Self launch effect on soaring growth

Michael wrote:
Eric Greenwell wrote

Regardless, the amount of maintenance of a self-launcher is still much
more than an unpowered glider.


Really? What about retrieves? Doing club duty when a commercial
operation is not available? Waiting in line to launch?

These aren't the airframe maintenance items Frank was talking about, so
I didn't address them.


I suspect that once you factor those things out, the non-flying time
invested in the self-launcher starts to look like a much better deal.

I agree the total time spent on the sport can be less with a
self-launcher (this us one of the reasons I have a self-launcher), for
all the reasons you mention, and especially if you can fly from a local
airport (as I do) instead of driving a few hours to the gliderport.
Another point is the time spent on maintaining the glider can usually be
done at the pilot's convenience (evenings, winter, etc).

By similar considerations, the additional cost of a self-launcher can
often be covered (or at least reduced substantially) by considering the
all the avoided costs and time.

Nonetheless, the _maintenance_ involved in a self-launcher is much
greater than a similar unpowered glider.

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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA