modern training fleets, older people pay higher fees compared to the younger people in the same club. Clubs that fly fully depreciated trainers charge much lower fees.

Here are the 2017 fees at Sugarbush
http://sugarbushsoaring.com/doc/rate-sheet-2017.pdf

On top of the fees, there are gifts of cash, professional services and the usual volunteers. Some members that only fly occasionally (or not at all), still pay their dues. A number of people make tax-deductible contributions to FEFY which funds youth programs like Line Crew, scholarships for Youth Camp, and training scholarships for CPL-glider.

Bottom line: A lot of people put in more than they take out. (This is also true of youth members.)