Short Wings Gliders

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:32:48 -0800 (PST), toad
wrote:

So how many pilots can show up and expect on a good day to get a 3-5
hour XC flight in ? 7 gliders doesn't seem like enough for 80 pilots.

Usually 2 gliders are reserved for XC, each pilot has got about 5 to 6
weekend days per season where the glider belongs to him.

There are also about 7 private gliders which are used by the serious
XC pilots.

Of course, if necessary, we could trade the ASW-27 into two ASW-20's
if we felt the need to increase our capacity - but on most days the
current capacity is more than sufficient.

On Jan 30, 1:50*pm, John Smith wrote:
Udo Rumpf wrote:
How much of that $4500.00 was in tow?

Roughly said: We have a flat member fee of roughly $2000 which includes
everything except tows. So the rest was obviously the tows.

John,

How does your club deal with members that own their own sailplanes,
and never fly club gliders, but tow behind the club towplane? Would
the yearly member fee be the same for them even if all they do is use
the tow service?

Brad

Jim Beckman wrote:
At 18:33 30 January 2009, toad wrote:.
So how does the math work out at your club ?

Include consideration of what it costs for you to use the field, and any
assistance you get from the government. Remember that in the US soaring
is purely a private endeavor, as are most art forms, with no subsidy from
anybody.

We have a totally new government in the US now and they seem more than
willing to take over and control what once were private decisions/endeavors.

Regards,

-Doug

On Jan 30, 2:53*pm, Doug Hoffman wrote:
Jim Beckman wrote:
At 18:33 30 January 2009, toad wrote:.
So how does the math work out at your club ?

Include consideration of what it costs for you to use the field, and any
assistance you get from the government. *Remember that in the US soaring
is purely a private endeavor, as are most art *forms, with no subsidy from
anybody.

We have a totally new government in the US now and they seem more than
willing to take over and control what once were private decisions/endeavors.

Regards,

-Doug

Eric...................Eric where are you?

Brad

How does your club deal with members that own their own sailplanes,
and never fly club gliders, but tow behind the club towplane? Would
the yearly member fee be the same for them even if all they do is use
the tow service?

Simply said, they pay a reduced member fee. The exact scheme is a bit
more complicated.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:07:06 +0100, John Smith
wrote:

Andreas Maurer wrote:

Here in Europe by far most gliders are owned by clubs, making it
possible for the club members to fligh latest technology for a yearly
price that hardly exceeds $800.

$800 ist *very* optimistic. It may be true for your club, but it
certainly isn't typical, not even in Europe.

It is completely realistic for Germany.



I flew around 100 hours on club gliders last year, typically on LS8 or
DG1000, fully equiped with LX5000. (Ok, on some days when many pilots
showed up I had to take an LS4, which is our low-end glider...) All my
flights were cross country and usually I had a glider for my own for the
whole day (or a double seater with a second pilot).


This cost me around $4500 (beer not included). Which is still much less
than the annual cost I would have to pay for my own glider. And we
launch exclusively by aerotow.

Pretty amazing. $45 per hour.
Just for comparison:
In Germany a glider is regarded as "expensive" if it costs 10 Euro per
hour. Usually the fee per hour for a standard class glider is about 5
Euro per hour, 8 to 10 Euro being a Duo Discus.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:53:54 +0100, John Smith
wrote:

How much of that $4500.00 was in tow?

Roughly said: We have a flat rate member fee of roughly $2000 which includes
everything except tows. So the rest was obviously the tows.

I forgot to add: Our tow fees are pretty high, we actually earn money
with the tows which helps keep the flat rate fee down.

You call $2000 "down"? Gosh.

On 30 Jan 2009 21:15:03 GMT, Jim Beckman
wrote:


So that sounds like around 12 active pilots per glider, with unlimited
hours. How do you manage contention for the gliders on the weekends?

Restriction of flying time, depending on the number of pilots per
glider.

On 30 Jan 2009 21:15:03 GMT, Jim Beckman
wrote:

At 18:33 30 January 2009, toad wrote:.

So how does the math work out at your club ?

Include consideration of what it costs for you to use the field, and any
assistance you get from the government. Remember that in the US soaring
is purely a private endeavor, as are most art forms, with no subsidy from
anybody.

No help from government here either.
$11 per gallon of avgas doesn't help, too.

On Jan 30, 2:57*pm, John Smith wrote:
How does your club deal with members that own their own sailplanes,
and never fly club gliders, but tow behind the club towplane? Would
the yearly member fee be the same for them even if all they do is use
the tow service?

Simply said, they pay a reduced member fee. The exact scheme is a bit
more complicated.

John,

I would like to know more about how your club deals with that
issue..............our club used to have a similar policy, but for
some (insert expletive here) chose to do away with it. Funny thing is,
most of the BOD members don't own their own gliders, and don't fly
nearly as much as the private owners.

Brad